Cozy Up to Christmas

Cozy Up #5

by Colin Conway

A man still in hiding. A Christmas heist. This is no time for fruitcake.

Ed Belmont works in a struggling Midwest mall. It isn’t the ideal place for a job, but he’s doing the best he can. Every day is an uphill battle since Ed dislikes children, holiday decorations, and Christmas music. But what’s a guy to do when he’s Santa Claus?

There’s a criminal lurking around town, and he’s dressed as jolly old Saint Nick. Unfortunately, the cops don’t have any leads until they stumble upon Ed. Now, the law is poking into his background, and it’s creating problems.

For Ed Belmont is a man with a secret that the U.S. Government has invested a lot to keep concealed. This is important since Ed’s enemies have chased him across the country in hopes of exacting their revenge.

Can Ed survive the week and leave the Santa suit behind? Or will the cops make sure he celebrates the holiday in jail?

Genres: Mystery, Christmas, Holiday, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Audiobook

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 9, 2021

About the author

Are you on BookBub? You can follow Colin there at: www.bookbub.com/profile/colin-conway

Colin Conway is the creator of the 509 Crime Stories, a series of novels set in Eastern Washington with revolving lead characters. They are standalone tales and can be read in any order.

He also created the Cozy Up series which pushes the envelope of the cozy genre. Libby Klein, author of the Poppy McAllister series, says Cozy Up to Death is “Not your grandma’s cozy.”

Colin co-authored the Charlie-316 series. The first novel in the series, Charlie-316, is a political/crime thriller that has been described as “riveting and compulsively readable,” “the real deal,” and “the ultimate ride-along.”

He served in the U.S. Army and later was an officer of the Spokane Police Department. He's owned a laundromat, invested in a bar, and ran a karate school. Besides writing crime fiction, he is a commercial real estate broker.

Colin lives with his beautiful girlfriend, three wonderful children, and a codependent Vizsla that rules their world.

Reviews

[Mark Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ed Belmont has landed a job as a mall Santa at a run-down mall in Pennsylvania. He’s managed to hold on to the job for a month, and is looking at his final week on the job. Unfortunately, dealing with kids, not Ed’s strong point, isn’t his biggest worry. Someone has been robbing convenience stores dressed as Santa, and the police think Ed might be the culprit. Then Santa robs the mall after hours. Can Ed figure out who is really behind these thefts?

Those familiar with the series will immediately recognize that Ed is the latest identity of our protagonist, who is in witness protection. I knew seeing him playing Santa would be fun, and I was right. Unfortunately, a sub-plot intended to also be funny made me more uncomfortable. I do like Ed and enjoy watching him deal with his newest struggles. The rest of the characters are a bit thin. The plot does wander a bit at times, but it comes together for an interesting climax. I do enjoy watching Ed solve things. And this is a fast read. Fans will enjoy seeing what Ed gets up to in this holiday entry in the series.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!! I really love this series. It just gets better & better w/the craziness that happens to Beau. Poor guy is just trying to hide from his enemies.
This time he's in PA working as a Santa at a run-down mall. You'd think he'd be safe but nope...crimes keep happening around him.
It was hysterical!!!! I was laughing out loud so much. And I love his relationship with his cat Travis.

Technically, Beau is a bad guy but he's trying to be reformed so you can kind of forgive him his past. And you root for him b/c the character grows on you.
But two quick things...
1. The govt should just set him up as a PI in his next town. That way it wouldn't look as bad when he solved crimes & the cops would leave him alone.
2. Shouldn't they do something about the tattoo on his hand? You'd think they would have done tattoo removal as a first step before hiding him out...

I can't wait for the next installment in the series. It's a bummer I'll have to wait until mid-next year.

Thank you to the writer for a preview ARC.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cozy Up To Christmas by Colin Conway
Cozy Up #5

How to hide in plain sight? Wear a costume that covers up any distinguishing marks…and most of your face. That is just what the main character of this series does as he takes on his fifth name and a job playing Santa in a mall just before Christmas. Ed doesn’t love children but does seem to do well in the job…and also at playing amateur sleuth.

