The Cop Who Stole Christmas

Tall, Hot & Texan #2

by Christie Craig

It’ll take a tall, hot Texan and a little holiday spirit to mend a broken heart and catch a Christmas killer...

Savanna Edwards is feeling downright Scrooge-like. Who can blame her? A truly unjolly Santa—suit, beard and all—just repossessed her car because of her ex’s shady business dealings. She’d like to murder the no-good lying cheat, but somebody already did that for her—and left him right in the middle of her kitchen, wrapped up with a bow.



Detective Mark Donaldson has a rule against getting involved with his neighbors. He can look—and he’s studied every sweet curve of Savanna from across the street—but he can’t touch. So when she lands on his doorstep in need of help, he finds himself torn between being naughty or nice, and fights every urge to unwrap her like a shiny new Christmas present.

Trouble is, even Mark can’t resist a little holiday magic... and there’s definitely something magical happening between him and the girl next door.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Christmas, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, Mystery, Holiday

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2013

About the author

Pseudonym for C. C. Hunter.

Photojournalist, Author and Speaker

Christie Craig, an Alabama native, is an award-winning, multi-published writer, multi-published photo journalist, motivational speaker, and writing teacher.. Her non-fiction articles and photography have appeared in almost three thousand national magazines. A Golden Heart finalist, and a finalist in more than fifty RWA-sponsored contests, she has gained a well-deserved reputation for writing romance fiction that has both witty humor and a suspenseful, sexy tone. Published by Silhouette in the 90s, she recently broke back into fiction in a big way, making four book sales in one day. Her seventh humorous single title romance novel, published by Dorchester, will hit the stands in June 2010. Her non-fiction book, co-authored by Faye Hughes, released September 08, is The Everything Guide To Writing A Romance Novel and their second non-fiction book, a humorous self-help relationship book, Wild, Wicked and Wanton: 101 Ways to Love Like You Are in a Romance Novel is scheduled to be released December 2010. Craig’s latest writing adventure is the sale of a young adult paranormal romance series, Shadow Falls Camp, that will be published by St. Martins Press in the near future.

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you do when Santa takes your car? You call a cop, of course. If he just happens to be the hot neighbor so much the better.
An adorable Christmas love story. Funny and sexy at the same time. 😊🎄🎅🏻

[Carvanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook: Narrator - Courtney Patterson

Very nice narration with the ability to perform both male and female characters without causing me to cringe as can happen with a solo narrator.

This has a lot of humor and fun mixed with suspense and mystery. The hero and heroine begin as antagonist but it doesn’t take long for that to change. Soon things are sizzling between them even while they are trying to figure out who the murderer is. The villain is not easily identifiable and I was pleasantly surprised to learn who it was. This was my first book by this author and I really enjoy it along with some of the secondary characters that I wouldn’t mind reading more about.

Dual POV
Safe no ow/om drama; h not a virgin; H not a manwhore
Triggers no apparent triggers

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a pretty good idea early on that this book and I were not meant to be together.

Page 4 has '..all he had on was a pair of boxers.'
]
Then on page 7 : 'Frowning, he walked over to the sofa and snagged his leather jacket, and slipped it on.'

Then, apparently wearing just boxers and a leather jacket, he goes out to confront the repo man who is towing away a neighbour's car.

There is a waiter called Leonardo who asks a group of women: 'Have you beautiful bitches decided what you want for Christmas yet?'

Yes. I'd like a man who treats a woman with respect.

There were numerous missing spaces e.g: otherfriend, Jennifer

and random spacings "Thanks for the warnin g."

and sentences such as: "He's one of the cops on the case. He called me, and when I insisted to know more he gave me a Jake Baldwin's number. Mr Baldwin gave me this number."

The cop's mother was just weird in the extreme and I dnf'd at 34%.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know what the title had to do with the book, but the book had a big book feel about it and really worked. Wasn't ready for the book to be over though...really liked it. Might we see Tom's book in the future??? I hope so!

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the Tall, Hot & Texan series by Christie Craig. Savanna Edwards was angry at her ex but not enough to kill him. But when he turns up dead in her house she turns to her neighbor, the cop, Mark Donaldson, to help. Mark has had his eye on his attractive neighbor for a while but being that they are neighbors means hand off.

This was a short, light, fun romance with a cozy mystery involved. Who killed Savanna's ex? Everyone was a suspect. And I was surprised at the whodunit.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cop Who Stole Christmas is book two of Tall, Hot & Texan series by Christie Craig. Savanna Edwards thought that things could not get any worse. However, this was not the case, Savanna came home from dinner one night and found her ex-husband dead in her kitchen. Savanna Edwards neighbour Mark Donaldson was a police detective and became involved in the investigation. The readers of The Cop Who Stole Christmas will continue to see what happens to Savanna and Mark and who killed Savanna ex-husband.

