The usual Santas : a collection of Soho Crime Christmas capers

Format:

Book

Title:

The usual Santas : a collection of Soho Crime Christmas capers

ISBN:

9781616957759

9781641293181

Publication:

New York, NY : Soho Crime, [2017]

Physical Description:

ix, 400 pages ; 20 cm

Contents:

Joy to the world: Various acts of kindness at Christmas. An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime / Helene Tursten -- The Usual Santas / by Mick Herron -- PX Christmas / Martin Limón -- Chalee's Nativity / Timothy Hallinan -- The Cuban Marquise's Jewels / by Teresa Dovalpage -- A Mother's Curse / by Mette Ivie Harrison -- Silent night: the darkest of holiday noir. There's Only One Father Christmas, Right? / Colin Cotterill -- Martin / Ed Lin -- Queen of the Hill / Stuart Neville -- Blue Memories Start Calling / Tod Goldberg -- Bo Sau (Vengeance) / Henry Chang -- Red Christmas / James R. Benn -- I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus: and other holiday secrets. When the Time Came / Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis -- Hairpin Holiday / Sujata Massey -- The Prince (of Peace) / Gary Corby -- Cabaret aux Assassins / Cara Black -- Jane and the Midnight Clear / Stephanie Barron -- Supper with Miss Shivers / Peter Lovesey.

Summary:

"Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Christmas dinner with a stranger. Niccolò Machiavelli sets out to save an Italian city. Sherlock Holmes's one-time nemesis Irene Adler finds herself in an unexpected tangle in Paris while on a routine espionage assignment. Jane Austen searches for the Dowager Duchess of Wilborough's stolen diamonds. These and other adventures in this delectable volume will whisk readers away to Christmases around the globe, from a Korean War POW camp to a Copenhagen refugee squat, from a palatial hotel in 1920s Bombay to a crumbling mansion in Havana."-- Amazon.

Subject(s):

Detective and mystery stories.

Christmas stories.

SHORT STORIES.

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories.

short stories.

Christmas stories.

Christmas fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Mystery fiction.

Nouvelles.

Added Author:

Container of (work): Tursten, Helene, 1954- Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime.

Container of (work): Herron, Mick. Usual Santas.

Container of (work): Limón, Martin, 1948- PX Christmas.

Container of (work): Hallinan, Timothy. Chalee's Nativity.

Container of (work): Dovalpage, Teresa, 1966- Cuban Marquise's Jewels.

Container of (work): Harrison, Mette Ivie, 1970- Mother's curse.

Container of (work): Cotterill, Colin. There's Only One Father Christmas, Right?

Container of (work): Lin, Ed. Martin.

Container of (work): Neville, Stuart, 1972- Queen of the Hill.

Container of (work): Goldberg, Tod. Blue Memories Start Calling.

Container of (work): Chang, Henry, 1951- Bo Sau (Vengeance)

Container of (work): Benn, James A., 1964- Red Christmas.

Container of (work): Kaaberbøl, Lene. When the time came.

Container of (work): Friis, Agnete. When the time came.

Container of (work): Massey, Sujata. Hairpin holiday.

Container of (work): Corby, Gary. Prince (of Peace)

Container of (work): Black, Cara, 1951- Cabaret aux Assassins.

Container of (work): Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Midnight Clear.

Container of (work): Lovesey, Peter. Supper with Miss Shivers.

Added Author (alt. graph.):

Container of (work): Kaaberb쬠Lene. When the time came.

Added Corporate Author:

Soho Crime (New York, N.Y.),

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Stories Usual	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times bestselling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hard-boiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season. Featuring stories by: Helene Tursten, Mick Herron, Martin Limìn, Timothy Hallinan, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Ed Lin, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R. Benn, Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis, Gary Corby, Cara Black, Stephanie Barron, and Peter Lovesey.

