…eleven pipers piping,

…ten lords a-leaping,

…nine ladies dancing,

…eight maids a-milking,

…seven swans a-swimming,

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Twelve Drummers Drumming

To symbolize the gift on the twelfth (and final) day of Christmas we selected Twelve Drummers Drumming by C. C. Benison.

Twelve Drummers Drumming takes place in the idyllic English village Thornford Regis and our detective is Revered Tom Christmas, aka Father Christmas. He has moved to the village to recover after his wife’s murder, but once he gets there another woman is killed and soon everyone in town is a suspect. It all sounds like it could be the perfect cozy holiday mystery, the only problem is that the novel is set in the month of May.

I have not read the book yet, but one review I read compared the writing style and setting to that of Agatha Christie, which sounds very promising.

Twelve Days of Winter: Crime at Christmas

For this series we could not ignore Stuart MacBride’s series of short stories Twelve Days of Winter: Crime at Christmas. Maybe something to read next Christmas?

Thank you for following our Twelve Days of Christmas series. Happy New Year from TheCrimeHouse team! We look forward to another year of great crime fiction in 2012.

…ten lords a-leaping,

…nine ladies dancing,

…eight maids a-milking,

…seven swans a-swimming,

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Paying the Piper

To symbolize the gift on the eleventh day of Christmas (eleven pipers piping) we selected the crime novel Paying the Piper by Simon Wood.

The Piper is an infamous child kidnapper operating in the bay area. He always returned the children unharmed when the ransom had been paid. Until a fake Piper contacted a journalist to leave “clues”. The real Piper then kills the child. Eight years later he strikes again, and this time he kidnaps the journalist’s child and the terms are different.

For the first chapter, visit the author’s official website.

…nine ladies dancing,

…eight maids a-milking,

…seven swans a-swimming,

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

To symbolize the gift on the tenth day of Christmas (ten lords a-leaping) we selected The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, a TV series about Detective Inspector Thomas “Tommy” Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton.

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries are based on Elizabeth George’s novels about Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers at Scotland Yard.

The two main characters are quite different and come from different backgrounds. Lynley (aka Lord Asherton) is an earl, and Havers come from a working-class background. As expected there is some drama regarding the class differences.

…my true love gave to me: nine ladies dancing,

…eight maids a-milking,

…seven swans a-swimming,

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Lisbeth Salander

To symbolize the gift on the ninth day of Christmas (nine ladies dancing) we selected THE girl (maybe not quite a lady) Lisbeth Salander.

Lisbeth Salander is one of the main characters in the Millennium trilogy by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. He imagined what Pippi Longstocking would be like as an adult, and and then he created Lisbeth.

After reading the novels I had a difficult time imagining the character in a movie. I did not think anyone could do the role justice. Two women proved me wrong. Noomi Rapace in the Swedish movies, and Rooney Mara in the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

…seven swans a-swimming,

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Miss Marple

To symbolize the gift on the eighth day of Christmas (eight maids a-milking) we selected a very famous maid, Miss Marple.

Agatha Christie created some of the best known investigators, and Miss Marple hardly needs an introduction. I absolutely love the books about Miss Marple, and I appreciate how she does not look like your typical detective. Despite that she solves murder mysteries wherever she goes. She lives in the fictional St. Mary Mead in England, and appears in twelve novels and twenty short stories.

It is time to make the traditional New Year’s resolutions

As usual I promise that this will be the year I stop eating candy (not until Easter at least – that is when this resolution usually fails), exercise more and live a healthier lifestyle.

I will also make a New Year’s resolution I actually can keep. Before the book sale in 2012 I will read at least two books that I bought during the book sale in 2011. If not, I am not allowed to buy anything during the booksale in 2012!

However, it is still ok to eat candy, and I will take full advantage of that.

Happy New Year!

…six geese a-laying,

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Se7en

To symbolize the gift on the seventh day of Christmas (seven swans a-swimming) we decided to focus on the number not the gift, and we selected the movie Se7en.

David Fincher’s first movie as a feature length director was Alien 3, which was a borderline disaster, but his breakout performance was his next movie Se7en. Every scene jumps off the screen. And the suspense builds throughout the movie as Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) and Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) discover each new crime scene, rake over the clues, and get closer the finding the killer. As they discover each new body, the unnamed city they are in is constantly rainy, dark, and depressing (this style is blatantly copied in the American version of The Killing).

As usual, Fincher gets the most out of his cast, which included Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow. The actor who played the killer, one of Hollywood’s best, was not billed in the movie posters, and did no promotion for the movie so that it would be a surprise to the audience, at least to those who saw it opening weekend. I will continue this tradition and encourage those of you who have not seen it, not to look it up, but instead to watch the movie to find out.

…five golden rings,

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

The Golden Goose

To symbolize the gift on the sixth day of Christmas (six geese a-laying) we selected the crime novel The Golden Goose by Stieg Trenter. Original title in Swedish: Guldgåsen

Before Larsson there was Trenter. Stieg Larsson is not the only Swedish crime writer named Stieg. Stieg Trenter was one of the most popular crime writers in Sweden in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Stieg Trenter’s first crime novel was published in 1943, and he wrote over 20 books about the investigator Friberg. The Golden Goose is one of them.

I have no idea how I have missed the books by Trenter, but I will definitely put at least one of them on my reading list for next year.

…four calling birds,

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

GoldenEye

To symbolize the gift on the fifth day of Christmas (five golden rings) we selected the James Bond movie GoldenEye.

GoldenEye is the first Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan as the British agent 007. In this movie he teams up with Natalya Simonova, a Russian researcher, to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon. It is one of my favorite Bond movies, and I like that Polish-Swedish Izabella Scorupco is the leading lady.

…three french hens,

…two turtle doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree.

About Twelve Days of Christmas

About Twelve Days of Christmas…

Yellow Bird

To symbolize the gift on the fourth day of Christmas (four calling birds) we chose the Swedish company Yellow Bird.

Yellow Bird specializes in adopting Scandinavian crime literature for movies and television. One of their most famous projects was the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. Other examples include the Wallander series (films about Henning Mankell’s inspector Wallander), and the Irene Huss series (films based on books by Helen Tursten). Upcoming projects include a movie based on Jo Nesbø’s novel Headhunters, and a series of films based on Liza Marklund’s novels about Annika Bengtzon.