In her debut mystery novel, The Killing Carol: An Anna Greenan Mystery (Level Best Books), author Jennifer Bee adds a mysterious and scary twist to holiday celebrations.
Anna Greenan’s husband, Jake, died three years ago in an auto accident. She misses him. The two things that get her through her days are her Catholic faith and the devotion of Jake’s best friend Ryan Martin — owner of the local general store and lunch counter — who’s determined to keep her upbeat.
Anna has survived another Christmas without Jake, but on December 26, someone leaves her a note that reads, “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me the reason your husband had to die.” What does that mean? Jake died in a car wreck. She’d been certain his death was an accident, but now she isn’t sure.
Then other mysterious things happen.
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN MOTION
A friend from Anna’s book study is at Anna’s house when that friend learns her grown son — who’d disappeared three years before after he caused a fatal car accident — has just been hit by a car and killed, run over in town by his friend Leo Adams.
How unbelievably coincidental it was Leo who hit him. Anna’s sure he won’t be charged — his brother, Vince, is the local law enforcement, and they belong to the most powerful family in town. The Adams family controls the police force, the judge, the family business and the local salt mine, which employs 75% of the people in Potrage, NY.
Then, something happens to Anna’s friend the same night. Anna knows something nefarious is in play, but she has no idea what.
THE SECOND CRYPTIC CHRISTMAS CLUE
On December 27, Anna finds the second note in her mailbox, which says, “On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two sets of books and the reason your husband had to die.” What in the hell does that mean? Jake was an accountant, but she doesn’t know what “books” the note refers to. Surely, her husband wasn’t involved in something illegal?
Ryan is steadfast in his support for Anna, spending most of his time with her. They soon discover their mutual attraction, but Anna is still grieving Jake’s death. “No matter how much she cleaned, she could never wash away the memories. They were there, covered by a dusty film, but as real and solid as the furniture beneath.”
Each day, Anna receives another note with an additional clue to investigate. The notes are “creepy and twisted,” but if she wants to stop more from coming, she has to decipher the sender’s message. “The letters were like Pandora’s Box. Once she opened them, she couldn’t stop their momentum,” and she “felt like she was on a scavenger hunt but had lost the master list.”
Anna researches the urban legend of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” carol. It had been written as a coded message for Catholics to learn the principles of their faith during a time when Catholicism was outlawed. Now, the coded messages are for her, like a countdown to something sinister, but Anna doesn’t understand what. She has the puzzle pieces, but she doesn’t know how to put them together.
Anna soon suspects that the notes also have something to do with the recent kidnapping of a young girl. When Anna has dreams of another girl, pleading for help, she wonders whether it’s a divine message or just her brain in overdrive.
RIDDLES, ROMANCE AND A RACE AGAINST TIME
As Ryan spends more time with Anna, keeping her safe and trying to decipher the notes, they both sense the romantic spark between them. But Anna has a niggling feeling that maybe Ryan is not who he pretends to be. And she now knows Jake had been keeping secrets of his own.
With help from Ryan and his funny Elvis-impersonator accountant, can Anna figure out the 12 clues before someone else is kidnapped or killed?
Bee writes the narrative in chronological order, most chapters from Anna’s point of view. But she increases the tension by interspersing chapters from the point of view of a character she refers to as “the messenger” — the mystery person who has been writing and delivering the ominous notes to Anna. It’s someone readers won’t expect, and when their true identity of “the messenger” does come to light, readers will be shocked to discover the notes’ obscure ties to the past. This faith-infused romantic Christmas cozy is just the right fireside read for the holiday season.