What I liked:
* Ed: once known as Beau, ex-MC bookkeeper, bright, enjoys reading, likes to solve puzzles, a big man, commanding, trying to become a better man, continues to grow as the series progresses,
* Travis: the cat…still hanging on – unusual relationship with Ed
* Susan: Ed’s boss, took on the Santa business from her mother, cares about Christmas and the image of Santa
* Marjorie: a bit of a flake, has an unreciprocated interest in Ed, a bit annoying but not all bad
* The Santa Bandit thread and how that was resolved
* The mall heist issue and how it was resolved
* The fact that Ed sees the world differently from others…his moral compass is not in synch with law and order though his sense of right and wrong seems to be evolving
* The Christmas song references and the memories they triggered
* The holiday feel of the story
* The red herrings, twists, and turns
* Ed’s ability to outthink the police
* Sorrell: used books bookstore owner, owner of the apartment Ed rents, helpful and wise…potential friend to Ed
* That this book had some mysteries but didn’t have a murder
* Knowing there is another book to look forward to

What I didn’t like:
* The people and events that I was meant not to like

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more books in this series? Definitely

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

[Emmalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beau as Santa clause, working in a mall😁 nahh nothings going wrong here! Of course it will! And Beau is just the guy to ferret out the truth before his enemies catch up

[Sharon M. Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santa, is that you?

Ed is in the witness protection program and is being moved to a dying town to be a mall Santa. Can he stay out of trouble when there is a Santa running around robbing convenience store and a Santa robbing the mall. Who will straighten everything out. Is Ed innocent?

[Shari Hamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Chances

It’s an interesting read. Actually I wanted to just sit down. and find out what happens! No pausing until I was done. But nope…. A crook turned Santa!? Santa!? Can he really carry it off!? Read and see. Just be ready to read until the end!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was number 5 in series I think. But it didn’t make a significant difference that I had not read the previous ones. Unique main character who is a criminal being moved from one witness protection location to another due to unforeseen circumstances. Humor, clean cozy mystery. Reminds me a bit of Lawrence Block’s burglar series. Where has this author been???
Want to read another but library doesn’t have any. 😞

[Anne Marie Cardone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining

This book is well written and the story is very good. All the characters are interesting. This book is for everyone, I really enjoyed it!

[karin whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beau is again hiding in the witness protection plan, this time he's Ed, A.K.A, Santa, let the fun begin! As Ed avoids the bad guys, and plays undercover citizen solving yet another crime. A rollicking fun story with our lovable "bad guy=hero" can he keep hiding in plan sight? He certainly does try! Who would hunt Santa? A great story with twists and surprises, thanks for another side of Ed, or Beau, whats next....
I received this as an ARC, for an honest review.

[Marlys · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series. Poor Beau, trouble follows him, even at Christmas. The writing is spectacular. One of this things I like is that Colin makes Beau to be a reader, and Colin references real books that Beau reads. I am looking forward to more books in this series.

[Kristi Drillien · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5 / 5)

I haven't read any of the preceding books in the series, but events from them were brought up in this book a few times. Belmont (not really his name) was the bookkeeper in a gang and reluctantly became a witness against them, and now he's force to move from place to place, job to job, to keep ahead of the danger. While it seems that previous identities were compromised and required relocation, this one had an expiration date—Christmas. Yet he does end up under suspicion for ongoing criminal activity, which also seems to be a theme in the series.

From start to finish, this is a fairly straightforward story with a protagonist who could be interesting, but feels like a caricature. He learned to enjoy reading, specifically mystery novels, in the first book in the series, and while I have nothing against a hardened gang member becoming a reader, it somehow felt forced to me. I could see what the author was trying to do in showing changes in this man who had been forced into situations and lifestyles he never would have chosen for himself, but for me, at least, it didn't work very well.

I also think the overall story could have done with another round or two of edits. Maybe some dialog read out loud, some actions acted out. Characters were all the time touching each others arms and sleeves while talking, which I'm not sure is natural. And a lot of people in the story tended to act out what they were saying with their hands, again not necessarily common. While both of these things could have been a trait assigned to one character, having them be so widespread was odd. It also seems really important to the author that I know what everyone is wearing. It's generally the first thing we're told whenever anyone new is in a scene. There's a woman who comes onto Ed so strongly it made me uncomfortable, and imagine if the roles were reversed and it was a man trying to convince a woman to let him touch her (sit on her lap, because, well, she is Santa, after all). It would be considered creepy, and he'd be labeled a perv, not just a humorous device to make the MC all the more annoyed at his lot in life.

The mystery wasn't bad, but wasn't super interesting or difficult to solve. There was a small twist regarding the various crimes that had been committed, and it did give Ed a chance to grow more in the story. I think with some refining, this could be a good book and a series I'd be interested in. It is a mostly clean book, with almost no profanity and nothing else that would bother me, minus the aforementioned woman trying to force herself onto Santa. While I don't plan to read any other stories about Beauregard Smith (Ed's real name), plenty of others have enjoyed it more than I did. If you're interested, be sure to check out other reviews at the link below.

[Doug Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think "cozy mysteries" and you generally have a sub-genre that seems to have a much larger audience among female readers. It would be easy for a male reader to eschew Colin Conway's "Cozy Up" series, but that would be an oversight in my opinion.

