Christmas Peril is a collection of two inspirational romantic suspense novellas by two wonderful women I met at the ACFW conference last September. I received this book as a gift from Debby Giusti with no requirement to post a review, but I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to do so. The novella titles themselves are creative and intriguing: Yule Die and Merry Mayhem. I keep saying I don’t read a lot of suspense to the point where none of you probably believe me anymore.
During the conference I took in Margaret Daley‘s continuing education class and enjoyed her teaching style, learning a few tidbits about the craft of writing. She’s the author of the first novella, entitled Merry Mayhem. This story is about Annie, a woman who’s on the run from the men who killed her ex-boyfriend, her daughter’s father, whose last words to her were “Don’t trust the police.” But when she gets to safety at her aunt’s house many miles away in Christmas, Oklahoma, she meets the small town’s police chief, Caleb. He not only seems trustworthy, but like someone she could fall in love with. But trust doesn’t come easily to Annie, and with good reason. Caleb suspects she’s hiding something. How can he trust her if she won’t confide in him?
The second novella is called Yule Die, and it’s by Debby Giusti, with whom I had a lovely visit in the Denver airport while we were both waiting for our flights. This novella is about Callie, a lab tech who gets sent to run tests on the survivor of a shootout on Christmas Eve, a guy who’s being hidden in a nursing home to keep him safe. She walks in the room and realizes the man is her estranged brother. Joe, a cop, comes in to explain about security measures just before several masked men break into the nursing home taking Joe, Callie, and her unconscious brother captive. This novella speaks of protection: Joe’s desire to protect Callie, and Callie’s need to protect her brother as they seek a way to get out of the situation alive.
Both novellas are well-written. If you enjoy a little suspense with your romance with a bit of Christmas cheer (or fear) mixed in, check out this two-for-one book!