Synopsis from Goodreads:
Instead of presents this Christmas, a true crime podcaster is opening up a cold case…
Madeline Martin has built a life for herself as the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She’s the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline’s, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It’s an investigation that has obsessed her father Sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties.
Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn’t much of a novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth ― and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed ― and some want reopened. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Cramer was killed, Ainsley and Sam Wallace disappeared, and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank.
Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there some else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites?
As Christmas approaches and a blizzard bears down, Madeline and her childhood friend Badger return to a past they both hoped was dead ― to find the missing Lolly and to answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think.
Coupling a picturesque, cozy setting with a deeply unsettling suspenseful plot, Christmas Presents is a chilling seasonal novella that can be enjoyed all year long.
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Publication Date: October 24, 2023
Source: Purchased Audiobook (Audible)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
My Thoughts:
I grabbed CHRISTMAS PRESENTS from Audible last month because I wanted a holiday thriller to listen to while wrapping…yep. Christmas presents. It’s a quick listen at around 5-1/2 hours on 1x speed. The narration by Jennifer Pickens pulled me into the story. Her voice is hypnotic.
The story is about a true crime author/podcaster who comes to town to investigate the disappearance of three women, and how their cases might be connected to another woman’s murder and two missing sisters a decade ago. Then there’s a surviving victim of the murder case ten years ago who’s not thrilled about rehashing that horrific time.
For a novella-length book, the story was rather complex with the different layers and POVs, but it wrapped up nicely in the end. There were a couple of times things didn’t make sense, but overall it was a well-written and engrossing thriller. I’d recommend CHRISTMAS PRESENTS if you’re looking for a darker holiday read.
Book of Secrets 