Book five in the series has a Christmas theme as base for the entire novel. I liked a lot about this book, but I really enjoyed the acerbic, tired and disenfranchised viewpoint of our main character, Ed Belmont. In some ways, I envisioned Ed as somewhat like everyman Al Bundy from the "Married With Children" televisions series. Having lived through many, many years of working retail during the holiday season, I could relate to Ed to some degree, including the incessant holiday music piped in to the store. Combine Ed's gruff viewpoints, with witness relocation, and this is a very entertaining read.

I sat down and read this one in an afternoon. Given that I read this one week prior to Christmas 2022, it was a welcome alternative to suffering through a few hours of Hallmark movies playing on our TV.

Finally, if you have an opportunity to sit on Santa's lap, don't just wave to your family taking photographs. Santa will take that to mean you want a parade float underneath your tree.

[Carlos Mock · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cozy Up to Christmas (The Cozy Up Series Book 5) by Colin Conway

This is a stand-alone book. You don't need to read any prior book in the series to follow ut.

Beauregard (Beau) Smith is still in hiding. His current alias is Ed Belmont and he's working as a Santa Claus in a Supermall in Utopia, PA. He doesn't care for the job, for Christmas, or for children, but it's the perfect way to hide in plain sight from the Satan's Dawgs gang since he is testifying against them.

There’s a criminal lurking around town, and he’s dressed as jolly old Saint Nick. Unfortunately, the cops don’t have any leads until they stumble upon Ed. Now, the law is poking into his background, and it’s creating problems.

Can Ed survive the week and leave the Santa suit behind? Will the cops make sure he celebrates the holiday in jail? Or will he be able to solve the crimes committed by the men in Santa's suits?

The book is narrated from the third-person point of view. It's a mess. There is no plot to speak of. The characters are two-dimensional and not believable. I never cared for them. Even though is only 244 pages in the kindle format, it's a slow boring read.

Stay away from it!

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beau Smith, former member of a criminal bikie gang is hiding in witness protection posing as a man named Ed Belmont. After his identity was compromised in his last location, he is now in Pennsylvania working as a Mall Santa Claus. He’s not really a jolly Ho Ho Ho kind of person and doesn’t really like kids, so isn’t enjoying it much but is prepared to grin and bear it until after Christmas when he’ll be moved to something more permanent. Besides the costume is the perfect disguise to prevent someone from the gang recognising him. With only a week left till Christmas, he unfortunately comes to the notice of the police when a string of thefts occurs. Beau realises he must solve them himself if the police are to leave him alone and not delve too deep into his background.

This was a fast, undemanding fun Christmassy read. It was lovely to see that Travis the cat is still with Beau, but sad that Beau can’t contact his grandmother or Daphne, the woman he loves, at Christmas. 4.5★

[William (Mr. Bill) Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cozy Up to Christmas, do it!

Every once in a while, you come across a fictional character that you feel like you know. Author Colin Conway has done with multiple times in books I have read. Cozy Up to Christmas is my first book in this series. Like his other series, there is a standout character that I identified with. We'll call him 'Ed Belmont' since he's in the witness protection program it's best he keeps a low profile, right. So what better job for Ed than as mall Santa! This is an enjoyable story. Interaction with a very low-key Ed and several of his mall coworkers caused me to laugh out loud - in public.
I know it's past Christmas, but this book will start your New Year off with a smile.
If you prefer not to embarrass yourself in public, consider the Audiblebook performed by the very talented Damon Abdallah.

[Barbara Hackel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard core killer biker in the witness protection program? What? And his current job is Santa Claus at the mall?
Those facts were enough to draw me in to this interesting-sometimes sad-a lot funny book. I discovered a varried cast of characters-"regulars, like workers at the mall, and the specials-like the funny and odd children and parents who go to visit Santa, the mall walkers, and other people along the way to normal life. Of course some not so normal ones sneak in, causing havoc, pulling a heist, robbing local businesses, etc.
"Ed" isn't comfortable in his job as Santa, but little by little the author shows us tiny inlets of change. It's enough for me to want to read the other books in the series! Fascinating and kept me captivated to the end.

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former biker gang member becomes a Santa

Well written and compelling. Not much violence in this story, not like the first book in the series. Ed (Beau) even does a good deed. If he wasn't such a grumpy curmudgeon I'd have given this five stars.

As a mall Santa, poor Beau finds himself with children on his lap making some challenging requests for Christmas presents. At times he ponders the whole Santa Claus deception. Children can be very perceptive. He also becomes a suspect in several robberies that take place around the small city of Utopia. Someone tries to frame him and he's determined to find out who.

