The Really Popular Book Club: The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories with Nicola Upson

Tue 7 December 2021

Join us this December as we get together to discuss a festive treat! As the acknowledged Queen of Crime, P.D. James was frequently commissioned to write a special short story for Christmas, and The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories draws together four of her finest. James’s elegant prose illuminates each tale, making them ideal reading for the darkest days of the year. While she delights in the secrets that lurk beneath the surface at family gatherings, her Christmas stories also provide tantalising puzzles to keep the reader guessing. From the title story about a strained country house Christmas party, to another about an illicit affair that ends in murder, and two cases for her poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh - currently returning to our television screens in brand new adaptations of James’s novels - each tale revels in the lure of a mystery to be solved.

Our special guest for the evening will be Nicola Upson; author of a series of detective novels which feature the brilliant Golden Age writer Josephine Tey as their lead character.

To get you thinking and to help prepare any comments or questions you might want to share, we have prepared three starter questions:

1. The Christmas detective story is a well-established tradition, but why do so many of us turn to dark tales of murder and mayhem for our entertainment at this time of year?
2. P.D. James is best known as a novelist, but - as she says in her preface - the short story is just as difficult; what techniques does she exploit here to fulfil the specific demands of working in a shorter format?
3. What do we learn about James’s serial detective from these stories? How does Adam Dalgliesh conform to and stand apart from a long line of much-loved fictional detectives?

Cost: Free