What a beautiful time for homicide
So why do mystery writers -- for print, the screen and television -- choose the Christmas holidays as an ideal time for murder? Perhaps the most obvious answer lies in the setting of a time of peace and good will toward all men (and women), where finding a body buried in the snow or under a traditionally decorated tree is completely at odds with everything that is Christmas. Because the end-of-the-year holidays also provide a legitimate reason for bringing people together, circumstances are ripe for crime, greed, family feuds and all of the ingredients for a motive to mix and mingle and produce a mystery for official and amateur detectives to try their hands at solving. So why not have homicides occur on other occasions such as Valentine's Day, Memorial Day or Labor Day? No doubt some whodunits and crime stories have been played out against such backgrounds, the latter two representing long weekends in which the initial slaying doesn't come to light immediately, muddying th...