“The Dauphin’s Doll,” by Ellery Queen. Copyright © 1948, 1951 by Ellery Queen; renewed. Reprinted by permission of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc., 845 Third Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10022.

“The Christmas Masque,” by S. S. Rafferty. Copyright © 1976 by S. S. Rafferty. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Father Crumlish Celebrates Christmas,” by Alice Scanlan Reach. Copyright © 1967 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of Ann Elmo Agency, Inc.

“The Necklace of Pearls,” by Dorothy L. Sayers. From Lord Peter, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Copyright © 1933 by Dorothy Leigh Sayers Fleming; renewed 1961 by Lloyds Bank Ltd., Executors. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

“Do Your Christmas Shoplifting Early,” by Robert Somerlott. Copyright © 1965 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of McIntosh and Otis, Inc.

“Christmas Party,” by Rex Stout. From And Four to Go, by Rex Stout. Copyright © 1956, 1957 by Rex Stout. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin, Inc.

Introduction: NOEL, NOEL! by Isaac Asimov

Throughout the North Temperate zone (in which western civilization arose and matured), there is always a reminder in the sky that things will not last.

All through the summer and fall, when the world is smiling and green things are growing and harvests are collected and stored, the Sun marks out a path in the sky that each day is lower toward the southern horizon than on the day before. The lower the sun is, the less intense is its warmth and the shorter the days get, so that the less-intense warmth has ever less time to do its job.