Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide
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4.3 • 20 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
April Claus knows being married to the real Santa makes every day feel like Christmas. But when a different holiday arrives at the North Pole, so does murder . . .
For the first time ever, Christmastown is celebrating a strange new tradition—Halloween. But not everyone is willing to watch their dependable winter wonderland get overrun by carved pumpkins and costume parties. As a series of scary happenings hit Santaland, each one more intense than the last, April realizes having a role in the festivities could cost her family, friends—even her own life.
April isn’t the only unlucky target. Outspoken elf Tiny Sparkletoe is found dead in the snow outside his cottage, crushed in the middle of what appears to be a monstrous footprint. With mayhem descending like reindeer on rooftops, April must stop the Halloween killer before the fate of Mrs. Claus becomes another creepy tale to tell in the dark . . .
“An exceptional series launch . . . This fun, well-plotted mystery is the perfect holiday entertainment.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Ireland's entertaining sequel to 2020's Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings, April Claus, a recent arrival in Santaland (from Oregon, where she still runs an inn during the summer months), gets permission to celebrate a holiday other than Christmas in her new home—Halloween. That prompts the self-styled Pumpkin Slayer to target a greenhouse full of gourds, leaving behind "jagged chunks of pumpkin flesh and streams of seedy entrails." Later, a post evidently from the Slayer appears on the equivalent of Santaland's Facebook: "STOP HALLOWEEN IN CHRISTMASTOWN OR ELSE!!!" Though the local representative of the law, Constable Crinkles, doesn't take the threat seriously, April does, after someone attempts to kill her by sabotaging the workings of the funicular car she was riding in. That narrow escape is followed by the murder of a Santaland business owner, who was apparently squashed to death by an abominable snow monster. Ireland makes suspending disbelief surprisingly easy. Fans of offbeat, humorous cozies will clamor for more.
