Doctor Who spin-off ‘The Lucy Wilson Mysteries’ released just in time for Christmas

Emily Price

A brand new collection of festive Doctor Who spin-off short stories has been released just in time for Christmas.

The short story collection entitled The Best Christmas Ever contains three stories by popular Lucy Wilson and Lethbridge-Stewart series author Chris Lynch.

The anthology kicks-off with short story ‘A Little Lucy Christmas’ which was given away for free to fans of the series on Christmas day 2020.

The story is followed by ‘The Grey Lady of Martyr’s House’, which was also given away for free on Christmas day 2021.

Support

Head of publishing at Candy Jar, Shaun Russell, said: “We like to try and give something away for free at Christmas as a thank you to our readers for the support that they have given us throughout the year.

“The first two stories in the book were given away free over past Christmases, and while Chris was knees deep in a new story last year we realised that we actually had enough Christmas adventures to bring out another festive short story collection.”

‘A Little Lucy Christmas’ is about Christmas traditions and family heirlooms that many families have and don’t typically think twice about, whereas ‘The Grey Lady of Martyr’s House’ is much more of a traditional Victorian Christmas story, as protagonist Lucy and her best friend Hobo find themselves in a haunted mansion on Christmas Eve being chased by ghosts.

Shaun added: “This is a book three years in the making and it’s nice to finally see Chris’ Christmas stories collected together.”

The third and final story in the collection is called ‘The Krampus Who Came to Tea’, which is a brand new story never before seen by readers.

The story is set over the Christmas of 2020 and introduces the half-goat, half-demon monster from folklore called the Krampus who, it is believed, only visits when misbehaving children need to be punished at Christmas time.

Chris Lynch said: “The yearly Lucy Wilson Christmas story has become a tradition in the Lynch house, as much a part of our festive activities as putting up the tree, wrapping the presents, or closing the curtains and pretending that we’re all out when my sister calls over.”

Chris has written four Lucy Wilson Christmas stories in total, with his first called ‘Past, Present and Yet to Come’ which was included in Candy Jar’s first Lucy Wilson Christmas collection back in 2019 entitled Christmas Crackers.

Chris added: “Don’t ask me why but Christmas just seems the perfect time of year for shrink rays, death beams, ghosts, monsters, and mysterious time travelling goatmen to all make their appearance. So, I hope you enjoy these very non-traditional, but still very festive, stories!”

Popular Beano artist Steve Beckett continues at the helm of the series’ artwork, providing a front cover filled with intrigue and Christmas cheer.

The title is distributed by the Books Council of Wales and is available through all good bookshops. Though, this close to Christmas, it may be advantageous to be an Amazon Prime member!

Blurb for The Best Christmas Ever:

Christmas is the busiest time of the year, but this never seems to be a problem for the monsters and aliens that visit Lucy Wilson over the
festive period!

Alongside her best friend Hobo, Lucy discovers one of her grandad’s old secrets, investigates a creepy haunted mansion, and gets a visit from a mysterious goatman called Krampus, who takes bad children away.

This is a collection of three stories set over the Christmases of 2018, 2019 and 2020. Defending Earth doesn’t stop for anything, not even Christmas! But which Christmas is the best one ever?

The Lucy Wilson Mysteries is a Lethbridge-Stewart spin-off adventure and featured licensed characters created for Doctor Who by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln.