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Lucky Lexie Mysteries #7
Mystery of the Secret Santa
Someone knows who’s been naughty, and they’re not being nice about it
Lexie Lincoln is excited about the holiday season. Stirling Mills puts on a big celebration, with elaborate light displays and numerous events. It’ll be like living in one of those TV Christmas movies she binges every December.
There’s just one damper on her holiday spirit: the Secret Santa, an information vigilante who seems to have access to the Naughty list and who is sharing that information through anonymous notes sometimes slipped into pockets and sometimes left in people’s homes during the night. Since nothing is damaged or taken and there’s no sign of a break-in, no one has reported these incidents to the police, so they aren’t involved, but that doesn’t stop Lexie from investigating.
Informing people about affairs, backstabbing, and workplace politics stirs up strife, and the fact that the Santa sometimes also leaves gifts that fulfill unspoken needs doesn’t help. Lexie’s not sure she believes in Santa, but someone who knows secrets, good and bad, and who can slip into homes during the night sounds a lot like St. Nick.
Busting Santa might put Lexie on the Naughty list, but she feels she has to save the holiday celebration before the bad vibe drives the tourists away – and before her own secrets are revealed.
Lexie Lincoln is excited about the holiday season. Stirling Mills puts on a big celebration, with elaborate light displays and numerous events. It’ll be like living in one of those TV Christmas movies she binges every December.
There’s just one damper on her holiday spirit: the Secret Santa, an information vigilante who seems to have access to the Naughty list and who is sharing that information through anonymous notes sometimes slipped into pockets and sometimes left in people’s homes during the night. Since nothing is damaged or taken and there’s no sign of a break-in, no one has reported these incidents to the police, so they aren’t involved, but that doesn’t stop Lexie from investigating.
Informing people about affairs, backstabbing, and workplace politics stirs up strife, and the fact that the Santa sometimes also leaves gifts that fulfill unspoken needs doesn’t help. Lexie’s not sure she believes in Santa, but someone who knows secrets, good and bad, and who can slip into homes during the night sounds a lot like St. Nick.
Busting Santa might put Lexie on the Naughty list, but she feels she has to save the holiday celebration before the bad vibe drives the tourists away – and before her own secrets are revealed.
186 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 17, 2022
7 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Shanna Swendson
40 books1,132 followersOnce upon a time ...
A little girl learned to amuse herself by making up stories in her head. She turned everyday activities into exciting adventures, and she made up new adventures for characters from her favorite movies, TV shows and books. Then one day she realized that if she wrote down those stories, she'd have a book! But that was crazy, she thought. Real people don't become novelists. That was like deciding you were going to be a movie star. You couldn't just go and do it.
But, it turns out, you can, and she did. She realized her dream of becoming a novelist and seeing her stories in bookstores.
And then she started to wig herself out by writing about herself in the third-person.
This is her story.
The Novelist's Journey
As I said above in that bit of silliness, I've always been a writer at heart. My favorite way to play was to create stories and act them out with my Fisher-Price people, my Barbie dolls or myself and a box of play clothes. If none of those things were available, I could just sit and make up stories in my head. I occasionally got into trouble for being a little too creative, such as the time when I embellished a bit on my kindergarten experiences (where's the dramatic hook in coloring, cutting out and pasting?).
When I was in seventh grade and a bit old for Fisher-Price people, Barbie dolls or the dress-up box, I started writing these stories down in spiral notebooks. Later, I found an old manual typewriter, taught myself to type, then wrote a lot of first chapters of novels on it. I still hadn't figured out how to actually be a working novelist who gets paid for writing (finishing a book instead of writing a lot of first chapters might have been a good start), so when it came time to go to college, I went to journalism school at the University of Texas. While getting my degree in broadcast news, I managed to structure a curriculum that might also help me in my real career plans. I took fencing (which I thought would be useful for writing fantasy novels), an astronomy course on the search for extraterrestrial life (in case I wanted to write science fiction), psychology, interpersonal communication, and parageography (the geography of imaginary lands).
I got serious about pursuing my novel-writing ambitions soon after I got my first job in public relations (TV reporting, it turns out, would have taken away from my writing time) when I started joining local writing organizations and reading books on how to write a novel. Then I took the big step of registering for a writing conference. With the registration fee, you could enter two manuscripts in a contest that went with the conference. I figured if I was paying that much money, I'd get the most out of it, so I wrote two entries. At the conference, I met a real, live editor, who encouraged me to submit, and one of my entries won the science fiction/fantasy category of the contest. I hurried to finish the novel the editor had asked for, then mailed a proposal.
She ended up rejecting the book, but encouraged me to keep trying. I ended up selling that novel elsewhere, then sold two more books to that publisher before I had another idea for that original editor. That book ended up selling, and then one more.
And then I hit the wall. Due to a number of circumstances, some of which weren't my fault and some of which were, I didn't sell anything else for eight years. But then I had the idea that became Enchanted, Inc., I wrote it, sold it, and here I am.
Other Life Stuff
I think I need to get a few more hobbies or something else going on in my life that isn't related to reading or writing because currently my bio in my books is shorter than the "about the typeface" section. Yes, a typeface has a more interesting life than I do.
When I'm not writing, I'm most often reading. Otherwise, I enjoy watching science fiction TV shows and then discussing them on the Internet, working crossw
A little girl learned to amuse herself by making up stories in her head. She turned everyday activities into exciting adventures, and she made up new adventures for characters from her favorite movies, TV shows and books. Then one day she realized that if she wrote down those stories, she'd have a book! But that was crazy, she thought. Real people don't become novelists. That was like deciding you were going to be a movie star. You couldn't just go and do it.
