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All I want for Christmas ... is a mystery
Author contributes story to fundraising anthology
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Above, staff photo by Bob Renneisen; Left, submitted photo
Local writer Stephanie Lazer of Lusby displays the recently-published book "The Gift of Murder," an anthology of holiday crime stories to benefit Toys for Tots. Lazer's short story, "Red Christmas" is included in the book.
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All I want for Christmas is…a good murder mystery?
The holiday season brings to mind many different themes, emotions and feelings such as faith, fantasy, toys, carols, shopping, long lines and longer hours for retailers.
How about a gruesome story of mayhem and murder?
Better yet, why not a whole collection of blood-dripping, mind-fogging stories about crime during the holidays — something to curl up with in your Snuggie with a glass of eggnog or cup of hot chocolate while you wait for Santa to come down the chimney?
Local writer Stephanie Lazer of Lusby has just such a story in a book full of similar yarns recently published for the holiday season; and it's all for the benefit of Toys for Tots.
"Christmas isn't necessarily a happy time. Suicides and murders go up each year around this time and some people get tired of the cloying sweetness of Christmas and need a little bitter to balance with the sweet," Lazar said. "I think I come from a family with kind of a dark sense of humor," she added with a smile.
Lazar's short story, "Red Christmas," is one of 19 in "The Gift of Murder: An Anthology of Holiday Crime Stories to Benefit Toys for Tots," published by Wolfmont Press.
The names of some of the stories, "The Christmas Caper," "Yule Be Sorry," "Death Will Trim Your Tree" and "The Worst Noel," are right up the alley of any diehard mystery lover.
"The premise of my story is about a woman who goes a little too far trying to track down the hot toy of the season — and this is a great year for that theme, because everything is sold out already, all the hot toys. Anyway, she gets a late start and can't get the toy and gets herself into a situation that just makes things worse; the whole story takes place in the police station after her situation."
According to a release from the publisher, this is the fourth year that Wolfmont Press has published a holiday crime anthology for the benefit of Toys for Tots.
"In the past three years we have raised a little over $6,600 for Toys for Tots. With ‘The Gift of Murder' we are aiming to bring that total to $10 thousand," said Wolfmont's editor and publisher Tony Burton in the release.
On the book's cover note, it receives praise from Margaret Fenton, author of "Little Lamb Lost."
"From Earl Staggs' heartwarming story of second chances to Barb Goffman's tale of holiday revenge gone wrong, this book is one present to buy for yourself," she says. "You won't be able to make yourself give it away."
In addition to Lazer, the authors are (in order of appearance): J.F. Benedetto, Stephen D. Rogers, Anita Page, Randy Rawls, Earl Staggs, Peg Herring, Deborah Elliott-Upton, Bill Crider, Carolyn J. Rose, Elizabeth Zelvin, Barb Goffman, Austin S. Camacho, Sandra Seamans, Steve Shrott, Gail Farrelly, Herschel Cozine, Kris Neri and Marian Allen.
The editor is prolific short-story author John M. Floyd.
The authors "created stories of crime, mystery and mayhem set in the winter holiday season, and donated their work to support this very worthwhile cause, Toys for Tots," the release states.
Lazer isn't sure how her story occurred to her.
"I'm not really sure where the idea came from. I enjoy reading and writing stories that have a little bit of a twist to them. When you think of a twist, sometimes the story almost writes itself around it. I actually wrote this story in Ocean City in July [last year] — kind of far out of season, but when it comes, you just have to follow it.
"A friend of mine was published in the last anthology, ‘Dying in a Winter Wonderland.' I'd been doing some editing for him and it finally hit me; I went to school to be a writer, not an editor, so last year I decided to submit a story. I knew the deadline, July 15, 2008, and I had the premise, so I submitted. I found out my story would be published a year later, when I was in Ocean City again this year."
Locally, "The Gift of Murder" is available from Bay Books in California, Md., on Amazon.com, or directly from the publisher at Wolfmont.com.