I loved reading The Cop Who Stole Christmas. While reading The Cop Who Stole Christmas, I was unable to stop myself laughing at times. I like Christie Craig portrayal of her characters and the way she intertwined then with each other and the plot of The Cop Who Stole Christmas. I was engaged in reading The Cop Who Stole Christmas from the very beginning.

The Cop Who Stole Christmas highlights that you have to be careful what you say in the open you never know who is listing. Also, the readers of The Cop Who Stole Christmas will understand the importance of ensuring that the correct name is on your papers in regards to your car and house.

I recommend this book

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

#HoHoHoRAT

meh, light and fluffy, little depth. sweet but my attention lagged.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing was somewhat immature. Many spelling and punctuation errors. It's an 'idle' threat, not an 'idol' threat!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like Christie Craig's characters :). I like that she doesn't give the Texas characters over the top accents or silly country names. I thought this was a good read.

[Janey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah super sweet Christmas book, love me a hot, slightly gruff but the biggest heart hot cop!!

[A.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Florist Savanna Edwards thought she hated her ex, but she’s more than angry now her car is being repossessed. Clint used it as loan collateral when she forgot to change the name on the papers. She asks her cop neighbour for help, but he says he’s a murder detective, not a traffic policeman.
A day later she’s pounding on his door with blood on her hands and a corpse in her kitchen.
Mark Donaldson swears he’s given up on women who want him to solve their problems with parking tickets. But he keeps thinking about his neighbour.
That day she had loudly declared to her friends in a crowded restaurant that all she wanted for Christmas was Clint dead with a ribbon tied around his dick, and it seems someone has granted her wish.
Mark feels bad that he didn’t help her the first time she asked, and now he wants to fix that. But one of the first things he finds out is that one of her friends dated Clint. *winces* and he says she can stay at his place. Once that happens, he decides he doesn't want her to leave… ever.
***
Our hero is wounded coz his ex just wanted him for his money. He’s got a trust fund from his grandfather.
This was going well until about a third of the way in when his mother shows up and she is cartoonishly awful.She freaks that he might be gay. Ugh.
He has to tell Savanna that she probably shouldn’t eat dinner at the restaurant where she made her declaration because the owner is a person of interest. Duh. [tstl]

She leaned back in her chair. “So what exactly does your dad do in Washington?”
He hesitated. “He’s the White House Chief of Staff.”
Savanna’s mouth dropped open. “Holy crap. David Donaldson is your dad?”
He nodded. “You know a lot about politics?” (p. 99).

Really? You need to know a LOT about politics to know the NAME of the Chief of Staff? Really? *blinks*

Jennifer dropped back against the sofa. “At least the last guy you dated didn’t show up at your door wearing a dress and a wig.”
Bethany looked at Jennifer. “I told you when you said his legs were shaved that something was fishy.” (p. 109).

Sigh…
She’s the kind of girl who covers herself up with the sheet after they’ve had sex twice… because it’s day time.
I’m inclined to DNF this. [57%]
I’m not even that sold on the romance. They mostly seem to be just… bored and ready to date.
That’s it… we’re done… the murderer is santa, the repo man, and he’s ‘crazy’ because of his name. It makes no sense.
And the mystery is solved at 63%. Oh, I see, the book finishes at 68%. I was skimming…
Meh
2 stars
And surely the title should be ‘the Cop who Shot Christmas’? Not stole.

[India · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sweet romance leaves our heroine in danger when her cheating ex turns up dead on her kitchen floor. Lucky for her, her hot Texan neighbour just happens to be a cop. Romance with a little suspense, what more could you want from a Christmas read? The story is sweet and sassy but it is also funny and for me that takes this rating up to a five star.

[Black Butterfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

FOR ME THIS WAS AN EXCELLENT FALLING IN LOVE STORY AND IT WAS VERY BELIEVABLE. COMBINED WITH A WHO-DONE-IT MYSTERY. I REALLY ENJOYED THE STORY LINE, IT WAS PERFECT FOR THE SEASON SINCE CHRISTMAS IS 2 DAYS AWAY. I LOVED THE CHARACTERS THEY WERE VERY WELL DEVELOPED. GREAT READ! ;D

[Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cop Who Stole Christmas (Tall, Hot, & Texan Bpok 2)

The Christmas love story of Savanna and Mark. Savanna's ex husband is kill in her home after she wish he was dead, naked with a bow around his private parts. When it happen she run to her neighbor home for help. Can Mark find the real killer or will Savanna's Christmas be in jail? Great story

[Jamal Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is the second book in this series, it read like a standalone, something to be appreciated. The plot line is a simple, comedic one.

