Cover of The Merchant of Menace

The Merchant of Menace

Jane Jeffry seriesbook 10 of 16Next:A Groom with a View(1999) →

It's beginning to look a lot like murder'Tis the season to jolly and suburban mom Jane Jeffry's in a mad scramble to finish her cookie baking and household chores before her teenage kids arrive home. Also expected are two moms-both the late husband's mother andthe disapproving mater of Det. Mel VanDyne, Jane's significant other. The kitchen is a disaster zone, the dog has decorated the house with hair, and the earsplitting racket coming from the neighbors tacky, music-making Christmas display is driving Jane crazy. Now she has to get the green icing out of her hair and be ready to host her post-caroling dinner party.

Read more

One thing Jane isn't ready for is a surprise visit from a muckraking TV "action reporter," disguised as Santa Claus. The nasty old St. Nick is out to wrap a happy holiday caroling into a package marked "scandal," but before he has a chance to color the event with yellow journalism, his red-suited body slides off the neighbor's roof to land, silenced forever, on the horns of a plastic reindeer. It looks like Santa's mishap is no accident and, with the help of her friend Shelley, Jane finds plenty of suspects. The phony Santa has an ex-wife and a female assistant who both hate him, and plenty of nice people ruined by tales of naughtiness. Now Jane has to find the Grinch who thought murder was a way to save Christmas before the holiday turns into the unhappiest day of the year.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 256 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Merchant of Menace? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Merchant of Menace. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Deadly Valentine Shares mystery, cozy mystery, fiction
  2. The Crossword Connection Shares mystery, cozy mystery, fiction
  3. Perfect Sax Shares cozy mystery, mystery, mystery series
  4. Murder is a Beach Shares mystery, cozy mystery, fiction

“People who read The Merchant of Menace tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Sugarplum Dead
  2. Gruel and Unusual Punishment
  3. Bound for Murder
  4. Major Vices

“If you want more of the same (mystery), start with these.”

  1. Too Many Cooks
  2. The New Year's Eve Murder
  3. Holy Terrors
  4. The Father's Day Murder

“If it was the cozy mystery that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Deadly Threads
  2. Never Con a Corgi
  3. Killer Cocktail
  4. Dying To See You

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Joanne Fluke Christmas Bundle: Sugar Cookie Murder, Candy Cane Murder, Plum Pudding Murder, & Gingerbread Cookie Murder
  2. Spot's Christmas board book
  3. Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes to Treasure for the Holiday Season
  4. Candy Cane Murder