She Treads Softly: When Christmas Comes

Thursday, December 2, 2021

When Christmas Comes

When Christmas Comes by Andrew Klavan
11/2/21; 244 pages
Penzler Publishers

When Christmas Comes by Andrew Klavan is a very highly recommended mystery.

In the town of Sweet Haven ex-Army Ranger Travis Blake has murdered his girlfriend, elementary school librarian Jennifer Dean. He has confessed. Public defender Victoria Grossburger recruits English professor Cameron Winter to look into the case. Winter has a gift of sorts. His self-described "strange habit of mind" allows him to acquaint himself with a situation, observe it, think about the facts, and come to a sudden realization about what really happened. Grossburger wants him to put his gift to use on Blake's situation. As the story unfolds, sessions between Winter and his therapist Margaret Whitaker are slowly revealed and provide insight into Winter.

The writing is excellent in this short mystery that takes place before Christmas and has a tie in to the holiday. Keep in mind that this is not a cozy mystery. It can be a rather dark, bleak story with a horrific crime at its center. Winter is a fully realized character and displays an inner strength of character and intelligence. As he looks into the murder, he also examines his troubled childhood. The plot seems simple and straightforward, after all Blake confess so what additional information could Winter possibly uncover, but the ending surprised me. I wasn't able to predict it at all. In spite of his inner turmoil and the bleakness of the days, the novel ends on a surprising, but hopeful note.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.