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Epiphany: An Angel for Christmas / Undercover Santa / Merry's Christmas
An Angel For Christmas - Rita Herron
Detective: Max Malone
Assignment: Protect former flame Angelica North and her nephew, an eyewitness to his mother's murder, from the madman who wants them both dead.
Undercover Santa - Debra Webb
Detective: Trey Murphy
Assignment: Protect Rebecca Saxon from the murderous jewel thieves who have targeted her as their next victim.
Merry's Christmas - Mallory Kane
Detective: Trevor Adkins
Assignment: Protect pregnant Merry Randolph, the only surviving victim of the Widow-Maker serial killer, and safeguard her unborn child.
Detective: Max Malone
Assignment: Protect former flame Angelica North and her nephew, an eyewitness to his mother's murder, from the madman who wants them both dead.
Undercover Santa - Debra Webb
Detective: Trey Murphy
Assignment: Protect Rebecca Saxon from the murderous jewel thieves who have targeted her as their next victim.
Merry's Christmas - Mallory Kane
Detective: Trevor Adkins
Assignment: Protect pregnant Merry Randolph, the only surviving victim of the Widow-Maker serial killer, and safeguard her unborn child.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2005
3 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Rita Herron
324 books944 followersUSA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
For more on. Rita and her titles, visit her at www.ritaherron.com. You can also find her on www.Facebook/ritaherron.com and Twitter.com/ritaherron.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
For more on. Rita and her titles, visit her at www.ritaherron.com. You can also find her on www.Facebook/ritaherron.com and Twitter.com/ritaherron.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 24, 2018
the first two books in this novel were okay...both drug a bit and had way too much extra detail that just confused the story-line...and a bit too mushy for my idea of intrigue...might check out other books by Herron and Webb...the last book was way better...lots of action and suspense with enough romance to keep it going...will definitely check out Kane's book list!
May 27, 2019
Three really good stories with great police officers who take care of business and fall in love in the process.
December 8, 2021
I love the story from Mrs Rita and Mallory
December 22, 2023
All three stories were good. Merry's Christmas was the best of them though.
June 24, 2015
I've read several of the Intrigue 3-in-1 books, and I usually find them pretty enjoyable.
Epiphany follows the lives and jobs of three Atlanta cops in the week before Christmas. In An Angel for Christmas, Angelica North's sister Gina is murdered and her young nephew, Stevie, witnesses the killing. Angelica and Stevie are put under the watchful eye of Max Malone, Angelica's ex-lover and an Atlanta PD detective, who needs to make sure that the man who murdered Gina doesn't come after the child who can identify him.
In Undercover Santa, a gang of jewel thieves are robbing high-end jewellery stores and killing the store owners. Rebecca Saxon's jewellery store is considered to be one of the most at risk, so Detective Trey Murphy is sent to guard it, and her. As the robbers have been breaking into the owners' homes as well as shops, Trey has to move in with Rebecca until the thieves / killers are caught.
In Merry's Christmas, Merry Randolph has survived a murder attempt by the killer who is (erroneously) called the Widow Maker. (In actuality, he preys on widows.) She's the only victim to survive, so Det Trevor Adkins is sent to guard her. This is hard for him, because Merry's pregnant and Trevor lost his unborn baby several Christmases ago, but he's determined not to lose Merry or her baby.
This was definitely a readable book, even enjoyable, but not anywhere near spectacular. Short stories are hard to write, particularly romances. It's very, very hard to get enough genuine emotion without making it seem like the characters fell in love without knowing anything about each other. Even for someone like me who believes in (and has experienced) love at first meeting, it's difficult to buy that people can fall in love - that lasting kind of love - in ninety pages. In addition, with such a short space allowed, it's difficult to create characters with enough depth for readers to feel for them, let alone any real kind of plot.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't really any overarching story here. Most of the previous Intrigue 3-in-1's that I've read - Gypsy Magic, Boys in Blue and Desert Sons, all by Rebecca York, Ann Voss Peterson and Patricia Rosemoor - have each been one story in three parts, each part focusing on a different couple. Those overarching storylines have both held the books together, and solved the problem of trying to fit an entire mystery into ninety pages, so more time can be spent on developing the characters. Epiphany instead chose to attempt to keep the stories separate, without any crossover of characters or crimes, and subsequently three separate mysteries to be solved. This has been achieved with limited success - the characters are pleasant, but undeveloped, and the mysteries feel a little flat and lacking in closure. In Undercover Santa, in particular, I had questions that weren't answered - how did the robbers know the security code for Rebecca's house? And did Chief Wells have anything to do with any of the crimes?
