The Christmas Stocking Murders | Denzil Meyrick

A case shrouded in secrets.

It’s just before Christmas, 1953. Grasby and Juggers are investigating a puzzling murder in the remote village of Uthley’s Bay. A fisherman has been found dead on the beach, with a stocking wound tight round his throat.

A festive mystery for one and all.

Hundreds of pairs of stockings, in neat cellophane bags, soon wash up on the shore. A blizzard cuts off Grasby and Juggers from help, and the local innkeeper is murdered. Any remaining Christmas cheer goes up in smoke as the villagers refuse to talk, leaving the two detectives chasing false leads in the snow.

A winter wonderland with no escape.

To make matters worse, Grasby can’t stop thinking about stockings. Why does everyone seem to be enjoying strangely high standards of hosiery, even beneath their oilskins? Who is the sinister bespectacled man snooping around their hotel? And how can they solve the murder when everyone in the village is a suspect?

Denzil Meyrick was from Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula in Argyll. After studying politics, he enjoyed a varied career as a police officer, distillery manager, a director of several companies, and an executive producer of a major TV adaptation of his books.

Regarded as 'One of Scotland's finest writers' (SWH), he was the No.1 New York Times bestselling author of the DCI Daley series, and the Detective Frank Grasby mysteries, including the Waterstones Thriller of the Month pick, Murder at Holly House.

Denzil died peacefully at his home beside Loch Lomond in Scotland, in February 2025. For more information about his books, visit his website: www.denzilmeyrick.com