on accuracy of logical deduction from recorded fact and yet with the drama played out by recognisable human beings, Mrs Christie remains supreme. One may grumble…that she depends a little too much upon coincidence and manufactured effect…but how small are such blemishes compared with the brilliance of the whole conception!" Maurice Percy Ashley in the Times Literary Supplement (17 December 1938) had a complaint to make after summarising the plot: "Mrs Christie's detective stories tend to follow a pattern. First, there is always a group of suspects each of whom has something to conceal about his or her past; second, there is a generous use of coincidence in the circumstances of the crime; third, there is a concession to sentiment which does not necessarily simplify the solution. Mrs Christie makes one departure here from her recent practice, as she explains in her dedicatory foreword. The complaint had been uttered that her murders were getting too refined – anaemic, in fact. So this is 'a good violent murder with lots of blood.' But there is, on the other hand, another departure from Mrs Christie's earlier stories which must be regretted. M. Poirot in his retirement is becoming too much of a colourless expert. One feels a nostalgic longing for the days when he baited his 'good friend' and butt, Hastings, when he spoke malaprop English and astonished strangers by his intellectual arrogance." Robert Barnard summarized the novel as a "Welcome interruption to the festive season as mischievous old patriarch, tyrant and sinner gets his desserts". His judgment of the novel was stated in two words: "Magnificently clued." References to other works The character of Colonel Johnson previously appeared in Three Act Tragedy (1935) and he mentions that case in Part 3, section v of this novel. Publication history 1938, Collins Crime Club (London), 19 December 1938, Hardback, 256 pp 1939, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), (under the title Murder for Christmas, February 1939, Hardback, 272 pp 1947, Avon Books, Paperback, Avon number 124, under the title A Holiday For Murder, 255 pp 1957, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 189 pp 1962, Bantam Books, Paperback, 167 pp 1967, Pan Books, Paperback, 204 pp 1972, Fontana Books, Paperback, 189 pp 1973, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 253 pp 1974, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 253 pp 1985, W. Clement Stone, P M A Communications, Hardback,