A Christmas Author Snapshot Column

Books to Unwrap for the Holidays

What better way to relax during or after your Christmas and holiday events than with a good book?

In this issue, I’ve included several suggestions to make your reading bright. Enjoy!

 

 

I love puns so it’s always fun to see the funny, punny titles in the cozy mystery genre.

In Eggs on Ice (Cackleberry Club Mystery book 8 ), the latest by New York Times Bestselling Author Laura Childs, crusty attorney Allen Sharpe seems perfectly cast as Scrooge in the Kindred Players production of “A Christmas Carol.” It’s still a chock when he’s stabbed by the Ghost of Christmas Past during the first rehearsal.

Suzanne, co-owner of the Cackleberry Club café, Kindred’s favorite combination diner, craft store and bookshop, chases the murderer out of the building but loses him in the alley. As the suspect list grows longer, the Cackleberry Club are determined to find the killer before he can add another victim to his Christmas list. (http://www.laurachilds.com/)

Inspiration for the book:

 “Christmas never felt like a workable concept for a murder mystery until one day I started noodling around the dark side of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol,” says Childs. “From there, the Ghost of Christmas Past wafted into my flow of ideas and Eggs on Ice began to take shape. The premise, of course, being a dress rehearsal for Dickens’ play, a ghost that’s really a fake ghost, and Suzanne, my sweet protagonist, rushing after this spooky specter after he slashes the Scrooge character. From there I tossed multiple suspects, a second murder, and a devastating fire into the mix. Yes, it all sounds a little thrillerish, but I guarantee a heartwarming holiday story told at a breathless pace! Oh, and tea parties and homespun recipes, too.”

Excerpt:

 The Ghost of Christmas Past slid to a halt and spun around to face Suzanne, all dark cowl and quivering cheesecloth. Holding up a mean-looking serrated knife that glistened with a few beads of blood, he jabbed the tip at her.

Suzanne backpedaled mightily, her heart practically beating out of her chest.

Holy crap! This wasn’t in the Dickens novel.

Wide-eyed and practically breathless, Suzanne stared at the ghost. The heavy cowl still obliterated its face, the knife was clutched in his hand. She took one cautious step backwards. And then another.

What was I thinking?

The ghost raised his knife up and then tilted it in a perpendicular fashion, almost as if he was making some kind of medieval symbol or benediction.

Suzanne’s heart fluttered with fear. Had anyone called 911? Was she about to become this madman’s next victim? Was she going to miss Christmas all together this year?

 

I enjoy reading short stories and no one does them better than prolific writer John M. Floyd. (http://www.johnmfloyd.com/). He’s been a longtime contributor to the Woman’s World Magazine mysteries with his stories featuring small-town sheriff Charles “Chunky” Jones and his former elementary school teacher Angela “Angel” Potts.

Floyd has collected those stories, plus a few new ones, in his book, Fifty Mysteries: The Angela Files. As luck would have it, the collection does have one story called “No Trespassing” set at Christmastime, though he says he has published other WW mysteries with Christmas settings. You’ll still enjoy reading the non-seasonal stories.

 Inspiration for the book:

 “I grew up in a tiny Southern town, and my mother was always one of those folks who felt she had to know everything about everyone in town, and it occurred to me back in 2001 that it’d be fun to write a series featuring an older lady (in this case a retired schoolteacher) and a guy she’d taught in school who had grown up to become the sheriff of their little town. The schoolteacher, named Angela Potts, would be bossy and overbearing but smart as a whip, and the sheriff, Charles “Chunky” Jones, would be not so smart, but smart enough to know he often needed Ms. Potts’s knowledge and cunning to help him solve cases. Sort of an Andy Taylor/Aunt Bee relationship, if Aunt Bee were constantly telling Sheriff Taylor how to do his job, and correcting his grammar in front of his deputies.”

Excerpt:

Sheriff Chunky Jones was annoyed to see Angela Potts’s gas guzzler parked at Mabel Wallace’s house when he arrived–but he wasn’t surprised. Ms. Potts, who had taught him in grade school, could find trouble as easily as his golf balls could find water.

She and businessman Pete Peterson were standing on the front porch with Mrs. Wallace, who had called in to report that she’d seen a prowler last night. All three were huddled into heavy coats. December in the Deep South was seldom warm, but this year it was frigid.

 

About the Book:

Something a bit different – this mysterious historical fiction, The Manifest by Anne Carmichael, is the first book in The Manifest Series. Here, fictional transportation is provided for all the souls lost in train accidents around the world via The Golden Gate Line. You will embark on a journey, via a collection of stories of the lives of souls before and after their passing. Your hosts will be The Crew who will lead them to their Final Destinations.

Inspiration for the book:

 Carmichael says the historical fiction book was inspired by a photo of an abandoned train depot in Budapest. Each train accident is historically accurate (date, place, the cause of the accident, number of fatalities). The passengers are fictional characters with fictional back stories. Each soul lost in a train accident is transported through the abandoned train station by the ghostly crew on the Golden Gate Line, who ensure their passage to their Final Destination.

