Snowfall: Second Edition

A collected edition of the Christmas books: A Londum Yuletide, Quantum of Solstice and Winter Shorts.

From an alternate Victorian England called Albion, a collection of spooky stories set during the Yuletide season:

Pub Talk
While working on a case in the snowy village of Strapley-on-the-Wold during the Yuletide season, Rufus Cobb, private detective, has a casual conversation with a stranger in the village pub, the outcome of which may have dire consequences for the whole world.
What would you say to a disillusioned Father Yule (the man who delivers toys to all the children of the world) who is about to quit his job?

Trial by Gravity
Jim Darby, gentleman thief, is making his escape from a successful robbery, over a snowy rooftop when disaster strikes, leaving him dangling over a four-storey drop. Luckily, someone comes along who could rescue him; the only trouble is … Jim has to convince him first, why he should.

Unfinished Business
Thornton Wells is visited by one of his trusted Secret Service contacts. A dangerous, foreign agent is about to leave the country with vital information, they must apprehend him immediately, without waiting for backup. The two of them set off at once, there is no time to lose, but is there more to this than meets the eye?

The Last Present
What’s so unusual about seeing a ghost at a spiritualist meeting? Nothing you might think, except Adele is the only one that can see him, not the medium. He wants Adele’s help to stop the man who murdered him, from doing the same to his family. Adele, Cobb and Won Lungh set out in a snowstorm to try and stop that from happening but it may well cost them their own lives, instead.

A Snowball in Hell’s Chance
Jim Darby comes across two young brothers trying to survive on the streets of Londum. He buys them some food but they refuse any further help and he doesn’t see them again. Or does he? Jim thinks that the shadowy figure he sees through the falling snow is one of them, but why is he throwing snowballs at him? And why does he want Jim to follow him?

Death on the Cards
Thornton Wells is drinking and reminiscing with an old friend, Sir Harold Ingleby, when Thornton tells him about what happened to him once, as a young man. ‘You’ll be the Death of me,’ ‘Facing your Death,’ ‘Look Death in the eye,’ those are just sayings ... aren’t they?

The One That Got Away
Rufus Cobb is called in by Caledonia Yard to consult on the puzzling murders of several renowned scientists. What connects these deaths to the mysterious figure in Professor Court’s workshop?

All That Glitters ...
Dr. Barnato’s orphanage is in financial trouble and appeals to Jim Darby for help. A large amount of money is needed to save them and it looks like Jim might have to resort to crime again to solve the problem. But then he finds an injured faerie and it occurs to him that if what they say about faeries is true, then she just might be the answer to everyone’s prayers.

Yuletide Spirit
It’s Solstice Eve in Strapley-on-the-Wold and time for the annual party at the manor. The weather is against them but Thornton Wells and Sir Harold Ingleby take special care to make sure that the village witch makes it to the party and has a good time. So why does she mysteriously disappear overnight?

And a bonus poem
‘Twas the Night Before Solstice.