The Cop Who Stole Christmas

By: Christie Craig

Narrated by: Courtney Patterson

Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It'll take a tall, hot Texan and a little holiday spirit to mend a broken heart and catch a Christmas killer....

Savanna Edwards is feeling downright Scrooge-like. Who can blame her? A truly unjolly Santa - suit, beard and all - just repossessed her car because of her ex's shady business dealings. She'd like to murder the no-good lying cheat, but somebody already did that for her - and left him right in the middle of her kitchen, wrapped up with a bow.

Detective Mark Donaldson has a rule against getting involved with his neighbors. He can look - and he's studied every sweet curve of Savanna from across the street - but he can't touch. So when she lands on his doorstep in need of help, he finds himself torn between being naughty or nice and fights every urge to unwrap her like a shiny new Christmas present.

Trouble is, even Mark can't resist a little holiday magic...and there's definitely something magical happening between him and the girl next door.

©2013 Christie Craig (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Readers will be instantly drawn into this suspenseful story that is balanced by a fun, sexy romance. Marc and Savanna are perfectly matched...." ( Romantic Times)

Loved it

The story was well thought out and written. The performance was very smooth with male and female voices sounding perfect.

Yea! A new author to love!

Audible Escape has allowed me to discover new authors, but this one is the best yet. The story has romance and mystery, the dialogue is smooth and funny at the same time, and the narration is awesome. I’ve already downloaded more from Ms. Craig, and look forward finding more books narrated by Courtney Patterson.

Quirky & Fun read

I have enjoyed all of Christie's books, this one was fun and left me with a good feeling.

great narration

skilled voice actress, she actually sounds like a guy I once knew! interesting story. cop is not an arrogant a-hole like other books like to do. I only ever bought one other cop book but you know what I mean. who enjoys that? this is a nice guy. love the narration, very good actress with pretty versatile voice. tasteful and sweet

Pleasantly surprised

Audiobook: Narrator - Courtney Patterson

Very nice narration with the ability to perform both male and female characters without causing me to cringe as can happen with a solo narrator.

This has a lot of humor and fun mixed with suspense and mystery. The hero and heroine begin as antagonist but it doesn’t take long for that to change. Soon things are sizzling between them even while they are trying to figure out who the murderer is. The villain is not easily identifiable and I was pleasantly surprised to learn who it was. This was my first book by this author and I really enjoy it along with some of the secondary characters that I wouldn’t mind reading more about.

Naughty Santa

This story was not what I first expected, but I really enjoyed it. A fun read! Good cast of characters and good narration.

loved this book, it's adorable & sweet

love the added mystery.
loved this book, it's adorable & sweet. will be checking out her other books as well!!!

Delightful!

This is my second time reading this author and what a delight!

This novella is for you if you love a fun romance with intelligent, likeable main and secondary characters, and where the relationship and murder investigation is the focus of the story rather than the sex, although you get that here too, but it’s tasteful and not overly long.

The hero in this novella first appeared in GOTCHA! as a loveable secondary character so I was thrilled he has his own standalone story. He proved heroic and the heroine was his perfect match in wit and loveability.

And this is how you write a novella! I’ve recently felt short-changed when listening to 4hour-odd novellas by other authors because short-cuts are taken, and the stories feel incomplete. Here, however, I felt as if I had read a normal length novel because care was taken to fill the story with detail that mattered, not incessant sex-scenes.

I enjoyed narrator Courtney Patterson’s performance. Once again as in GOTCHA! she regularly said “wadn’t” instead of “wasn’t,” so I accepted that is correct Texan pronunciation.

I highly recommend this novella.

Sweet Christmas Cop Romance

This 5 hr novella went down nice and easy, like a Christmas time romance book should. Mark is a gentleman and Savannah a sweetheart. There’s quirky friends, humor, and a serviceable murder mystery that gives cop Mark the chance to be the protector hero. There’s one sex scene tastefully done (as both characters confess, they didn’t finish 50 Shades). I bumped the narration to 1.3x and really liked the narrator at that speed.

I might have liked this book more if I hadn’t listened to Gotcha!, book 1 in this series first. I got distracted by all the same plot points. I heard once that authors are advised to write what they love and what they know. Is the author a divorced lawyer whose ex cheated on her, perhaps who has also lost a parent and struggled to make ends meet, and who fights to be independent and not take charity from others? Did she find a better love with a man who has also dealt with nightmare exes? Because this book is now two for two with every one of those points. And, having listened to this book, I looked at her other Audible books, and she’s got a whole series about divorced gals.

I’m not averse to an occasional divorce, cheater/scumbag ex, storyline in my romances, but I like them only when outweighed by fun, action, and nooky. Whereas 11.5 hr Gotcha! book 1 was too heavy on the man hating and tragic backstories, this book clearly benefited from being less than half that length, containing a lot less downer drama. The last book in the series is under 6 hrs, so even though it features Jennifer, a woman with bad man luck (and if it’s the Jennifer from this book, she’s part of Savannah’s Tuesday night divorce support group), I may give it a go. After all, it’s free in Audible Escapes. But, if you’re looking for more fun, sass, and sex, especially with a cop, I suggest Jed Had To Die or Hot Cop (the latter only if you like it explicit).