The Usual Santas by Peter Lovesey

The Usual Santas from Soho Crime is a near perfect collection of Christmas-themed mysteries. The collection brings together authors from all around the world with settings that are equally varied. The tone of the stories varies from light-hearted humor, to dark and grim, to heartwarming. The stories are grouped together by tone so you can pick the stories you’re in the mood for or sample some of each.

The titular “The Usual Santas” by Mick Herron is a hilarious tale about a group of mall Santas who discover there’s suddenly one Santa too many among them. Martin Limon tells an uplifting Christmas tale set in Korea and featuring his U.S. Army investigators from his Sueno and Bascom series. For a darker turn, Ed Lin’s “Martin” will put a chill down your spine. Peter Lovesly’s “Supper with Miss Shivers” is wonderful and uplifting. Gary Corby’s “The Prince (of Peace)” is a fascinating story featuring Machiavelli and Borgia.

This collection is perfect for either sipping and savoring a story or two at a time, or gulping down several in a row. The authors are uniformly good. This is a book that will lead to growing your TBR pile as the sample of these authors works will make you want to take a deep dive into their other books. Along with the authors mentioned above, the collection includes stories from the following:

Helene Tursten, Timothy Hallinan, Teresa Dovalpage, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R. Benn, Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis, Sujata Massey, Cara Black and Stephanie Barron.

I love the international flavor of this collection which brings a diverse perspective and flavor to these Christmas stories. If there is a mystery lover on your gift-giving list (including yourself) this is the book you want. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

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