[monacia williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed is finding a new Ed.

I liked this book. It was not overly exciting but the quality of the writing was enough to grab and hold my interest. I also liked Ed and I rather liked the development of his new character as the book continues. I liked the subtle humour running through the book, it added to the book's attraction.
The other characters were well defined, Marjorie was a bit over the top but can be applauded for her persistence.
There is a little confusion in my mind re the Santa suit in Ed's apartment. Detective Novak gave one explanation and Ed towards the end gave another. Don't worry this does not impair the big picture in any way.
Go ahead,read and enjoy.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 5th book in the series. The main character is Ed Belmont. He is in the Witness Protection Program and is constantly being moved to a new city and state to keep him alive. This time he is a mall Santa and it sure isn't his favorite job. He gets picked up as a thief that dresses like Santa to rob the mall he works in, only it wasn't him. They go back to his place and find a Santa suit and a big jug on coins. Only the Santa suit is too small and the mall robbery had a lot more huge bottles of coins. Can he figure out who is behind it all before it's too late ?

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a Little Bit Cozy

What's an ex-accountant for a notorious biker gang to do when he turns states evidence against them. Why, enter the Witness Protection program, of course.

I wouldn't say hilarity ensues, mostly with the hiding for your life thing, but what is one to do?

Great characters, fairly involved plot, and a "nice" story to read for Christmas. Two thumbs up from me. Is, we don't trade in thumbs hereabouts? Stars, you say? Fine, 4.99999999999 stars. Round it up, people.

[RoseVE · Rating 5 out of 5]

After laughing through the first chapter (and throughout the story) I got into the plot of mystery holdups, questionable behavior by mall personnel, and Beau (Ed this time), a man who hates children spending all day holding children on his lap and hearing what they want for Christmas. Some pull at his heart and some test his patience(not that he has much). Once again, thanks to his attention to detail, he is able to aid law enforcement in finding a thief and managed to stay out of the public eye for once. I really enjoyed this book.

[Cheryl A · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read for me by this author. It was a great little cozy mystery and reading more in this series in the future. Ed Belmont is in the witness protection program after he ratted out the Satan’s Dawgs, an outlaw motorcycle club. He is a mall Santa and has been implicated in a series of Santa robberies that have been happening. He is determined to prove he is innocent. I thought this was an enjoyable read.

[kathleen dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read the summary for this book, Beau as a mall Santa and knowing his dislike for children, I thought “oh this is going to be fun” - and it did not disappoint!! I laughed out loud throughout the book. Aside from the first book, this was my fave!

These mysteries don’t have real strong, intriguing storylines, but they are so entertaining! The cast of characters Colin Conway pulls together are so fun and, of course, Beau (or whatever his name might be) is the best!

I was looking for lighthearted, funny, well written, clean mysteries. This series definitely nails it!

[Kitty]

Sorry... I just couldn't get into this one. (I should probably mention that I haven't read anything else in this series.) I was looking for happy little Christmas-type stories, and this one wasn't for me. I'm sure it gets better, but I just didn't like the main character, and in general, there was very little "happy" in the beginning of this book.

[Janet L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this series of books is one of my favorites! Love the idea of a big tough guy entering the witness protection program and being moved to small town America to assume a variety of small business endeavors and the trouble he always seems to find himself in! Hoping that this series continues.

[Larry Farlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cozy mysteries are often formulaic these days. A woman moves to a small town to open a bookstore / coffee shop / Antique Store, you fill in the blank, and then starts to solve murders. This is definitely not that. Very interesting premise and a good entertaining read. I'll definitely check out others in the series.

[Rick Farlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

ENTERTAINING

Just what I needed: some Santa humor… A biker-gang member in the federal witness protection program has been placed as a mall Santa for the season and the results are hilarious. It’s a crime solving mystery that will just make you smile the next time you see a big red suit and white whiskers… A clean storyline and RECOMMENDED.

[Myra Singletary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cozy up to Christmas was a real mystery. I had no idea who was doing what! I like the direction Beau is going, being Santa did something to him that surprised him and me. Can't wait for the next adventure! If these are ever made into a series or movie, I know the exact woman to play Goodspeed, Debra Mooney!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #5 COZY UP TO CHRISTMAS by Colin Conway. In this book Beau is Ed Belmont and is playing Santa at a shopping mall. Of course, there are unexplained robberies involving a Santa. Ed gets involved because the cops think he’s guilty until they have him try on the suit and see that it is too small. Another fun adventure.

[Gena Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merry Christmas 🎄

Another great story of how "Beau" is dealing with his newest surroundings. Once again, this series has dominated my day in such a fun way. I can't wait for more...... Grab this series, it is such a fun read, for sure.