I was intending to review a few Christmas stories on
the blog this year, but time and other commitments got the better of me so I
decided to dust off this review from December 2008. It is a little-known Sam
McCain novella published in Crooks,
Crimes and Christmas (Worldwide, 2003) titled “The Santa Claus Murders” and
written by Ed Gorman.
Sam McCain’s only reason to attend a high school
reunion / Christmas party is a hope there will be attractive, available,
attentive former female classmates. The party is at the home of the wildly
wealthy Don Lillis, who inherited the house and a steel mill from his father.
On his arrival, Sam finds the usual clustering of people. The
wealthy and upwardly mobile, the weirdoes, the blue-collar-types, all
congregating in their respective groups. Sam has the uncanny ability to move
from group to group, but he doesn’t quite belong to any of them.
The party turns bad when Bob Nugent, the class drunk, is
found in the guest room with a knife in his throat. Bob Nugent was the kid
everyone expected to succeed. In school, Bob worked hard, was kind, friendly
and the teachers loved him. He was, to Sam’s thinking, a brownnose of the first
order. But something went wrong for Bob during his college years and he started
drinking. The party screeches to a halt when Bob’s body is found and the unlikable
and incompetent Sheriff Cliff Sykes, Jr is called to investigate. Cliffie, as
he is called behind his back, makes all the wrong assumptions and McCain decides
to solve the mystery on his own for two reasons: to make Sykes look the clown,
and make sure the right person is brought to justice.
“The Santa Claus Murders” is Sam McCain at his best.
He is young, endowed with the wisdom of much older man, intelligent and savvy
at why people do what they do, and cynical with a perfectly complimented amount
of optimism. He is a kid that doesn’t quite fit a category—he grew up in the
poor section of town, but he is a college graduate with his own small law
practice. He is an ideal Ed Gorman character: intelligent, cynical, tough,
realistic, and yet hopeful and wistful at the same time.
The mystery is perfectly executed. The killer is
revealed only moments after the reader figures it out. The supporting cast is
top-notch. Cliffie Sykes is his usual gruff and annoying self. The Judge is
kind and vindictive in a swift, judgmental and condescending manner. And
everyone else plays their parts perfectly.
I think I'd enjoy reading this novella by Ed Gorman, partly because I kind of like the setting and the Sheriff's description. Besides, I have never read a Sam McCain. Merry Christmas, Ben!
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