Book (not) Bingo #27
Mrs Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland
Love is full of surprises-though few compare to realizing that you’re marrying the real-life Santa. April Claus dearly loves her new husband, Nick, but adjusting to life in the North Pole is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous elf named Giblet Hollyberry is killed-felled by a black widow spider in his stocking-shortly after publicly arguing with Nick.
Christmastown is hardly a hotbed of crime, aside from mishaps caused by too much eggnog, but April disagrees with Constable Crinkle’s verdict of accidental death. As April sets out to find the culprit, it’ll mean putting the future of Christmas on the line-and hoping her own name isn’t on a lethal naughty list . . .
I saw this book on Amazon last week. I’ve already read a couple of Christmasy books this month and I have another two waiting. For some reason, though, the title and short blurb caught my interest, so I downloaded a sample and then the book. (Full disclosure: the book wasn’t on sale, but I had an Amazon credit, so I only paid about half price. Not that it’s a super expensive book at full price, but I’m not sure I would have tried it if not for the credit.)
The book is clearly fantasy: an innkeeper on the Oregon coast fell in love with one of her guests, Nick, only to learn when he eventually proposed that he was Santa Claus. The one and (temporarily) only Santa Claus, enjoying a summer vacation “down South.” Marrying him meant moving to the North Pole and living in Castle Kringle among elves and talking reindeer (not to mention less than welcoming Claus relatives) and adjusting to the hustle & bustle of Santaland and the constant bitter cold.
When the story opens, April Claus has been at the North Pole for three months and is despairing of ever fitting in. Then, much to everyone’s shock, there are two murders. Even more disturbing, the murders seem to be tied to the “accidental death,” early in the year, of the previous Santa, Nick’s older brother Chris. All this happens during the hectic week before Christmas. And Nick, aka Santa Claus, stressed out because he’s only days away from taking his first around-the-world Christmas Eve sleigh ride, becomes the prime suspect.
There seem to be hundreds of mysteries set during Christmas season (including the aforementioned two that are still waiting on my Kindle). I highly doubt, though, that you could find a more Christmasy mystery than this one, no matter how hard you tried. The story isn’t just set at Christmas time; Christmas permeates the story and could, potentially, become the biggest victim of the mysterious crime wave.
When I downloaded the sample, I honestly didn’t expect to like the book very much. I thought, at best, it might be kind of cute if silly, and I tried it on a whim. However, the writing was very good, other than a few typographical errors, and the story was fun, charming and imaginative. I did guess the identity of the murderer and the motive fairly early, but I wasn’t absolutely certain until the end. And there were enough twists and red herrings to hold my interest.
Looking around on Amazon, I found that this book is actually the first in a series, with the later books all set around non-Christmas holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc.). At the moment, I’m not much inclined to try the next book … a murder mystery set at Halloween at the North Pole seems a little more than I can swallow at the moment … and I do have other Christmas books waiting. I did quite like this one, though.