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This is a collection of mysteries from a variety of British writers during the Golden Age of mystery fiction, all themed about or taking place at Christmas. They're all fun to read, if you're into it, and a nice, varied introduction to a number of authors I probably would not have stumbled upon.

"The Cabinet" is a narrative told by a young man who - when bored at his do-nothing job at a research institute - discovers a cabinet of files detailing the cases of "symptomers" - people experiencing strange physical or metaphysical phenomenon, who can sleep for months, disappear for years or replace their tongues with reptiles. He becomes the caretaker of these files and an unwilling therapist/sympathetic ear to the symptomers. For some reason this never really jelled for me. Structurally it doesn't feel like it's leading anywhere, and it ends abruptly - the best parts are the interactions with the symptomers, but those fall away in the third act. If you're expecting the X-Files or X-Men it's definitely not that but there are some great parts.

Content warning for emetophobia, eating disorders, body horror and torture.