Autumn Chills

I like short story collections, and I like seasonal anthologies. I've also been promising myself I will read more Agatha Christie. With Autumn Chills, I'm three for three.

Autumn Chills is a wonderful collection of short stories from the Queen of Crime Fiction, all with an autumnal theme, and all chilling reads.
Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Tommy and Tuppence all feature, alongside a veritable rogues gallery.
Autumn Chills is cosy mystery at its best, and is the perfect companion for these chilly autumn evenings.

 Down in the WoodBare brown branches against a blue sky(And Silence within the wood),Leaves that, listless, lie under your feet,Bold brown boles that are biding their time(And Silence within the wood).Spring has been fair in the fashion of youth,Summer with languorous largesse of love,Autumn with passion that passes to pain,Leaf, flower, and flame – they have fallen and failedAnd Beauty – bare Beauty is left in thewood!Bare brown branches against a mad moon(And Something that stirs in the wood),Leaves that rustle and rise from the dead,Branches that beckon and leer in the light(And Something that walks in the wood).Skirling and whirling, the leaves are alive!Driven by Death in a devilish dance!Shrieking and swaying of terrified trees!A wind that goes sobbing and shivering by ...And Fear – naked Fear passes out of the wood!

If you think that the word “chills” refers to ghosts, haunting and various Halloween-y paraphernalia, this collection is not going to satisfy you. This autumnal volume in the seasonal Agatha Christie collections is dedicated to various crimes and shady actions set in the “-ber” months, the tranquil, sleepy and suspicious 91 days of Fall.

A strange love triangle, a customer who is not where he should be, a lady who doesn't know what to do with her money, a woman who hears voices in the dark, a suicide on November 5th, a woman who seems to have escaped from the fairy lands. Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Mr Quin, Tuppence and Tommy are here to accompany a cozy night.

‘There's a lot of magic about tonight,' she said. ‘Don't you think so?