Detective Kate Redmonds act of kindess for a habitual thief the day before christmas opens a can of worms, and cold case she couldn’t have expected.

This is an unusual detective story as it isn’t the story of a case, but simply a day in the life of a detective the day before Christmas. Paperwork, last minute shopping, and no one wanting to get caught in the office on Christmas Day. Detective Kate Redmond comes across as intelligent, if disorganised in her personal life, and someone it is easy to sympathise with when she gets a nightmare case the day before christmas and then it turns into something worse. The supporting cast, even when they appear briefly, have unexpected depths.

I didn’t spot any spelling or grammar errors, even when I went back for a re-read, which tells you that I enjoyed it. The only real negative I found was that there’s a lot of extraneous content, with nearly a third of the book being made up of it.

Crime and mystery fans should love this short story, which is a great introduction to the character.