The Christmas Stocking Murders by Denzil Meyrick
The Christmas Stocking Murders by Denzil Meyrick is the second seasonal crime story in the Inspector Frank Grasby series. I read the first book in the series – Murder at Holly House – just before Christmas last year.
Set at Christmas 1953, The Christmas Stocking Murders is a humorous cosy crime story, narrated by Inspector Grasby. On 22nd December, Grasby, and his boss, Superintendent Grasby, are summoned to a small Yorkshire fishing town to investigate the murder of a fisherman.
It’s not long before more people are murdered. Meanwhile, it keeps snowing and the village gets cut off, a busload of pensioners arrives at the local hotel for Christmas and several police officers go missing.
Can Grasby and Judders solve the murders in time for the town to have a merry Christmas?
Grasby and Judders are a pair of bumbling idiots – both thinking their own policing is superior and that the other one is a bumbling idiot. They spend a lot of time eating and drinking before investigating crimes and are generally bad judges of character. The 1950s narration is full of ‘that couldn’t possibly ever happen’ type observations about things are perfectly normal in the 21st century.
The Christmas Stocking Murders is a farcical, festive read for cosy crime fans. I don’t generally bother with reading Christmas books (or any other seasonal reading), but I thought this would be fun – and it was! If you like cosy crime and you like Christmas reading, I would recommend The Christmas Stocking Murders. It’s not necessary to have read Murder at Holly House beforehand, but you might like to.
Sadly, Denzil Meyrick passed away in February 2025, so Grasby’s Christmas crime solving career has been cut short. There is one more book to come – The Mistletoe Wedding Murders. This won’t actually be published until November 2027! As I won’t read it until it comes out in paperback, that will be 2028 for me.
