A convoluted holiday whodunit

WHILE it’s a little too warm to be roasting chestnuts over an open fire, we Southern Californians cling to our various holiday traditions nonetheless -- whether it’s listening to Nat King Cole’s rendition of “The Christmas Song” or making latkes for Hanukkah or lighting the Kwanzaa kinara. For many, the holidays also mean buying just the right tree and unpacking the Christmas ornaments that will adorn it.

In our family’s ornament box, in addition to the colorful globes and doves and black angels, you’ll also find our stash of holiday books -- Chris Van Allsburg’s “The Polar Express,” Robert Sabuda’s pop-up version of Clement Clarke Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” and “Merry Christmas, Baby,” an anthology I co-edited several years ago. So I approached suspense queen Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark’s “The Christmas Thief” with a dual purpose -- feeding my appetite for mysteries and looking for another holiday book to add to the ornament box, something to be read and savored for years to come.

Written at the suggestion of their editor at Simon & Schuster, the Higgins Clarks’ effort has a promising premise. It’s the story of an 80-foot Stowe, Vt., blue spruce tree destined for Rockefeller Center that’s stolen by Patrick “Packy” Noonan, recently paroled for his scheme to “cheat trusting investors out of nearly $100 million in the seemingly legitimate company he had founded.” More than 13 years before, Packy had converted $80 million of the stolen funds into diamonds and hidden them in a flask wired securely to the branch of the very tree now bound for Rockefeller Center.

While Packy is busy evading his Manhattan parole officers so he can head to Vermont to retrieve his loot, the news of his parole is angering Opal Fogarty, a hapless lottery winner and one of his victims, who scoffs at his public apology upon release and his promise to make restitution from his wages earned while toiling at a local salad bar. Opal’s anger and depression greatly concern her friend, Alvirah Meehan, co-founder and leader of the Lottery Winners Support Group, who invites Opal to join her, husband Willy Meehan and the Reillys -- Los Angeles P.I. Regan, Regan’s parents Nora and Luke (fabled mystery writer and mortician, respectively) and fiance Jack “no relation” Reilly, an NYPD detective -- for several days of skiing and relaxation.

But with Packy and so many sleuths in the snows of Stowe -- sworn, licensed and amateur -- there’s little chance anyone will get any rest, least of all the poor reader who has to sort through numerous gratuitous references to characters and situations from the Meehans’ and Regan’s other adventures, the Clarks’ friend radio personality Don Imus and a fleeting nod to musical Von Trapps that may leave some readers scratching their heads.

Although Packy and his band of oafish swindlers provide some mild comic relief, as do the giant spruce’s owners and a neighbor who has a competing tree, it’s hard to think of “The Christmas Thief” as much of a mystery when the coincidences are as thick as Vermont maple syrup, the multiple perspectives reveal the errant thoughts and predictable moves of every character, and what little foreshadowing there is feels as leaden as a Christmas fruitcake.

Stalwart fans of Mary Higgins Clark will welcome the return of the Meehans from “The Lottery Winner” stories while Carol Higgins Clark’s readers will recognize the sly humor and outrageous characters who echo those contained in her novels “Jinxed” and “Twanged.” And with two other Christmas titles under their belts, there is ample reason for previous readers to go back for another cup of the Clarks’ special brand of good-hearted Christmas cheer. But for new readers or those accustomed to more satisfying mystery or holiday offerings, “The Christmas Thief” offers little of the genuine spirit of brotherhood, peace on Earth, or even a suitably greedy Grinch.

Paula L. Woods is the author of the Charlotte Justice series of detective novels, including “Dirty Laundry.”