That all said, I did quite enjoy reading these stories. They were light, forgettable fluff. I know I've read the book at least once before, but I didn't remember it at all. Most likely, I'll pick it up again in a couple years, not remember it, and enjoy reading it again. 3 stars.
Epiphany follows the lives and jobs of three Atlanta cops in the week before Christmas. In An Angel for Christmas, Angelica North's sister Gina is murdered and her young nephew, Stevie, witnesses the killing. Angelica and Stevie are put under the watchful eye of Max Malone, Angelica's ex-lover and an Atlanta PD detective, who needs to make sure that the man who murdered Gina doesn't come after the child who can identify him.
In Undercover Santa, a gang of jewel thieves are robbing high-end jewellery stores and killing the store owners. Rebecca Saxon's jewellery store is considered to be one of the most at risk, so Detective Trey Murphy is sent to guard it, and her. As the robbers have been breaking into the owners' homes as well as shops, Trey has to move in with Rebecca until the thieves / killers are caught.
In Merry's Christmas, Merry Randolph has survived a murder attempt by the killer who is (erroneously) called the Widow Maker. (In actuality, he preys on widows.) She's the only victim to survive, so Det Trevor Adkins is sent to guard her. This is hard for him, because Merry's pregnant and Trevor lost his unborn baby several Christmases ago, but he's determined not to lose Merry or her baby.
This was definitely a readable book, even enjoyable, but not anywhere near spectacular. Short stories are hard to write, particularly romances. It's very, very hard to get enough genuine emotion without making it seem like the characters fell in love without knowing anything about each other. Even for someone like me who believes in (and has experienced) love at first meeting, it's difficult to buy that people can fall in love - that lasting kind of love - in ninety pages. In addition, with such a short space allowed, it's difficult to create characters with enough depth for readers to feel for them, let alone any real kind of plot.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't really any overarching story here. Most of the previous Intrigue 3-in-1's that I've read - Gypsy Magic, Boys in Blue and Desert Sons, all by Rebecca York, Ann Voss Peterson and Patricia Rosemoor - have each been one story in three parts, each part focusing on a different couple. Those overarching storylines have both held the books together, and solved the problem of trying to fit an entire mystery into ninety pages, so more time can be spent on developing the characters. Epiphany instead chose to attempt to keep the stories separate, without any crossover of characters or crimes, and subsequently three separate mysteries to be solved. This has been achieved with limited success - the characters are pleasant, but undeveloped, and the mysteries feel a little flat and lacking in closure. In Undercover Santa, in particular, I had questions that weren't answered - how did the robbers know the security code for Rebecca's house? And did Chief Wells have anything to do with any of the crimes?
That all said, I did quite enjoy reading these stories. They were light, forgettable fluff. I know I've read the book at least once before, but I didn't remember it at all. Most likely, I'll pick it up again in a couple years, not remember it, and enjoy reading it again. 3 stars.
December 3, 2009
Three cops, romance and Christmas stories that aren't long enough to get engaged with the characters and too predictable to be truly entertaining.
Rita Herron's An Angel for Christmas was possibly the strongest of the three.Max Malone has to protect Angelica North and her nephew from a man who the nephew saw kill his mother. Max broke with Angelica as he thought things were getting too serious. The characters just didn't do anything for me or convince me of their romance.
