"It's a Sort of Miracle"

"On Christmas Day in the Morning."

By Margery Allingham (1904-66; Wikipedia HERE; the SFE HERE; A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection HERE; Fadedpage HERE; The Strand Magazine HERE; and the IMDb HERE.)

First appearance: The Evening Standard, December 23, 1950.

Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine #110, January 1953 (today's text).

Other reprints:

  Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #69, March 1953

  Christmas Ghosts, 1978

  Mystery for Christmas, 1990

  Merry Murder, 1994

  Murder Most Merry, 2002

  Murder on Christmas Eve, 2017

  A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries, 2020.

Short short story (8 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE; go to page 3).

   "Besides,” he eyed them angrily, “fancy killing a poor old postman on Christmas morning! That’s inhuman, isn’t it? Unnatural."

THE reason for the poor old postman's demise might, or might not, be known to a sweet little old lady. Mr. Campion investigates . . .

Principal characters:

~ Sir Leo Pursuivant, Albert Campion, Superintendent Bussy, Fred Noakes, the village Constable, and Mrs. Fyson.

Reference:

- "'On Christmas day in the morning!' he quoted bitterly":

  The most modern version of this traditional Christmas carol, known as "I Saw Three Ships," dates from 1833:

  I saw three ships come sailing in

⁠   On Christmas day, on Christmas day;

  I saw three ships come sailing in

   ⁠On Christmas day in the morning.

  (Wikipedia HERE.)

Resources:

- Other Margery Allingham encounters: The Fashion in Shrouds review (HERE); "The Unseen Door" (HERE); "They Never Get Caught" (HERE); and Dancers in Mourning reviews (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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