October arrived so it must be Christmas

If you find yourself passing an author’s home some hot summer day, and glimpse her hunched over a keyboard, you can take an educated guess she is working on a novel. If Christmas music jingles merrily in the background, pine scent wafts from some candle, and she’s taking determined sips of hot cocoa while mopping sweat from her forehead, you can assume that what she’s writing is a Christmas story. She’s doing her level best to get in the holiday spirit while most folks are swimming, sunning, watching baseball, and grilling hot dogs.

I am one of those perspiring authors humming “Carol of the Bells” when I should have been belting out “In the Good Old Summertime” because The Lady With the Alligator Case is a Christmas novella. But now summer has leaked into fall, and my book’s release date looms. Unless I publicize it, no one will know it’s coming. And once you know it’s coming, why would you want to read it?

Some Christmas novels are packed with deep meaning. The characters experience life-altering revelations and self-actualizations. The Lady With the Alligator Case isn’t one of those. Then there are Christmas stories that serve as allegories for the Greatest Story. Of light shining in darkness. Of the humble exalted to high position, of joy that exceeds all joy. The Lady With the Alligator Case isn’t one of those, either.

Stories with deep insights or the ones that reflect the ultimate Truth enhance the holiday season. But so do lighter stories that take you, for a few hours, out of an increasingly complex world. Novellas that entertain, that feature decent people trying to act decently in unanticipated and hazardous situations. A story that has good guys and bad guys and some tense situations. A little book with flashes of insight on human relationships. With humor and empathy and respect for characters you wish you knew. That’s why you may enjoy reading The Lady With the Alligator Case.

Need a short escape in a snowy Wisconsin town with a heroine who goes from pluckless to plucky, an elderly duo who act clueless but maybe aren’t, and a law man who may—or may not—be a courageous hero? The Lady With the Alligator Case might be your cup of tea. Or hot cocoa or coffee or grog. Whatever. And because sugar makes everything better there are numerous references to Christmas cookies consumed while Christmas songs jingle merrily in the background and pine scented candles spread hypoallergenic aroma.

Here’s hoping you will read and enjoy!