Christmas crimes hit close to home for Boston's favorite art sleuths.
"Charlotte MacLeod's mysteries are witty and full of humor" (Maine
Crime Writers).
The angry old men of the Comrades of the Convivial Codfish club
celebrate yuletide doing what they do best: eating, drinking, and
greeting the season of giving with a spirited "bah, humbug!" Though well
past sixty, Jem Kelling is a relative infant compared to some of the
club's elder statesmen, and he has waited decades to host their annual
Christmas scowl. And during his first evening as Exalted Chowderhead, he
is thrilled to find the wine abundant, the chowder superb, and the
humbugs as lusty as ever. But as the night winds down, Jem is horrified
to find that the ceremonial Codfish necklace has vanished--right off of
his neck! His nephew-in-law, art investigator Max Bittersohn, is
convinced his new uncle was the victim of a practical joke. But when the
old man takes a hip-snapping tumble, Max is forced to conclude that one
of the scrooges is trying to perpetrate a deadly Christmas jeer.