Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime by Steve Hockensmith
If you think about it, Santa Claus is a little like Batman. He’s a vigilante. He decides who’s good and who’s bad and he does something about it on his own terms. – Hannah Fox
Well, boys and girls, Christmas is almost upon us. Hopefully you’ve got your shopping finished, presents wrapped, and are free to curl up with some festive holiday reading. And man do I have a great suggestion for my fellow lovers of crime fiction, Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime by Steve Hockensmith.
As the title suggests, the nine stories in Naughty all have a Christmas theme and involve a crime of some sort, and they are all also laced with a wicked sense of humor. And though a few characters – and a fruitcake – make appearances in more than one story, each stands on its own.
I enjoyed the entire collection from start to finish, but a few of the stories particularly stood out to me:
“Fruitcake” finds septuagenarian widow Ethel Queenan stalking the Always Sunny Trailer Park looking for a replacement for her dearly departed husband. Given that widows outnumber the widowers by about 5-to-1, competition is fierce. Ethel is therefore upset, murderously so, when virtual spring chicken (just sixty-five!) Connie Sandrelli swoops in and steals Ethel’s latest target out from under her. Evil plots involving fruitcake (recipe included) ensue. (more…)
