Mistletoe And Mayhem [Mass Market Paperback]

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

This collection of intriguing and individually unique stories is bound to make for some good fireside reading at this time of year.

In the first story of this collection, Out on a Limb by Christie Ridgway, readers meet Stacy Banks, an unassuming kindergarten teacher who never takes risks in her life. This year, just in time for Christmas, she decides to chance it and ask her sexy neighbor, Ryan, to attend a Christmas party with her. Clothed only in a dress made of wrapping paper, she heads down to the dock to catch him on his boat and invite him to be her date. Never could she have expected that this was about to become the most adventurous... and dangerous... night of her life.

The action is flying high in this story, with adventure after adventure for Stacy and Ryan. There are shoot-outs, drug cartels, and crooked cops, all with plenty of romance to round it out. Readers will like that they are kept guessing for much of the story, trying to figure out who the bad guys are and if Ryan is one of them. All Stacy wants is to try something new and get a little adventure in her life by asking Ryan out on a whim. When she gets much more than anticipated, how she deals with it is amusing, and makes the reader realize she's got spunk, even if she suppresses it normally.

The second story, The Two Marys, by Katherine Hall Paige, was probably this reviewer's favorite story in the series. Readers meet plucky Faith Fairchild who is called in to help a neighbor, Mary Bethany, who finds a newborn baby and a huge stack of cash in her goats' barn. Now Faith has to investigate to help Mary find the mother of the baby and why she felt it necessary to give up her child.

This was a story that helps to remind people what this time of year is all about. The parallels between this Christmas story and the original Baby born in a manger are heart-warming. Mary's life is her goats and that's all she's ever wanted in life. When a baby is given over to her, she finds out maybe there is more to life then her little farm and Bed and Breakfast after all. The mother of the child is a down on her luck; a young woman who wants only for her baby to have a better life then she has. The ending to this story is sad in some ways, a balancing of fate in others, and happy as well. Readers will finish this tale with a warm fuzzy feeling that love is the reason for the season.

The third story in this collection, The Twelve Frogs of Christmas by Judi McCoy, is a funny one, and the one paranormal story in the collection. Here readers meet Claire St. Germaine and Dr. Hugh Burton. Claire is a young woman making a go at her own jewelry design business who has temporarily taken on an additional duty of rescuing men sent to her as frogs she has to kiss to break the spell. Hugh is a professor at a university, whose specialty happens to be... yes you guessed it... frogs! When a rare and nearly extinct species that Hugh happens to be researching is sent to Claire, sparks fly and love blossoms.

This is a funny story bound to get some giggles out of the most finicky of readers. Readers are kept in the dark for most of the story as to who is sending the frogs to Claire and why, though the answers to those questions are revealed by the end. Hugh and Claire are unique individuals, and both stubborn in their own ways. When they butt heads over some amusing circumstances, readers feel the sparks flying and just know they'll make an interesting pair.

The final story in this collection, The Thirteenth Santa, by Joanne Pence, introduces readers to Inspector Rebecca Mayfield with the SFPD, who is investigating a murder of a man in a Santa suit found at a local shopping mall. Richie Amalfi is on a mission to take 12 old men, decked out in Santa suits, to a destination only he knows, when his van with the Santas in it disappears. He goes to Rebecca for help and when she thinks this may be linked to her murder investigation, she tags along to help him track down the wayward men and gets more then she bargained for.

This is a funny story, in a dry sort of way, and will appeal to readers. Rebecca and Richie make an interesting pair of detectives as they try to find answers to her investigation and track down the missing Santas. When the Mafia is mixed in, it gets even more interesting. This reviewer enjoyed how the author took the players and made many of them out as caricatures of mobsters and their cronies. There was a sarcastic bend to many of the humorous occurrences in the story that is sure to bring about a few laughs.

If readers are looking for a different sort of Christmas season story, then this is one that isn't to be missed.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2004. All rights reserved.

This is an exquisite collection of sparkling stories by four great authors. Each story highlights a uniquely delightful twist, resulting in seraphim-fresh starlight (compared to the typical slobbery stuff).

I've rarely been drawn to short stories or books with collections of shorter works. When I take time to get into a book and memorize details, I like to stretch out for a while with that investment, which is why I seek series. But, I was pleasantly surprised that each of these stories was easy to get into, easy to read, and regularly called to me pleasantly to catch another bit. This type of collection is a great way to addict readers to each of the authors presented, which might be the plan!