Excerpt:

12 December, 1939, Germany – “He’d been intent on buying a special Christmas gift for his new wife. She’d never had a proper Christmas, nor so much as a toy when she was a child. He hoped to find a little pine tree they could decorate together. He would place the porcelain doll he’d purchased in Berlin on the little red stenciled chair her Papa made for her. She’d taken all her meals in that tiny chair pushed up to a wooden stool, because the sight of her sitting at the table her mother had once occupied was too painful for him to bear. This beautiful doll with golden hair like Marta’s could occupy the little chair until they had a daughter of their own to cherish it.”

While The Hanged Man’s Noose, A Glass Dolphin Mystery by Judy Penz Sheluk isn’t technically a Christmas mystery, it is set in December and there is some gift exchanging later. Close enough.

About the book:

 Freelance writer Emily Garland is cash-strapped, newly single, and tired of reporting on the same old condo stats. When she’s offered a lucrative assignment in the village of Lount’s Landing, she decides to take a chance. All she has to do is relocate and uncover the real story behind a proposed redevelopment plan. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty. Not everyone is happy with a real estate mogul’s plans to convert an old schoolhouse into a mega-box store. Especially Arabella Carpenter, outspoken owner of The Glass Dolphin antiques shop, who’s intent on preserving the integrity of the town’s historic Main Street. When two bodies are found and though both deaths are ruled accidental, a suspicious Emily teams up with Arabella to discover the truth behind Stonehaven’s latest scheme—before the murderer strikes again.

Excerpt:

Arabella Carpenter arrived at the Glass Dolphin antiques shop to find a slender woman in a thin coat shivering by the front door. Arabella had made similar wardrobe miscalculations in November, a month where the prevailing Lount’s Landing winds could be as unpredictable as an eBay auction.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, but we’re not open until Saturday,” Arabella said, pointing to a sign in the window. Something was vaguely familiar about the woman, though she couldn’t stick a pin in it. Early thirties. Hazel eyes with a bit of a fleck. Dark brown hair tied into a ponytail, a red knit beret sloped back from her forehead. She wears it well, Arabella thought with a touch of envy. Her own attempts at beret wearing had resulted in the rather unflattering look of a Victorian shower cap crossed with a tea cozy.

Murder in Miniature – Camille Minichino, writing as Margaret Grace – It’s out of season, but if you want something different, Camille Minichino has re-released the first in her Miniatures Mysteries with a fun new cover. (www.minichino.com)

About the book:

Recently retired California high school English teacher Geraldine Porter has more time now to spend on her lifelong hobby — building dollhouses and miniature scenes. You’d think the world of tiny country cottages and cozy room boxes would be trouble-free. Not so for Geraldine and her 10-year-old granddaughter, Maddie, visiting Lincoln Point for the summer.

Even before the doors open to the crafts fair that Geraldine has organized, there’s a snag in the program. Geraldine’s friend and fellow crafter has failed to appear at her post. Also missing is the last piece of furniture Linda painstakingly built, a miniature Governor Winthrop slant-top desk. By the time the week is over, Geraldine and Maddie have dealt with robbery, fraud, and murder, all wrapped up in the world of the very small.

 

Short Christmas Mysteries

Short stories are always a fun way to sample new and classic authors, and to get a quick mystery fix in a small bite. Here are a few suggestions to enjoy with your hot cocoa or other favorite holiday refreshment.

A Christmas Most Foul: A Collection of Holiday Mysteries – Margery Allingham, Nicholas Blake, Michael Innes – Two Christmas stories and two novels featuring classic mysteries and British crime with a festive flavor.

Christmas at the North Pole Compound – Christine Verstraete – It’s not all Fa-la-la and Ho-Ho-Ho at the North Pole Compound when Santa’s elves find someone’s stolen the gifts! Can Chief Elf Investigator Finius Flaherty crack the case by Dec. 24th and save Christmas? A Holiday Crime Story for all ages! (www.cverstraete.com/books.html)

 

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories, P.D. James – Four previously uncollected stories reminiscent of Agatha Christie, two featuring the young Sgt. Adam Dalgliesh.

Mistletoe Mysteries: Tales of Yuletide Murder – Collection of 15 Christmasy who-dunnits from Charlotte MacLeod, Peter Lovesey, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Eric Wright, John Lutz, Howard Engel, Mary Higgins Clark, Bill Pronzini, Sharyn McCrumb, Henry Slesar, Edward D. Hoch, Aaron Elkins, Susan Dunlap, Isaac Asimov, and Marcia Muller.

The Christmas Scorpion: A Jack Reacher Short Story – Lee Child: Jack Reacher’s spending the holidays in California. The last thing he expects is a blizzard—or a visit from the world’s deadliest assassin.

Have a wonderful Christmas and holidays, and the best to you and yours in 2019