Sugarplums and Scandal

by: Lori Avocato, Dana Cameron, Mary Daheim, Cait London, Suzanne Macpherson, and Kerrelyn Sparks

Published by: Avon

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

This delightful compilation of six short stories by some great authors will be sure to get you in a holiday mood.

Lori Avocato's Pauline Sokol takes on a possible medical insurance scam involving a dentist, Elfin Santana, who has taken the money for dentures for an elderly man, but who has not provided them. Sokol takes a job as receptionist in the dental office for the holidays, and think she may be uncovering a conspiracy, even as she begins to really like the sweet dentist who goes overboard at Christmas. Her investigative assistant, Jagger, is a welcome distraction.

Dana Cameron entertains us with a tale sent in the 1700s, featuring a bright young miss who hides her reading from her family--and is the main reason the missing jewels and the servant's murderer are discovered.

Judith Flynn and her mother are dealing with the long-kept secret family scandal involving her missing Uncle Bart, during a huge family party in Mary Daheim's The Ghost of Christmas Passed.

Cait London writes about organizer Cecelia Lattimer in the small Missouri town of Dewdrop in Partners in Crime. Cecelia and her new friend Berenger (really a friend of the Dewdrop's chief of police in town to help solve a rash of home break-ins) solve the mystery of the thefts and discover each other.

Suzanne Macpherson's Holly Go Lightly is the touching story of Holly, killed in a car accident, who hauntingly returns to prevent her ex-fiancee (they broke up on Christmas Eve!) from making a terrible choice in a new wife, and to direct him to a special treasure.

A Very Vampy Christmas is Kerrelyn Sparks's cherry on the top of this confection of a book--a love story of vampires in a hospital soap opera.

Armchair Interviews says: Fun short stories "for the season."