A Festive Murder Puzzle in A Merry Mersey Christmas

Liverpool’s Special Murder Investigation Squad is preparing for Christmas when Andy Ross receives a call to a murder scene. The victim is a department store Santa. In Brian L. Porter’s A Merry Mersey Christmas, a familiar seasonal figure becomes the starting point for an unusual police investigation.

A holiday shift interrupted

Ross is on call, so he attends with Sergeant Izzie Drake. Their involvement grounds the festive setup in ordinary police work: a call comes in, a team responds, and a death needs an explanation despite the calendar.

That practical beginning gives the seasonal contrast its force. Christmas preparations continue around a case whose victim has been participating in the holiday’s public performance.

When the suspects fit the season

Suspects identified through Santa and elf roles make the seasonal setting part of the puzzle. Familiar holiday identities acquire a different significance once a murder needs explaining. The festive appearances draw attention to the people behind them and the relationships the investigation must sort through.

For readers who like a Christmas mystery with a police partnership at its center, Ross and Drake supply a point of continuity amid the odd circumstances. The attraction lies in finding out who stands behind the festive costumes and how the death connects them. No solution needs to be assumed in advance: the holiday setting makes the investigation distinctive without making the murder any easier to explain.