Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings
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 at Christmas 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.
Series: Santaland Mysteries– Book #1
Author: Liz Ireland/Liz Freeland/Elizabeth Bass
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Holiday
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings is the first in what will be a series, not sure exactly what the series is called, but right now, it looks like its the “Santaland Mysteries’. This Christmas book is very quirky; if the series holds true to this book, it will be an unusually series that hopefully won’t just put out books during the x-mas holiday.
The characters in this Christmas holiday book are unusual, to say the least. There are jealous and grumpy elves, talking reindeer, slow rambling snowmen, and then there are the Claus’. Not exactly your ho ho ho happy go lucky bunch. The matriarch tries her best to keep everyone upbeat, but it doesn’t work all the time. After a couple of murders, it becomes hard to keep smiling and happy, especially when the new Santa Claus is accused of murder.
There are a few suspects but not enough, and they all appear to have the same motive. There are some very unhappy elves, misfit reindeer that get picked on every time they go out in public, and abominable monsters who hunt the residents. The detective on the case only wears black and appears to have some magical abilities that are never really defined. The Christmas castle has areas that are falling apart, and no one seems to care that there are ice rats everywhere. All-in-all Christmastown doesn’t sound like a place anyone would want to visit, less alone live.
I found the story original; the mystery itself was done well. The person I thought was the killer ended up not being the bad guy. I was disappointed that we didn’t get more background for April and Nick’s meeting, getting married, or on April’s first husband. There is some info, but it’s piecemealed together and doesn’t give readers a good cohesive idea of who April is or what she has been through. All of this said Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings had moments of happiness and humor. It paints Christmas in a new light and shows that even Santa can have crazy days. I did not hate the characters; a couple of them were terrific. I smiled at the idea of an elf riding on a snowmobile. I loved the coffee shop and Juniper. I would like to have rated this book higher, but I felt it had some issues that hopefully will be addressed in the next book.
More quirky or classic Christmas holiday books readers may enjoy are Leigh Perry’s fantastical “A Family Skeleton Mystery” or Edward Marston’s old-world style “The Railway Detective Series”.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Bass writes women’s fiction under her own name. Liz Freeland is the author of the Louise Faulk historical mystery series from Kensington Books, beginning with Murder in Greenwich Village (June 2018). She also wrote many romances under the pseudonym Liz Ireland and the new SantaLand Mysteries series.
Elizabeth grew up outside a very small town in East Texas. The first loves in her life were animals and Humphrey Bogart. Had it not been for a father who kept the house full of books and some tireless elementary school teachers, she could have happily remained an illiterate rabbit caretaker addicted to black-and-white films on the late late show.
She lives in Victoria, British Columbia, where she writes, freelance edits, and still manages to find time for an old movie on most days.
Contact Liz: lizbasswriter@gmail.com
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