Christmas is on its way to Dickens Junction, Ore., in Christopher Lord's first novel, The Christmas Carol Murders. All the merchants of Dickens Square--a pedestrian area lined with shops such as Cricket's Hearth, Pickwick's Pilates and, of course, the Old Curiosity Shop--are busy with preparations for the tableaux, a traditional display of four Christmas Carol scenes to be staged that evening.
Simon Alistair, owner of the local bookstore, Pip's Pages, is about to go home and dress for his part when a stranger comes in to buy a copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, along with a volume of Dickens's Christmas stories. Before leaving, he gives Simon his card: Marley Enterprises, Mervin Roark, Acquisitions.
Later in the day, Simon meets Zach Benjamin, a "model-handsome" journalist on assignment from a gay and lesbian travel magazine. Simon happily points out things he should see and agrees to meet him for a drink later in the evening. Before they have that drink, though, Roark is murdered with a nail gun. Zach encourages Simon to find the murderer himself: "Don't you know this town--these people--better than the police do?" Simon starts questioning everyone--even close friends--but before long, another murder complicates matters.
Lord has created an entire community of interesting characters with histories and plausible motives abounding--think Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove, but in the Pacific Northwest. It all adds up to a delightful cozy mystery that leaves the reader eagerly awaiting Lord's next book. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.