The Usual Santas

A Collection of Soho Crime Christmas Capers

By: Stephanie Barron, James R. Benn, Cara Black, Henry Chang, Gary Corby, Colin Cotterill, Tod Goldberg, Timothy Hallinan, Mette Ivie Harrison, Mick Herron, Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen, John Keating, Barbara Caruso, Luis Moreno, Elizabeth Sastre, Carine Montbertrand, Ali Ahn, Brian Hutchison

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! Featuring short crime fiction by: Helene Tursten, Mick Herron, Martin Limon, Timothy Hallinan, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Ed Lin, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R. Benn, Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis, Gary Corby, Cara Black, Stephanie Barron, and Peter Lovesey.

This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.

Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Christmas dinner with a stranger. Niccolo Machiavelli sets out to save an Italian city. Sherlock Holmes' onetime nemesis Irene Adler finds herself in an unexpected tangle in Paris while on a routine espionage assignment. Jane Austen searches for the Dowager Duchess of Wilborough's stolen diamonds. And other adventures will whisk listeners away to Christmases around the globe, from a Korean War POW camp to a Copenhagen refugee squat to a Thai street child's quest for the perfect gift for her friend.

Full list of authors: Stephanie Barron, James R. Benn, Cara Black, Henry Chang, Gary Corby, Colin Cotterill, Tod Goldberg, Timothy Hallinan, Mette Ivie Harrison, Mick Herron, Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis, Martin Limon, Ed Lin, Peter Lovesey, Sujata Massey, Stuart Neville, Helene Tursten.

©2017 Soho Press, Inc. (P)2017 Recorded Books

interesting collection of short stories

good collection of short stories. there was a couple I really didn't like but most were quite enjoyable

18 Xmas crime stories run the gamut

The cover art is misleading, but the summary better forecasts shorts with “laughs … noir … heartwarming” vibes … just not together. The time periods, settings, and moods are all over the map (literally in the case of the settings). While Christmas is a theme in all of them, the real connection is crime and thus, as you might expect, the overall tone is darker than I care for when looking for holiday mysteries. There are 18 stories by London authors, each generally between a half hour and an hour.
This was entertaining enough as a free listen.

For a better Christmas anthology, I recommend Wolfsbane and Mistletoe,
with 15 urban fantasy shorts about werewolves and Christmas.

I have a pet peeve for anthologies that don’t bother to give tables of contents, especially here where it appears two authors didn’t get recognized in the summary. So, here’s a list with some rough descriptions to see if any of these might float your boat:

Ch 1 introduction
1. Ch 2 Joy to the World by Helen Turston - elderly killer Maud is more concerned with the noise than the fact that it stems from a victim of domestic violence. Some F bombs. Other shorts featuring Maud are currently free in The Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good.
2. Ch 3 The Usual Santas by Mick Herron - Cheeky and my favorite of the lot, perhaps explaining why it gets to headline the anthology (and perhaps the cover art is just to honor this one?). ⭐️
3. Ch 4-5 PX Christmas by Martin Limon - 1970’s Korea, noir following two shady military men as they help a fellow soldier’s wife out of trouble with a brothel and crime boss.
4. Ch 6 Cha-Li Nativity by Timothy Hallinan - street kids in Thailand make do for Christmas. Sad.
5. Ch 7 The Cuban Marquis’ Jewels by Theresa De La Padre - some sort of con, maybe? I didn’t get it.
6. Ch 8 A Mother’s Curse by Mette Ivie Harrison - theft as a gay-Mormon prepares for his mission
7. Ch 9 Silent Night by Jonathan Contrew - zippy Thailand noir, is that a thing?
8. Ch 10 Martin by Ed Lin - three guys share the worst thing they’ve done.
9. Ch 11 Queen of the Hill by Stuart Neville - dark, vicious manipulation
10. Ch 12 Blue Memories Start Calling by Todd Goldberg - broody and jaded cop story with body parts, dead kids, and gruesome death. ⭐️
11. Ch 13 Vengeance by Henry Chang - all about the Chinatown vibe
12. Ch 14 Red Christmas by James R Benn - POWs from Korean War struggling to survive. Dark. ⭐️
13. Ch 15 When the Time Came by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis- Immigrant struggles in Copenhagen.
14. Ch 16 Hairpin Holiday by Sujata Massey - 1920’s Bombay, should please Agath Christie fans. ⭐️
15. Ch 17 The Prince of Peace by Gary Corby - Machiavelli navigates between two would-be princes. ⭐️
16. Ch 18-19 Kaxxxxx Assassin (? Not sure of title) by Cara Black - espionage, France, and Sherlock. Mood.
17. Ch 20 Jane and the Midnight Clear by Stephanie Barron - Jane Austin and a jewel caper. Cozy. ⭐️
18. Ch 21 Supper With Miss Shivers by Peter Lovesey - mystery with manners

Love what I listened to!

Had the collection in my queque. Got started late so listened to maybe 4 stories, but it disappeared before I could finish. Not a short story fan, but piqued my interest b/c collection from some of THE best international thrill and crime writers along with THE best narrators. Looking forward to finishing somehow!

Terrible production, ok stories

This collection of stories was a mixed bag. I liked some, and others were completely immemorable. The Audible production was not up to their usual standards though. The volume is super low compared to every other Audible book I've listened to. What's worse is that there's no indication of what story you're listening to on the track list - it's just Chapter 1, chapter 2, etc. most stories were one chapter long but some were two. The title and author were announced at the top of the track but I didn't always listen to a full story at once and a reminder about what I was listening to would have been so helpful.

UGH!

There was one beautiful story about two orphan girls, which I wish were a long story. Several other stories are so and so, but when you reach the story that was probably written by a teen boy, when you have to listen to the "fire in his loins" ad nauseam that is when I return my credit. The narrators are excellent, but the collection of stories are definitely not the best. Pass this one.