Father Christmas

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The magical spirit of Christmas is the perfect cover for a murder mystery. Mentioned in this episode: — "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Arthur Conan Doyle, collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" by Agatha Christie, collected in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées — "The Necklace of Pearls" by Dorothy L Sayers, collected in Silent Nights — Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie — Crime at Christmas by C.H.B. Kitchin — Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith — An English Murder by Cyril Hare — Groaning Spinney by Gladys Mitchell — The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake — Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon — “A Present from Santa Claus” by Julian Symons, collected in Murder on a Winter's Night — L'Assassinat du Père Noël Pierre Véry [English trans. The Murder of Father Christmas] — Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer — Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan — “Who Killed Father Christmas?” by Patricia Moyes, collected in Who Killed Father Christmas? — “The Santa Claus Club” by Julian Symons, collected in Crimson Snow — The Santa Claus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay — "‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip” by Julian Symons, collected in The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories — "The Case of the Man with the Sack” by Margery Allingham, collected in Crimson Snow — The White Priory Murders by John Dickson Carr — "The Snapdragon and the C.I.D." by Margery Allingham, collected in Murder at Christmas — “The Case is Altered” by Margery Allingham, collected in Silent Nights — “Among Those Present was Santa Claus” by Vincent Cornier, collected in Who Killed Father Christmas? More Festive Shedunnit episodes: — Crime at Christmas — Let It Snow — A Christie for Christmas — The Murderless Christmas Mystery Support the podcast by joining the Shedunnit Book Club and get extra Shedunnit episodes every month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join. NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/fatherchristmastranscript. Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.9	Father Christmas. Santa Claus.
0:33.7	Jolly old St. Nick. Chris Cringle, Pear Noel, Cinterclass.
0:38.7	Many different cultures and traditions celebrate the story of a cheerful old man with a flowing white beard and a red outfit,
0:45.6	who visits the children of the world in December to distribute gifts.
0:50.2	In most of these tales, he's everything that is merry and good, representing our best impulses to think of others and bring some brightness into their lives.
1:00.1	But the figure of Father Christmas can be turned to more sinister ends too, as the writers of the Golden Age of Detective fiction delighted in demonstrating.
1:09.9	Their novels are full of murderers, impostors,
1:12.7	thieves and blackmailers, all decked out in the recognisable attire, ready to slip unnoticed
1:18.7	through festive celebrations. What better way could there be to mingle among innocent revelers
1:24.3	and get away with murder? Today we're not going to let these malefactors blend so perfectly into the background.
1:32.4	We're going to take a closer look at the mysterious potential of Father Christmas.
1:44.0	Welcome to She Done It. I'm Caroline Crampton.
1:51.3	One of my favourite things to do at this time of year is to go for a walk just when
1:59.9	twilight is shifting properly into the
2:02.0	darkness of evening, which in Northern England in December occurs at about 4pm.
	...

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