Debra Webb's Undercover Santa has hunk Trey Murphy assigned to protect wealthy jeweler Rebeca Saxon from murderous jewel thieves. The most convincing romance while being a little short on plot.
Mallory Kane's Merry's Christmas started out on a bit of a wrong foot with me when she said that the man killing Widows was nicknamed by the press as the Widowmaker. Sorry Mallory, that's the person who would be killing their husbands, he was a Widowkiller, if anything. Trevor Adkins has to protect ditzy Merry Randolph, heavily pregnant and ignoring the advice of her protectors she's going to put them both at risk, but when she starts going into labour, Trevor is going to have to face his issues and deal with them both while also dealing with a killer. There were moments that I wanted more from the story but I'm not sure that the characters would have worked in a longer setting.
I really didn't quite enjoy this one, not too interesting, readable but didn't make me want to rush out and get any more books by the respective authors.
Rita Herron's An Angel for Christmas was possibly the strongest of the three.Max Malone has to protect Angelica North and her nephew from a man who the nephew saw kill his mother. Max broke with Angelica as he thought things were getting too serious. The characters just didn't do anything for me or convince me of their romance.
Debra Webb's Undercover Santa has hunk Trey Murphy assigned to protect wealthy jeweler Rebeca Saxon from murderous jewel thieves. The most convincing romance while being a little short on plot.
Mallory Kane's Merry's Christmas started out on a bit of a wrong foot with me when she said that the man killing Widows was nicknamed by the press as the Widowmaker. Sorry Mallory, that's the person who would be killing their husbands, he was a Widowkiller, if anything. Trevor Adkins has to protect ditzy Merry Randolph, heavily pregnant and ignoring the advice of her protectors she's going to put them both at risk, but when she starts going into labour, Trevor is going to have to face his issues and deal with them both while also dealing with a killer. There were moments that I wanted more from the story but I'm not sure that the characters would have worked in a longer setting.
I really didn't quite enjoy this one, not too interesting, readable but didn't make me want to rush out and get any more books by the respective authors.
September 10, 2009
This could've been a great collection of stories, but unfortunately it isn’t so. Three stories firmly connected in theme – Christmas and damsel in distress, and flimsily connected by the leading men, Detectives, working for the Atlanta PD. The suspense was good, the writing was also good, the said leading men were drool-worthy and though two were real Scrooges, they had valid reasons for being so…
The first to major problems were the first two damsels in distress. One was silly and just plain annoying – if the kid says “no Santa!” he has a reason, don’t push him just because you’re selfish and ridden by guilt. The other was a bossy snob and control-freak with so many issues is made my teeth ache.
The third problem was the heavy amount of suspension of disbelief needed to digest the third. It took one night for her to almost die, deliver a baby, and fall in love with the man she’s met that same night. And he fell in love with her as well. Whah?!
This collection was good, it just wasn’t great. Sadly.
The first to major problems were the first two damsels in distress. One was silly and just plain annoying – if the kid says “no Santa!” he has a reason, don’t push him just because you’re selfish and ridden by guilt. The other was a bossy snob and control-freak with so many issues is made my teeth ache.
The third problem was the heavy amount of suspension of disbelief needed to digest the third. It took one night for her to almost die, deliver a baby, and fall in love with the man she’s met that same night. And he fell in love with her as well. Whah?!
This collection was good, it just wasn’t great. Sadly.
April 4, 2012
Excellent combination of authors. I got it for Debra Webb. Enjoyed the other two as well.
January 10, 2015
Short but sweet
Three short stories but enjoyable. Love the Intrigue series of books. These 3 authors are a great read. The Christmas setting is good at this time of year.
Three short stories but enjoyable. Love the Intrigue series of books. These 3 authors are a great read. The Christmas setting is good at this time of year.
October 23, 2016
Wow
This one grabs you from the very beginning to the end.Each story has thrills,suspense and mystery.And let's not forget the action.A very good read.
This one grabs you from the very beginning to the end.Each story has thrills,suspense and mystery.And let's not forget the action.A very good read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews