A Cold Christmas
Susan Wren Mysteries
by Charlene Weir
New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books, 2001
It's Christmas and Caley James has no money, no working furnace, and she's sick with the flu. Her three children are left to their devices and her no-good, no-account, low-life ex husband and his mother. Dragging herself from her bed to play at the organ at the local church, she has to earn money to pay for Christmas. That is, until the furnace man turns up dead in her basement. This starts a police investigation which Police Chief Susan Wren must undertake alone as most of her staff have been stricken with influenza. Through in a few nosey neighbours to complicate matters and the pathos runs to comedy.
The author has developed a cast of characters are who believable and sympathetic. Her settings are every day homes, which demonstrate that murder can happen anywhere - even in your basement. Some characters have criminal pasts, whereas others are simply nasty individuals. A precocious child who must protect his adoptive mother and his dad pulls at the heartstrings. Who among us has not had a Christmas go awry?
Also by this author: Murder Takes Two, Family Practice, Consider the Crows, The Winter Widow
