Christmas Crazy (A Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 3) by Kathi Daley

Christmas Crazy (A Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 3) by Kathi Daley
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Every year between the dates of December 1 and December 24, a strange and wonderful insanity hits Ashton Falls. Most refer to this phenomenon as Christmas Spirit, but Zoe has been around long enough to know that spirit usually translates to insanity, which brings on a phenomenon she likes to refer to as Christmas Crazy. After Hometown Christmas is threatened when Santa is killed four days prior to the annual event, Zoe is pulled into a murder investigation with more twists and turns then the narrow road leading to the valley below.

Excerpt:

Every year between the dates of December 1 and December 24, a strange and wonderful insanity hits my hometown of Ashton Falls. Most refer to this phenomenon as Christmas Spirit, but I’ve been around long enough to know that spirit usually translates to insanity, which brings on a phenomenon I like to refer to as Christmas Crazy.

For those of you I haven’t yet met, my name is Zoe Donovan. I am a third-generation Ashtonite (our unofficial name for the citizens of our little community). I often complain about the long hours required to pull off the biggest and best Christmas extravaganza this side of, well, anywhere, but truth be told, I love everything about this hectic but wonderful time of year including the community tree lighting on the sixth, the cookie exchange on the tenth, the opening of Santa’s Village on the twelfth, the local theater company’s performance of White Christmas on the thirteenth, the opening of the kiddie carnival on the eighteenth, Hometown Christmas on the nineteenth, the Holly Ball on the twenty-third, and the annual moonlight caroling and candlelight vigil on the twenty-fourth. Like I mentioned before, our little town tends to go just a little bit Christmas crazy.

My story began on a snowy Tuesday in early December. The agglomeration of Christmas hysteria was just beginning and most were still happily unaware of the frenzy that would soon engulf our little town. Charlie, my half Tibetan terrier/half mystery dog, and I had just left the high school, where we met with Principal Joe Lamé—pronounced La-mae with an exaggerated accent—and were on our way to the regular Tuesday morning breakfast meeting of the Ashton Falls Events Committee. Although it was only December 3, the entire town was decked out in holiday splendor reminiscent of an old-fashioned Christmas village.

I tried to let the magic of the season calm my restless thoughts as I drove through the festively decorated village, but the uncertainty of the request I planned to make at the committee meeting weighed heavily on my mind. I slowed my truck slightly as a group of seniors from the center crossed the street in front of the Rotary tree lot on their way to the town square. Every year Gabe Turner, the owner of a local lumber company, volunteers his services to cut the most inimitable tree he can find, and every year dozens of residents descend on the town square to string lights and hang ornaments, creating an extravagant hallmark worthy of a Lifetime original movie.

I waved at Hazel Hampton as she struggled with one of the giant wreaths being installed on every lamppost along Main Street. The lampposts had been donated by my mother’s family for the town’s fiftieth anniversary celebration. At first I thought the lights—white wrought iron with fancy lantern-shaped lights, three to a post—a bit ostentatious for our rugged little town, but as time has passed, the beacons have grown on me.

As I looked up and down Main Street, I noticed that the decorating crew had managed to transform our little hamlet in just a few short hours. In addition to the giant evergreen wreaths with bright red bows that hung on every lamppost, volunteers from the fire department were stringing colored lights across the street at every intersection. Christmas carols blasted from storefronts along the main drag as local shop owners decorated their windows with tiny villages that told a story if you viewed the displays in order from west to east.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” I tried for a light tone as Charlie and I parked and joined Hazel.

“I just love this time of year.” Hazel smiled. “And it’s so nice that Mother Nature provided us with snow for our decorating party. It really adds to the ambience.”