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Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner have compiled a wonderful anthology of short stories for Christmas, particularly for those readers who enjoy some woo-woo with their holiday cheer. Each story has werewolves in it, a good companion anthology for their MANY BLOOD RETURNS anthology (vampires and birthdays). Charlaine Harris starts off with a wonderful Sookie Stackhouse story with a reverse O. Henry twist at the end. I never saw it coming. I love it when an author can set me up and still surprise me. Donna Andrews is next up, with a great little story of paybacks. I'm very glad she's not mad at me! Sometimes the short ones can be the sweetest. Simon R. Green takes a brief trip down memory lane. Christmas Eve can be the saddest time of all, when one is alone in the bar, remembering things past. Dana Cameron threw me for a loop when she said, " . . . the sun was the best thing for a vampire in need of healing." Other than that, her story of evil among the Fangborn was a look at how the discovery of evil in one's species can change one's outlook. Kat Richardson has a new spin on an old tale: what if a werewolf ate Rudolph? How would Santa cope? And what's Santa really like, anyway? Not, perhaps, as one might expect, even though nothing really stays the same. Alan Gordon gives readers a plausible occupation for a werewolf in an urban setting: guard dog trainer. The problems arise when his love interest and his hunters overlap. Mister Lehrmann trains very good dogs, as his hunters learn to their dismay. Carrie Vaughn tells the story of the birth of something not quite sacred on Christmas Eve. It's also a story of unselfish giving, as is only appropriate for the season. Dana Stabenow writes of The Perfect Gift, one in which everyone leaves happy at the end of the day. It's not necessarily a pretty gift, but sometimes the best ones are a little messy. Keri Arthur sets up a romance gone badly and then puts the two people together to catch whoever was killing the elves collecting money for Christmas charities. No fun for the person in the elf costume, that's for sure. J. A. Konrath takes a classic program and turns it inside out. SA is the acronym for Shapeshifters Anonymous, almost known as Shapeshifters 'R' Us until cooler heads prevail. Robert Weston Smith has just found this group when he and the others are confronted with homicidal fanatics. What a way to ring in the holidays. Patricia Briggs takes on the foster care system in The Star of David, with results that will bring a big smile to anyone who has ever had to deal with the wrong side of a social services fiasco. Nancy Pickard takes Russian vampires and Santa Claus to Africa, where they encounter wilds dogs and werewolves. Karen Chance gives us a story about werewolf politics and Las Vegas, an interesting and plausible combination. Talk about wheels within wheels and convoluted relationships! Rob Thurman tells a story most of us know: how we keep the myth going long after we know there isn't really a Santa Claus, because who wants to break a little kids heart? And the things we do to keep that belief alive just a little longer. Toni L. P. Kelner finishes off the book with a story about a bad kid who just may redeem himself in spite of breaking all the rules of the pack. WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE probably won't ever replace A CHRISTMAS CAROL or 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS as traditional, read-aloud-to-the-kids Christmas fare, but it makes for some fun reading for those old enough to know that Santa Claus probably isn't a corporal being, and yet believe that the spirit of the season is what makes Christmas. Enjoy! § P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, January 2009
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