All I Want for Christmas Is... (2)

This is a feature/meme sponsored by Danya at A Tapestry of Words where we choose a book each week leading up to Christmas and say why it's made it onto our wishlists – and she'd love to see what books everyone else is hoping to get! So if you want to make your own blog post about it, please link up at Danya's site.

Since I missed the first posting, I'm going to post two Christmas wishes.



First up--The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks by James Anderson: Who ever tires of the zany British country house murder? Lord Burford, for one. When his wife wants to allow nine guests to stay at their country home ("just for the night"). Lord Burford protests that the last time they had a large number of guests stay there had been unfortunate incidents. Lord Burford's misgivings were understandable. After all, the "unfortunate incidents" had been murders. But these people were travelling a long way for the funeral of an elderly relative. There was nowhere else for them to stay in the village, so the Earl really had to offer them accommodations at Alderley, the Burfords' Carolean mansion. Things started to go wrong when one of guests claimed she had knowledge that would ruin the others' reputations. But nobody took that seriously. Until, that is, she was found murdered...

The Affair of the 39 Cuff Links, lighthearted sequel to The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy and The Affair of the Mutilated Mink, delighfully captures the atmosphere of the 1930s country-house mystery. I absolutely adored the Egg Cosy and Mutilated Mink stories. I would love to get my hands on this one.


Second--Panic Party by Anthony Berkeley: Mr Pidgeon is the unlikely and lucky owner of a large yacht and a desert island. Gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham is one of the members of the party Pidgeon invites for a cruise. When the ship and its crew return to port without them, the party are marooned for a fortnight on the private island. Sheringham is shocked to discover Pidgeon has organised the whole thing as an experiment. He has brought them together to enact a bizarre murder and detection game. But then the madness starts and tragedy strikes.

This was written in the 1930s and I'm a big fan of Golden Age mysteries. I wouldn't mind seeing a whole pile of mysteries from that era under my tree!