The story centers around, Savanna and Mark. Savanna’s life is a messy and complicated one. She finds her husband in bed with another woman, and her car is repossessed by an unsuspecting character: Santa. It’s hilarious. But she can get over the car. Now Mark, though, she wants him dead with a little bow left decorating his phallus. So much so that she announces it in a room full of people. And Santa delivers her the perfect gift: her ex on her kitchen floor dead, ribbon exactly where she asked it to be placed.

Although this is a novella, the author has a command of the plot, although there could have been more romance. The story is lighthearted and light, and excellent holiday romance.

[Jo-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taking place at Christmas, this steamy romantic murder mystery will keep you guessing to the end.

Savanna and Mark were neighbours who were secretly attracted to each other. Being a police officer, Mark was used to people coming to him to fix tickets, etc. so, not wanting to encourage anyone, he found it easier to just keep his distance. That included not getting involved with a neighbour. Because he didn't want to deal with seeing them when they broke up. Savanna's life was a mess. She divorced her husband after finding him cheating. When her car was repossessed (by Santa, no less) she realized her ex was even more of a scumbag than she thought. He had used the car as collateral for a loan that he didn't pay. Boy, was she mad. She got together with her friends, telling them what the creep did, saying she wished he was dead with a bow wrapped around his penis. It was just something she said in anger but when he was found just like that, the police suspect her of murdering him.

When she landed on Mark's doorstep, covered in blood, he became the cop she needed, calling in his partner and the local police. While the investigation went on, Savanna stayed with Mark. Which he liked a lot but, at the same time, was really hard on him. Can he keep his hands off her?

I really liked the characters in this book. Savanna was a smart businesswoman with terrific friends that she could always count on when life threw her a curveball. And she counted on them a lot! Mark was a good cop and turned out to be a good neighbour. He wasn't very nice to Savanna at the beginning but soon came around. I liked that Mark was all business and good at his job but sometimes was just a man with desires that were hard to control. Neither were looking for relationships because of their pasts. But sometimes romance just happens.

[ShoSho · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars but I'm in the holiday spirit so I rounded it up .

I wasn't expecting a book this short to be this good but it was great.
It was more a mystery than a romantic suspense and it left me guessing until the end and I really liked the ending.
The humor was great ,I was either smiling or really laughing . A great Christmas book.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book. Lots of laughs, lots of love, and plenty of suspense. Christie Craig had delivered again, and it was nice to catch up with Mark Donaldson from "Gotcha." Just what I needed to get in the holiday spirit.

[Danielle Gypsy Soul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was just fun! It's a very quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite a bit of mystery with a bit of romance thrown in and of course humor. Whenever I'm in the mood for a fun, entertaining and quick read I turn to Christie Craig and this one didn't disappoint.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good story, crappy copy editing--the excerpts have issues, too.

[Claire Mc Partlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

NARRATOR: Courtney Patterson
This was a very amusing read where Savanna finds her ex-husband dead in her kitchen and her Detective neighbour, Mark, gets involved and helps her out.

Savanna has had a rough time recently, her Mother died a year ago and she's struggling with losing her, along with the fact that she found her husband (now ex and dead) with another woman in their house on on the same day her Mother died. Then her car is repossessed by a guy dressed as Santa(!) because her ex-husband took a loan out on it that he didn't' repay, even though Savanna got the car in the divorce settlement. Then whilst out with her girlfriends she says she wished he was dead - then of course he turns up dead in her house so she is the prime suspect, initially at least.

The mystery of the murderer takes quite a while to be revealed, and I really didn't guess who it was until there were more murders and the pieces suddenly fit together. During the course of all this Mark and Savanna slowly get to know each other and a gentle romance starts.

Enjoyable, funny, light story that I really enjoyed listening to - Courtney Patterson is a very easy to listen to narrator.

[Terric853 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savanna Edwards has a crush on her neighbor Mark Donaldson, but she's never spoken to him - until the morning her car is impounded and towed away. Turns out that she never changed the title to her name after her divorce and her no-goo ex used the title to get a loan and defaulted. Savanna, knowing Mark is a cop, storms over to his place, hoping that he can help.

Initially, Mark is a jerk and tells Savanna that he's a homicide cop and if someone turns up dead, then he can help her. Later that day, after telling her friends about her car, Savanna says she wishes her ex were dead - with a ribbon tied to his penis. When she arrive home that night, that's exactly what she find - her ex naked and dead from a slit throat, with a red ribbon tied to his penis. She freaks out and runs to Mark for help.

