Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland

Item: Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted March 20, 2025 by karenbaron in #HolidayMystery, Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings

by Liz Ireland

Series: Mrs. Claus Mysteries #1
Series Rating:

Published by Kensington Cozies on September 29, 2020
Setting: Santaland, North Pole; Christmastown, North Pole
Genres: Cozy Holiday Mystery
Pages: 304
Format: Kindle, Paperback
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon

It's the first Christmas in Santaland for April Claus--but it may also be her last unless she can uncover a villain with a killer Christmas wish. . .

Love is full of surprises--though few compare to realizing that you're marrying the real-life Santa. April Claus dearly loves her new husband, Nick, but adjusting to life in the North Pole is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous elf named Giblet Hollyberry is killed--felled by a black widow spider in his stocking--shortly after publicly arguing with Nick.

Christmastown is hardly a hotbed of crime, aside from mishaps caused by too much eggnog, but April disagrees with Constable Crinkle's verdict of accidental death. As April sets out to find the culprit, it'll mean putting the future of Christmas on the line--and hoping her own name isn't on a lethal naughty list . . .

Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland has done a nice spin on the Santa Claus story I love.

Can April Claus keep Nick out of jail?

April Claus

April Claus married Nick Claus, the new Santa Claus, shortly after Nick’s older brother Chris’s death. Okay, like a few months later. April has been trying to adjust to knowing that her new husband is not only Santa Claus, but she lives in the North Pole with her in-laws. She has done her best, which is all anyone can ask of her right now, especially since she showed up only three months before Christmas. It’s now Christmas time, and April has been trying to keep busy.

I have to say that I like April. She is the only one who sees that all the evidence points to Nick. It’s not looking too good for him, but April believes wholeheartedly that the person she married isn’t a murderer.

The Mystery

The night before, Giblet Hollyberry told the whole town that Nick killed the last Santa, but it’s only a rumor. That is, until Giblet is found dead the following day in his home by a black widow spider. A black widow spider in the North Pole is not good news for Nick, especially since April is from Oregon and he could’ve gotten a spider from there to bring with him. That is not objective evidence, and poor April is at her wit’s end to prove that her husband didn’t do this. Her in-laws want to push this under the rug so Christmas can go off without a hitch.

I have to say that I had a hard time with this one. I did nab the right suspect, but I crossed that suspect off my list just to add the suspect back on. Eliminating suspects was a very hard process when they just kept getting evidence that pointed at them left and right for a while. Until somehow April and I got on the right mind track simultaneously.

Five Stars

My rating for Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland is five stars. I loved this holiday read and am glad I picked it up. I’ve always wanted to read this series, and after reading the plot summary, I did a new release post for it the first time. Ms. Ireland has done a fantastic job of transporting me up to the North Pole and in this fantasy land that she put the Santaland in. It was amazing. I can’t wait to see what else happens for April to don her detective hat.

Mrs. Claus Mysteries

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

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About Liz Ireland

Liz was born in Texas and credits a rural upbringing in a houseful of books for her lifelong love of stories. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, she moved to New York and worked various jobs (book clerk, world’s slowest professional typist, substitute teacher) before landing a job in publishing. Since then, she’s made her home in Austin, Portland (Oregon), Ottawa, Montreal, and now Vancouver Island in British Columbia. In her free time, she enjoys playing in local concert bands, watching classic films, and—of course—reading. In addition to her writing career, Liz has worked for two decades as a fiction editor. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and has served as a regional representative for Crime Writers of Canada.

Under the pen name Liz Freeland, Liz writes the Louise Faulk historical mystery series. She also writes women’s fiction as Elizabeth Bass.

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