Baubles: A Windeport Holiday Short

by Christopher H. Jansmann

It’s always a magical time when Christmas arrives in Southern California.Spending their second Christmas together — but first in Southern California — Alejandro Ortega-Cortez decides to pull out all the stops to celebrate the holiday with his fiancé, Vasily Korsokovach.

When weeks of surreptitious planning finally culminate on Christmas Eve, Alex unexpectedly discovers far more than lovingly selected gifts are hiding beneath the fully decorated tree in their cozy condo’s living room…

Genres: Christmas

38 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2024

About the author

Born and raised in Maine, Christopher H. Jansmann spent nearly three decades as a professional IT nerd before recalling a childhood ambition to become an author. He quickly set about correcting that oversight and published his first novel, Blindsided, in 2020, launching what would become his signature style of blending memorable characters with vibrant locations. Chris is the author of the Coastal Maine-set Sean Colbeth Investigates series and the interconnected Southern California-based Vasily Korsokovach Investigates novels.

Despite his love for the Northeast, Chris escaped the cold for sunny Arizona where he currently resides with his beautiful wife and a Shar-Pei mix that insists on being walked regularly.

Reviews

[Jonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not much of a fan of holiday short stories. I do like Vasily's character, yet I have struggled to finish Peril. Since I had already downloaded this short story, I thought I would jump to it and then be done with both this series and the Sean series that crosses over. This story reinvigorated my interest into finishing Peril and possibly finish the whole series.

Since it was a short story, the author was more succinct which was a positive for me. Some of his other books have been slow. I'm somewhat confused, though, that the author's note says this takes place after Masks which is schedule for release in 2025. If this short story was a preview of an entire book, I am confused because it was not described that way.

This story made me reconsider giving up on this author's two crossover series. I was about to put Peril in the DNF (which there have been less than 5 that met that fate in my 65 years of reading). I will now finish Peril. Whether I finish both series is still undetermined.

[PaperMoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging holiday short told from Alex's perspective - further building upon the significant familial reconciliations made from books 6 and 7 of this series.