But, it turns out, you can, and she did. She realized her dream of becoming a novelist and seeing her stories in bookstores.
And then she started to wig herself out by writing about herself in the third-person.
This is her story.
The Novelist's Journey
As I said above in that bit of silliness, I've always been a writer at heart. My favorite way to play was to create stories and act them out with my Fisher-Price people, my Barbie dolls or myself and a box of play clothes. If none of those things were available, I could just sit and make up stories in my head. I occasionally got into trouble for being a little too creative, such as the time when I embellished a bit on my kindergarten experiences (where's the dramatic hook in coloring, cutting out and pasting?).
When I was in seventh grade and a bit old for Fisher-Price people, Barbie dolls or the dress-up box, I started writing these stories down in spiral notebooks. Later, I found an old manual typewriter, taught myself to type, then wrote a lot of first chapters of novels on it. I still hadn't figured out how to actually be a working novelist who gets paid for writing (finishing a book instead of writing a lot of first chapters might have been a good start), so when it came time to go to college, I went to journalism school at the University of Texas. While getting my degree in broadcast news, I managed to structure a curriculum that might also help me in my real career plans. I took fencing (which I thought would be useful for writing fantasy novels), an astronomy course on the search for extraterrestrial life (in case I wanted to write science fiction), psychology, interpersonal communication, and parageography (the geography of imaginary lands).
I got serious about pursuing my novel-writing ambitions soon after I got my first job in public relations (TV reporting, it turns out, would have taken away from my writing time) when I started joining local writing organizations and reading books on how to write a novel. Then I took the big step of registering for a writing conference. With the registration fee, you could enter two manuscripts in a contest that went with the conference. I figured if I was paying that much money, I'd get the most out of it, so I wrote two entries. At the conference, I met a real, live editor, who encouraged me to submit, and one of my entries won the science fiction/fantasy category of the contest. I hurried to finish the novel the editor had asked for, then mailed a proposal.
She ended up rejecting the book, but encouraged me to keep trying. I ended up selling that novel elsewhere, then sold two more books to that publisher before I had another idea for that original editor. That book ended up selling, and then one more.
And then I hit the wall. Due to a number of circumstances, some of which weren't my fault and some of which were, I didn't sell anything else for eight years. But then I had the idea that became Enchanted, Inc., I wrote it, sold it, and here I am.
Other Life Stuff
I think I need to get a few more hobbies or something else going on in my life that isn't related to reading or writing because currently my bio in my books is shorter than the "about the typeface" section. Yes, a typeface has a more interesting life than I do.
When I'm not writing, I'm most often reading. Otherwise, I enjoy watching science fiction TV shows and then discussing them on the Internet, working crossw
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 4, 2023
Another fun adventure with Lexie. But talk about slow burn romance!!
December 18, 2022
Christmas is just around the corner, and for Lexie that means a steady stream of rom-coms...and yet another holiday mystery to solve. For once, Lexie has it easy: there's no blood and no bodies, just a stream of mysterious notes alerting locals to things going on in their lives: an affair, an upcoming layoff, little layers of deception being stripped away. There's no harm being done...but it's hard to know how long that can last. Meanwhile, a masked bandit is striking local convenience stores and restaurants, leaving staff shaken but never taking more than a candy bar or milkshake.
I read this on the train to Prague (I was going to read The Thing about Prague but this looked more fun), and it made for perfect wintery reading. And for romance-happy readers, there are updates on the Lexie-Wes situation—but not happily-ever-after just yet, because what fun would that be when there are hopefully still more books to come?
And a favourite Jean quote as a bonus: "The guy who was here before you never listened to me, so there wasn't much point in hanging around. I took a year or so off to just be dead." (19)
I read this on the train to Prague (I was going to read The Thing about Prague but this looked more fun), and it made for perfect wintery reading. And for romance-happy readers, there are updates on the Lexie-Wes situation—but not happily-ever-after just yet, because what fun would that be when there are hopefully still more books to come?
And a favourite Jean quote as a bonus: "The guy who was here before you never listened to me, so there wasn't much point in hanging around. I took a year or so off to just be dead." (19)
December 13, 2022
A cozy hug of a mystery with the intentional feel of a Hallmark Christmas movie--the good kind, not the idiotic kind. No murders to solve this time, just a series of Secret Santa notes and gifts slipped into pockets or locked houses, as well as a string of low-stakes gas station and other robberies with only minor items stolen. Lexie gets to enjoy the holiday atmosphere of her small town while solving puzzles with her favorite Bah Humbug detective.
I especially appreciate that no one dies in this book. It's so unrealistic to have so many murders in so many fictional small towns of other cozy mystery series, and it's nice to get a break from the trauma and devastation death brings.
I especially appreciate that no one dies in this book. It's so unrealistic to have so many murders in so many fictional small towns of other cozy mystery series, and it's nice to get a break from the trauma and devastation death brings.
December 19, 2022
This was a fun, cozy holiday mystery. During a new Christmas festival in the Texas town of Stirling Mills, Lexie investigates Secret Santa notes sharing secrets that have the town abuzz. Some of the notes are helpful, others more divisive. Who has learned the town's secrets and why are they sharing? Newspaper editor Lexie just wants to enjoy the holidays, but feels she must investigate.
July 25, 2024
I'm not sure if this is the conclusion of the series, but if it is, it leaves it off in a great place. The mystery felt like a culmination of a lot of things that occurred over the course of the series, and there's also some long-overdue resolution for the protagonist regarding the will-they-or-won't-they situation.
December 23, 2022
This one was my least fav of the series. It’s still okay. I just missed the supernatural interaction besides Jean.
June 19, 2024
This was so fun and light. I have enjoyed every book in this series about small town mysteries with a dash of paranormal.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews