Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
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``Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea'' by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark; Scribner ($22)
The mother-daughter writers team up for their fourth lighthearted holiday tale blending the Meehan and Reilly families from novels they've done individually. The story takes place in the Caribbean, where the generous Commodore Weed has invited 400 do-gooders - including 10 department-store Santas - aboard his cruise ship for its maiden voyage the day after Christmas.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Clark story unless there was something fishy going on, so when two Santa suits go missing and an ailing man is almost murdered in the ship's infirmary, amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan and cops Regan and Jack Reilly are ready to investigate. What they don't know is that two criminals on the lam are hiding out on the ship and - surprise! - they stowed away while the ship was in port at Miami.
The story works out just like any other Clark novel, and the commingling of characters, along with touches from past mysteries such as Alvirah's starburst pin, which doubles as a tape recorder, make the book a safe bet for fans of either writer.
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``Blue Christmas'' by Mary Kay Andrews; HarperCollins ($14.95)
The heroine of Andrews' two other Savannah stories, antiques dealer Weezie Foley, finds a beautiful, sparkling blue Christmas tree pin at the bottom of an unmarked box she buys at auction. When she shows it to her boyfriend - who her friends think should be proposing this year - he's less than enthused: His mother, who abandoned the family when he was a child, had one just like it.
When Weezie dresses up her shop for the downtown Christmas decorating contest, she's pleased with her traditional, fruit-filled design - until the day of the judging, when she finds all the fruit is missing. Inspired by the pin, she goes for an Elvis "Blue Christmas" theme and snags the first-place prize. But the next morning, when she can't find the pin, neighbors tell her that an old homeless woman was seen sleeping overnight in the shop's display window. Weezie wonders who the woman is and plays a sort of Secret Santa game with her to find out.
"Blue Christmas" is a cute story with a lot of Southern charm, even if the ending is somewhat predictable (the homeless woman's identity isn't "that" mysterious). And Floridians - though maybe not Gator fans - will crack up at Weezie's Christmas Eve dinner, where the women toil in the kitchen while the men watch a tape of the 1980 Florida-Georgia game, still screaming at the players 26 years later. In case you don't remember: that game didn't work out so well for the Gators.
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``A Christmas Secret'' by Anne Perry; Ballantine ($16.95)
In her latest Christmas novella - her fourth in as many years - Perry revisits minor characters from a previous novel set in Victorian England. Priest Dominic Corde and his wife, Clarice, are sent to a remote town during a bitter winter to fill in for the local vicar, who has gone away on holiday quite abruptly just before Christmas. When they discover the vicar dead in the cellar, they begin to see that all is not as it seems among the people in the village.
While set up as a mystery, the story is really about redemption. Several of the townspeople harbor deep, shameful secrets, for which Corde helps them make amends and find forgiveness. The book is a quick read, and though some of the solutions to the mysteries come out of absolutely nowhere, its well-meaning message will remind you of what the holiday is all about.
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``A Christmas Memory'' by Truman Capote, illustrated by Beth Peck; Knopf ($17.95)
This autobiographical sketch of a holiday season from Capote's youth still rings true in this 50th anniversary edition. Its illustrations closely follow the story of a little boy and his 60-something cousin as they begin their annual tradition of baking fruitcake. Buddy, the Capote character, is orphaned and lives with several members of the family, but shares a special bond with this cousin he considers his best friend.
The book, which includes a new CD narration by actress Celeste Holm, is filled with the colorful descriptions you expect from Capote as well as charming expressions from the South. But things take a heartbreaking turn that follows what happened to Capote in his own life. It's a sad ending to a precious story.
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``The Drummer Boy'' by Ted Dekker; J.Countryman ($12.99)
Set sometime in the future - when Christmas is no longer Christmas but "The Holiday," a day to celebrate the nation's prosperity - a boy learns that the drum he has been given is the exact drum from a long-ago story he has never even heard. Even though his wrists are useless - he broke both arms in a fall from a tree - he is able to play the instrument, and when he finds the words to "The Little Drummer Boy" hidden inside it, he goes on a mission to get the mayor to understand the real meaning behind the holiday.
Kids have always loved this song around the holidays, and although this book isn't specifically targeted to children, it's a good way to remind them of the true meaning of the holidays, even if the message is a bit simplistic.
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(c) 2006, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
