A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Car trouble and poor weather lead John Bradley to Lark Cottage, the home of Lucy Shaw and her young daughter, Julia. Her husband, serving a life sentence for murder, has escaped from Lanforth Prison, and she implores her unexpected visitor to stay the night. Listeners will love this rare short story from John Bingham and the unexpected twist.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Inspired by the unsolved Peasenhall murder case of 1902, 'Blind Man’s Hood' shows Carter Dickson’s penchant for true crime. When Rodney Hunter and his wife, Muriel, arrive late to a Christmas party in rural Kent, they are unsettled to find the isolated stately home open and empty of guests. While they await the party’s return, they are welcomed in by a mysterious hostess who regales them with the dark legend of Jane Waycross.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A locked-room mystery that will delight Agatha Christie fans. Dramatist Trevor Lowe and his friend Detective Inspector Shadgold board the Western Express to spend Christmas in the little Cornish village of St Merryan. Heavy snowfall forces their journey to an abrupt halt and, after seeking refuge in a local pub, one of their fellow passengers is found stabbed to death, clutching half a Christmas card. Is the murderer in their midst?

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A brutal murder and a shocking deathbed confession - the love triangle of Karen Garborg, Thord Jensen and Olaf Kinck proves deadly on the Norwegian ski slopes.

When two brothers, potential heirs, go missing on a canoe trip on the River Thames, private investigator Miles Bredon and his friend Inspector Leyland are called in to investigate what might have happened to the pair. The accumulation of evidence - including cyphers, fake photos, and drugs - leads to a much discussion and speculation, but only a recreation of events will help them to solve the mystery.

When a member of the Reiver family of Dorn is found dead by the roadside, private investigator Miles Bredon is sent north to discover how the death will affect a possible payout of the family’s large insurance policy. Miles takes with him his wife Angela and together they investigate the possible influence of a religious group that Donald Reiver, head of the family, has recently joined.

 A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. When Alfred Caithness extends his stay at Dingle House for Christmas, it is not only due to the bad weather. He is in need of a loan from his wealthy cousin Herbert, and he is in love with his wife, Barbara. But events take a dark turn after Herbert refuses to help him.... 

Private investigator Miles Bredon is spending a weekend with his wife, Angela, at the Halliford’s country house. The occasion is a singularly ill-assorted, and ill-fated, house party and Miles soon wishes he hadn’t bothered. Myrtle Halliford cajoles her guests into joining in with an "eloping game", which involves chasing cars across the countryside at night; but the following morning, the body of one of the guests - a man of influence and affluence - is discovered in the silo.... Was his death an accident caused by fumes of poisonous gas; or was it suicide?

When Harold Merefield returned home in the early hours of a winter morning from a festive little party at that popular nightclub, the Naxos, he was startled by a gruesome discovery. On his bed was a corpse. There was nothing to show the identity of the dead man or the cause of his death. At the inquest, the jury found a verdict of ‘death from natural causes’ - perhaps they were right, but yet? 

Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew - who recognises Stephen from his former life - decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears!

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. What is the mystery of the velvet-suited doll that appears to move from place to place? Is someone responsible, or can it be possible that it possesses its own sinister qualities?

Mrs. Bentley has been arrested for murder. The evidence is overwhelming: arsenic she extracted from fly papers was in her husband's medicine, his food and his lemonade, and her crimes are being plastered across the newspapers. Even her lawyers believe she is guilty. But Roger Sheringham, the brilliant but outspoken young novelist, is convinced that there is too much evidence against Mrs. Bentley and sets out to prove her innocence.

On a dark November evening, Sir Wilfred Saxonby is travelling alone in the five o'clock train from Cannon Street, in a locked compartment. The train slows and stops inside a tunnel, and by the time it emerges again minutes later, Sir Wilfred has been shot dead, his heart pierced by a single bullet. Suicide seems to be the verdict, even though no motive can be found, but Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard thinks again when he learns that a mysterious red light in the tunnel caused the train to slow down.

A Christmas party is punctuated by a gunshot under a policeman’s watchful eye. A jewel heist is planned amidst the glitz and glamour of Oxford Street’s Christmas shopping. And lost in a snowstorm, a man finds a motive for murder.... This collection of mysteries explores the darker side of the festive season, from unexplained disturbances in the fresh snow to the darkness that lurks beneath the sparkling decorations.

Richard Temperley arrives at Euston station early on a fogbound London morning. He takes refuge in a nearby hotel, along with a disagreeable fellow passenger who had snored his way through the train journey. But within minutes the other man has snored for the last time - he has been shot dead while sleeping in an armchair. When the police arrive, Detective Inspector James discovers a token at the crime scene: 'a small piece of enamelled metal. Its colour was crimson, and it was in the shape of the letter Z'.