The story is cute are predictable and the only mystery is what the title means (that's revealed about 15 pages before the end). Nice HEA and free to-boot.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I know I had read this book before, considering I found it on my kindle, but I didn't remember anything about the plot, so it felt like reading it anew!

I love Christie Craig's fun, fast-paced romances (and I love Texas Romances, which are apparently a category). I don't think this was necessarily one of her strongest works, as I remember enjoy some others more (Murder, Mayhem & Momma springs to mind), but you get a great sense of who Savannah, the heroine is, though not so much of Mark, the hero. He does an abrupt personality 180 in the first two chapters, which she attempts to explain via his backstory, but it felt a bit too much like a plot contrivance to really appreciate it.

Still, an enjoyable read.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 2nd in a series, but can be read as a stand alone. Other characters from the 1st book make an appearance. I got it as a freebie from Amazon. It's novella length. Protected sex.

This was a good story! The heroine is a florist who is screwed by her ex husband at Christmas. She states loudly at a bar she wishes he was dead with a ribbon tied around his pecker. Guess what happens next?
Her neighbor is a sexy homicide detective who lives across the street. He's been attracted to her for a while & is happy to help her out.

The problem with short stories is they have to move quickly. Sometimes too quickly when it comes to romance. I think the author did a good job making it believable.
She has a good voice & I'll be checking out her other stories.

[Diane Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Christie Craig. Hilarious; hot guy; klutzy girl. Fun story. When a tow truck driver tries to haul away her car, Savannah races across the street to ask/beg the cop to help her. It's what she's wearing (or not wearing) that makes this better than a cute meet. Mark can't help her since the repo guy's paperwork is in order. And it's all her ex's fault.

Suddenly, her ex's dead body shows up in her house. And she's the prime suspect. Can Mark the Cop help her now?

The plot moves quickly, the romance a bit slower--as it should. Savannah is believable as the girl that stuff happens to, no fault of hers. Mark acts & talks like a cop, so does his partner. The secondary characters add to the story. The suspects increase with great twists. Like cozy mysteries? You'll love this one.

[Kristen Lewendon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes by so fast, it felt like it was over before I’d even fully gotten into it. I loved getting this chance to see Mark and Jake in action again, and this time we get to focus on Mark. I thought he was especially profound when he suggested that family dysfunction isn’t dependent on the household income. Savanna and her besties are a little bitter towards men, but they’re still pretty fun. Maybe it’s because the book read so quick, I kind of feel like I didn’t get the opportunity to really get to know Savanna the way I was hoping. I did, however, have lots of chances to laugh with and at her. Unfortunately, like the previous book, it’s filled with spelling and grammar errors. If the text passed through the hands of an editor, they should be fired.

[Deb Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cop Who Stole Christmas by Christie Craig is a holiday story that will have you laughing. Ms. Craig has gifted us with a fun story and loaded it with amazing characters. Mark and Savanna's story is packed with drama, spice, hilarity, suspense and a little action. This is a fairly quick read, perfect for those with limited reading time. I enjoyed The Cop Who Stole Christmas and look forward to reading more from Christie Craig in the future. If you need a fun book to lighten the holidays, this book is for you. The Cop Who Stole Christmas is book 2 of the Tall, Hot & Texan Series but can be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie is upset when she sees a Santa repossessing her car on a loan her ex-husband took on her car. She goes over to her neighbor a cop to see if he can stop him. He can't, Santa has the paperwork and says he can only help if she has a dead body. While she is out with her friends she says she wishes her ex-husband was dead. She comes home later and she finds her ex-husband Clint, dead on the floor in the kitchen. She goes back to Mark with blood on her nightgown says he's dead. Mark calls the homicide in. When another ex-husband is found dead in his ex-wife's house the police have to figure out the connection.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishes at 66%

This is sixteen chapters of a really well written story. The plot is interesting and plausible, the characters fun and developed and although everything moves along quickly romance wise, it's believable. I enjoyed this one and read it in one sitting, I would have liked an epilogue so I could see how things were going for them.

The rest of this book is chapters from two other books from Christine Craig, one of which is book one in this series. This is the first book I have read by this author and I don't think it effected my reading pleasure starting with book two.

[Diane ~Firefly~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much romantic suspense (almost all the way to full mystery)

What I enjoyed:
* Savanna, wow she has had a lousy time of it. But she manages to survive it all.
* Her friends are close and helpful
* I enjoyed the suspense of who could have heard Savanna's wish and done the deed

What could have been better:
* Could have been longer. I would have liked to see Mark's family relationships delved deeper into, especially as it is changing with his mother.
* the villain really a person will go and kill men he's never met based on what their ex-wifes' say when he is repossessing their cars? Tempers run hot at those times