If it weren't for Joanne Pence, I wouldn't have overcome my prejudice against short collections and holiday sticky syrup, so I read her story first, and savored every quarter-inch of it.

The Thirteenth Santa blossomed Rebecca & Richie from seedlings in the Angie & Paavo series, and the match making of this odd couple was perfecto! (Kissing fingertips in salute.). Rebecca was the perfect female to yank Richie out of the caricature woodwork and into the hot-light-reality of flesh-and-bones. Rebecca's displayed holiday loneliness, as she pranced around the precinct in solitary simplicity, shot an instant warmth into this reader, who had previously taken a mild dislike (as the author intended) of the female homicide inspector's romantic interference with Angie and Paavo.

The 13th's humor was entertainingly dark enough to dim the usual garish Christmas glare of sweet & light, and it exposed perfectly the type of cloistered chuckles big city policemen resort to, to save their sleigh bells during holiday cheer, especially when they're on duty and everyone else seems to be lapping up the luxury of home.

It was a hoot following Rebecca's periodically listing infractions under her breath, as Richie casually collected mini-crimes as her streetwise, unlikely sidekick. The violations were merely misdemeanors, so maybe that was why Rebecca couldn't build up any resistance or righteousness, and the hand cuffs stayed in storage. Or, maybe it was because she wasn't sure which way she'd use them once released from her (Pandora's) purse.

Loved the funny, geriatric, non-generic Santas, aging with realistic loss of various faculties, but without loss of spirit, which made the fun poked at-and-with them delightfully tasteful, especially through the spyglasses of their hilarious Mafiosa attitudes and accents. Being half Italian myself I can connect with the banter... though I'm not connected myself (as far as I know). Who knows, maybe if I were connected my sci fi and mystery series manuscripts would have already been on the International bookshelves! Yeah, yeah. All in good time ... and company.

The scene picked up to a higher plateau of tangy, balsamic spice, when Angie's "Momma Mia" (Serefina) brought the ingredients for edible gifts, and zapped the hilariously red-garbed, well-connected celebration with her background and presence.

There was also the great scene between Paavo and Rebecca, "To be or not to be" too typically "cop" during the holiday season when the geriatric Mafia joins the family party.

Loved the 13th's ending, too, with the short story ambiance closing the scene with hope and positive speculation, without losing its zing into an epistle of explanation.

For my tastes this was delightful entertainment at its holiday best, like true Italian pastries and constable humor, a bare essence of sweet with enough anise-seedy-spice to repel the gooey, parasitic type of overdone, overwhelming sentiment which usually has me avoiding holiday collections.

This is true warmth of spirit at its zesty best, no slobbers necessary but enough saliva for a sensual stew. This one I like.

And, I'm happy to report that each of the other three entries (even though Pence's story ended the sequence) follow the R&R (Rebecca & Richie) suit of enough sauce to liven the soup. I liked the fact that 2 of the 4 stories kept the mystery at the fore, with the romance as a non-graphic sideline; while the other 2 stories, being more romantically inclined, provided typically tangy, but tasteful sexual undertones.

Though I've read and reviewed nearly all Pence's culinary mystery series (which is one of the reasons for my reading her 13th Santa story first in this collection), I hadn't read any of the other 3 writers' work. I wasn't disappointed in their holiday offerings here, and am intrigued to expand my reading in the directions of McCoy, Page, and Ridgway.

These 4 authors are mature character and story builders. Maybe their genuine warmth and lack of hype enhances their abilities to write such sensitive human stories, without drowning in the soup.

I could go into the same detail with each story as I did for Pence, but I've passed the epistle mark. Maybe my gift should be to leave the other 3 to surprise, without any hype intended, except to kiss my fingertips again in salute for each!

(Go) Out on a Limb; (Meet) The Two Marys; (Kiss) The Twelve Frogs of Christmas; (Bless) The Thirteenth Santa.

Meet Christie Ridgway, Kathrine Hall Page, Judi McCoy, and Joanne Pence. (The words in parentheses are my teasers for each title.)

Blessings to all ... & pass the salt. Travel the Night with spirit and fun. Lighten up with the dawn when it comes. It usually arrives, just in time.

Working toward my sunrise,
Linda G. Shelnutt

I wasn't crazy about the 2 mystery stories in this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the romances. McCoy's 12 Frogs story was adorable, so creative I wished it had been a full-sized novel.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars