Most of us would agree that Christmas can come too soon. We complain (I
certainly do) about decorations in the stores and seasonal ads on TV before
summerβs even over, never mind before Halloween.
But still, a lot of us do our shopping ahead of time. I know people who buy
decorations for next year the week after this yearβs Christmas, and who start
shopping for gifts around the time they put away the New Yearsβ Decorations.
Itβs a wise woman (or man) who starts her baking in plenty of time. A
traditional Christmas cake or old-fashioned English pudding, full of rum or
brandy, or sometimes both, needs to be started months ahead to be perfect for
the big day.
Itβs precisely to help out those early birds that the town of Rudolph, New York
celebrates Christmas all year round.
Donβt rush to your atlases or Google maps looking for Rudolph because I made it
up. Itβs the town at the center of my new series,
The Year Round
Christmas mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime.
Rudolph wants to be known as Americaβs Christmas Town and everything in Rudolph
is about celebrating the holidays. All year round. They have a Santa Claus
parade twice a year. The usual one the first Saturday in December, and then
another for Christmas in July.
In Rudolph everyone gets into the spirit of the thing. Victoriaβs Bake Shoppe is
famous for its gingerbread. Thereβs Candy Cane Sweets, the North Pole Ice Cream
Parlour, The Elves Lunchbox, Cranberries Coffee Bar, Touch of Holly Restaurant,
The Yuletide Inn, the Carolers Motel. (Looking at this list it seems as though
the residents and visitors to Rudolph like to eat a lot.)
The series protagonist is Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Clausβs Treasures.
Merryβs dad, Noel, is Santa Claus. Yes, Merry knows that he isnβt really Santa,
but she does sometimes wonder. He has a way of knowing exactly what someone
wants before even they do.
But presents, decorations, ornaments and even food isnβt what the holidays are
about. Or it shouldnβt be. In in Rudolph they know that.
They know that Christmas is about friendship, family, and love. What we
sometimes call Christmas magic.
βHo, ho, ho,β said the deep voice from the shop doorway.
βLook whoβs here,β A woman said to the restless six-year-old tugging on her
coat. βItβs Santa!β
The kid, whoβd moments before been whining and stomping his feet with such
vigor I feared for the more delicate of my ornaments, stood stock still,
wide-eyed and open mouthed.
βHave you been a good boy?β Santa asked him.
The child nodded, struck dumb.
βSantaβs going to the park,β the head toy-maker said. βFor games.β
βWeβll be right there, Santa,β the mother said.
My dad nodded to the music box resting in her hand. βYour great-grandmother
will get a lot of pleasure out of that.β With a wink and another wave to the
child, he left.
The womanβs eyes were as wide and delighted as her sonβs. βHow did he know
my great-grandmotherβs still alive? This will be her one hundred and seventh
Christmas, and she looks forward to it as much as she did when she was a
child.β
βHeβs Santa,β the toy maker said.
βAre you Santaβs wife?β the child asked me.
βYup,β I said. Normally I might be offended if someone suggested I was old
enough to be married to my own father. But I was in my Mrs. Claus getup and
today everyone would believe what they wanted to believe. The air over Rudolph
was chock full of that special Christmas magic.
Year-Round
Christmas #2
A grinch is spoiling the holiday cheer and causing fear in the latest from
the author of Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen...
Itβs Christmastime three hundred sixty-five days a year in Rudolph, New York,
and as Christmas Day approaches, shop owner Merry Wilkinson is enjoying a rare
evening off at the Yuletide Inn when she runs into owners Grace and Jack Olsen.
With Jack's health failing, Merry is relieved to hear that his son Gord will be
taking over the day-to-day running of the Inn.
But then Gord reveals that his new plans have no room for Christmas at the
Inn, and Merry and the other shopkeepers start to fret about the effect a bland
franchise hotel could have on their livelihoods.
When Gord is found stabbed to death, thereβs an entire town of potential
suspectsβand itβs up to Merry to find whoever brought homicide home for the
holidays...
Mystery [Berkley Prime Crime, On Sale: November 1, 2016, Mass
Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780425280812 / eISBN: 9780698192850]
Vicki Delany began her writing career as a Sunday writer: a single
mother of three high-spirited daughters with a full-time job as a computer
programmer. Sunday afternoon was β and at that, only now and again β the only
time she had to spend all by herself, with a single candle on her desk for a bit
of atmosphere, a Bruce Springsteen tape in the tape deck, and a nice cup of tea
at her elbow. When she felt like really letting loose, the tea might have turned
into a glass of wine.
The years passed, as they tend to do, and the three daughters, somewhat
hesitantly, flew the coop, leaving Vicki more time to devote to her writing.
She was able to write three novels of suspense, set in Ontario, two of which,
Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory were published to critical acclaim by
Poisoned Pen Press of Scottsdale, Arizona.
In 2007, Vicki took early retirement from her job as a systems analyst with a
major bank and sold her house in Oakville, Ontario. At that time In the Shadow
of the Glacier, the first book in a police procedural series set in the British
Columbia Interior was published. After travelling around North America for a
year with her dog, Shenzi, she bought a home in bucolic, rural Prince Edward
County, Ontario, where she rarely wears a watch and can write whenever she feels
like it.
Since settling in Prince Edward County, Vicki has continued with her writing
career, publishing books in several different sub-genres as well as a book for
adults with low literacy skills.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026