July 15, 2021
Ghosties and goblins invade the North Pole. Only in Santaland would April Claus, wife of the big man himself, be considered a Southerner. The owner of a bed-and-breakfast in Cloudberry Bay, April has an agreement with Nick to spend four months of each year in Oregon. Now, as October rolls around, the tourist season in the Pacific Northwest is winding down. So the couple returns to their northern home, Castle Kringle, to prepare for the upcoming holiday season--which in Santaland means nothing but Christmas. April, who misses her hometown traditions, persuades Salty, the palace gardener, to grow pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns in the royal greenhouse. She gets her friend Juniper, Christmastown's librarian, to read scary stories to the local children. She plans a costume parade and even trick-or-treating. Not everyone is happy with April's innovations. Juniper gets threatening messages on the library's Elfbook page. Cobbler Tiny Sparkletoe circulates a petition to ban April's Southern festivities. And someone smashes every one of Salty's Pumpkins. The protests escalate until Tiny is found flattened facedown inside a giant snow monster footprint. Constable Crinkles and his deputy, Ollie, are flummoxed. It isn't until Nick calls on snowshoe gumshoe Jake Frost that Tiny's killer is brought to justice. Brings the Christmas cozy to dizzying new heights of cuteness.
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August 30, 2021
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. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.
October 1, 2021
April Claus, wife of the acting Santa Claus, is determined to bring one of her favorite holidays, Halloween, to Santaland. Decorations are up, pumpkins are ripening in a greenhouse, and excited elf children are waiting to don their costumes and collect candy. Unfortunately, the pumpkins are smashed, the library receives a threatening message, and a prominent elf is collecting signatures on a petition against the holiday. Things become more serious with the attempted murder of Mrs. Claus, and the killing of an elf, who was apparently crushed by an Abominable, a snow monster from the Farthest Frozen Reaches, leading panicked residents to prepare for an attack. Due to the ineptitude of the bumbling local constable, April and private detective Jake Frost investigate. Complicating matters, April alienates a good friend when she warns her about her overattentive boyfriend. Multiple plot twists, quirky, characters, plenty of humor, and the lovingly described, magical Santaland distinguish this entertaining cozy.
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