Author Notes

For more than twenty-five years, Soho Crime has been publishing atmospheric crime fiction set all over the world in places like France, China, England, Laos, Northern Ireland, Thailand, Australia, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Denmark, India, Cuba, and Palestine, to name a few. Lovers of crime fiction, whether it's detective fiction, police procedurals, thrillers, espionage novels, revenge novels, stories of thieves, assassins, or underworld mob bosses-can count on an immersive adventure steeped in cultural detail. Visit www.sohocrime.com for a complete list of titles in the Soho Crime library.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Soho Crime draws from its impressive roster of authors for this outstanding Christmas-themed anthology. The tone of the 18 entries varies considerably, from the lighthearted to the grim. Some contributors use lead characters from their series: Martin Limón features his wisecracking, savvy U.S. Army investigators George Sueño and Ernie Bascom in "PX Christmas," and Jane Austen plays sleuth in Stephanie Barron's "Jane and the Midnight Clear." Others step with ease out of their comfort zone, such as Gary Corby, who takes a break from ancient Greece to feature Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia in "The Prince (of Peace)." Ed Lin's NYPD detective Robert Chow is absent from "Martin," one of several tales with a wicked twist at the end. Mick Herron perhaps most effectively integrates Christmas themes in the title story, in which a group of mall Santas, whose real identities are unknown to one another, find that there's a stranger in their midst. Other contributors include Timothy Hallinan, Mettie Ivie Harrison, Sujata Massey, and Colin Cotterill. This is the perfect holiday gift for mystery fans.(Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

From one story about a crime-solving Jane Austen to another featuring a decapitated crime boss, these 18 crime tales provide a wonderful introduction to the range of fine international mystery authors published by Soho Press. Some of the stories are pure stand-alones (like Mick Herron's delightfully absurd title story), and some offer a glimpse into the domestic life of series characters (like Mormon bishop's wife Linda Wallheim in Mette Ivie Harrison's A Mother's Curse). This collection is perfect for mystery fans who can't decide what they're in the mood for next. Even the most voracious genre reader is likely to stumble onto a new voice. More than likely, they'll be reminded of a favorite they want to check back in on. Perhaps readers looking only for tearful homecomings and talking cats will find some of these stories too coarse for their taste, but everyone else will be well served. The Christmas theme is central to some stories, merely a time of year in others. But each bite-size mystery in this winning collection is a gift.--Keefe, Karen Copyright 2017 Booklist

New York Review of Books Review

THE KINGDOM OF HIS WORLD By Alejo Carpentier. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $15.) First published in English in 1957, this story of a slave surviving the violence of the Haitian revolution is considered a masterpiece of Caribbean literature and a stunning early example of magical realism. THE LAST BLACK UNICORN By Tiffany Haddish. (Gallery Books, $26.) Haddish, a comedian who had a breakout role in the movie "Girls Trip," here recounts her South Central Los Angeles youth and the emergence of her funniness. BRUNCH IS HELL By Brendan Francis Newnam and Rico Gagliano. (Little, Brown, $25.) The authors pinpoint the cause for all our societal problems, the "specter" haunting America. Are you ready for it? It's brunch. Their solution for saving the world is to revive the art of the more civilized choice, the dinner party, and they show you how. ANYONE WHO'S ANYONE: THE ASTONISHING CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS 1987-2017 By George Wayne. (Harper, $25.99.) Wayne is one of Vanity Fair's most provocative and provoking interviewers and this collects his greatest hits, including interviews with Ivana Trump, Martha Stewart and Joan Rivers. THE USUAL SANTAS. (Soho Crime, $19.95.) Crime writers are set loose on Christmas and come up with short stories that take place in a variety of locales, from a Korean War P.O.W. camp to a palatial hotel in 1920s Bombay, all somehow finding a way to craftily meld noir and Noel. "Pssst. Don't tell anyone, but I have a fondness for thrillers. So when I saw a glowing review recently for the second detective novel by Joe Ide about a brilliant African-American detective in a bad neighborhood of Los Angeles, I figured I'd save money and just buy the first in the series, IQ. It's now in paperback, and I'm cheap. Alas, the story was a page-turner, and I was finished in a day - forcing me to buy the just-published sequel, RIGHTEOUS. Both are great yarns, not literary fiction but unembarrassed about having two pages in a row without a chase scene. Gangs, drugs, guns, they all make their appearances, but this is fundamentally a series about a smart, haunted, likable and flawed detective working his way through mayhem. But if anybody asks, I read the series for the sociology." - NICHOLAS KRISTOF, COLUMNIST, ON WHAT HE'S READING.

Library Journal Review

With a foreword and story by Lovesy, this holiday-themed collection presents 18 pieces of short fiction from an impressive roster of international mystery writers. The voices veer from darkly humorous -(Helene Tursten and Mick Herron) to touching (Timothy Hallinan and Mette Ivie -Harrison) to disturbing (Stuart Neville and Ed Lin),with tales set around the globe. Standouts include Herron's title story, featuring multiple shopping center Santas in London who enjoy an unusual Christmas Eve, and Cara Black's "Cabaret aux Assassins," a tale of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler in Paris. VERDICT This is a thoroughly entertaining seasonal noir collection with something for everyone. [See Prepub Alert, 4/17/17.] © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.