Jim Lavene (1952–2016)

Up until now, I would give the authors a 5 star review but this one was slower for me. My interest kept going but I was a little turned off by all the affairs by the various characters. At least the main character, Jessie Morton did not have one.
She was single, and six feet tall with blue eyes and size twelve shoes, had lost her job and returned to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

I did love her description of how artificial the setting was with lots of machine-made snow and everyone acting for the roles in Santa's workshop. I felt sad that the children did not get to have a regular childhood but had to act making toys for the workshop and I wondered about child labor laws not being enforced.

Her devoted boyfriend Chase wanted her to stay there but she was determined to get back to work on her degree and have "insurance if it didn't work out. So she took up a temporary job as a toy-making assistant and wore a Christmas-themed costume. But presto, Father Christmas or Santa was murdered and his wife wanted the murder solved. Father Christmas liked playing around and that is where it got sticky, Jessie has to untangle the threads of affairs and keep her promise to find the killer.… (más)

3.5*
I read the first book in this gardening mystery series years ago, before I discovered either Goodreads or LibraryThing. The fact that I kept the paperback but never continued the series pretty much indicates how I felt about it!

This book, the only novella in the series (at least to date), comes quite a bit later and some changes have occurred in the personal life of Peggy, none of which interfered with my ability to read this as a stand alone. The story did end with a startling revelation which impacted me very little having not followed the series.

A nice cozy mystery & I liked the forensic botany.… (más)