What Fredricks has put under the tree for her readers this year is an instant Christmas classic, the kind of book you might reach for every December – but only if your taste runs to a few murder victims in Santa’s bag. Set in 1932, main character Grace Verlander is in charge of much of the big Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade, an event as big in 1932 as it is today. Her biggest headache is that someone has threatened Santa Claus, and she must do everything she can to keep the big fellow safe despite the chaos of the parade.
I loved the details of running a big department store, the kind of establishment that hardly exists today. For a few years after college, I worked at Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis (Mary Tyler Moore threw her hat in the air in front of Dayton’s), which was a city unto itself. There were seven floors of magic, including a bookstore, coffee shop, restaurant, furniture department, and much, much more. The store culture of the 30s described in the book doesn’t sound all that different from the store culture in the 80s I knew then, complete with a Santa in residence on the top floor during the entire month of December.
Grace has her hands full with employees wanting to be in the parade as well initiating and directing it, while still keeping a watchful eye on her star’s safety. Despite the presence of the head of store security undercover as an elf on Santa’s float, by the end of it all there’s the inevitable tragedy. Grace is skeptical about the guilt of the person the police have decided to arrest in their rush to judgement, and decides she might just do a little investigating herself.
Meanwhile, as readers, we learn more about the store and its employees, including the genius behind its beautiful display windows. He’s a bit prickly but despite that he and Grace are definitely attracted to one another. We also learn her backstory, about coming up the hard way, one where she’s risen from her hardscrabble past through her own hard work. She’s so relatable that you’re with her every step of the way as she juggles working and sleuthing. The stresses of her beloved job still resonate today, as does the very real and very female anxiety of worrying about, well, everybody.
I loved the details of life in the 30s, one where Macy’s is helping to provide some Christmas sparkle, if only through a look from the other side of seasonal window displays. This book reminded me a bit of Rhys Bowen’s The Twelve Clues of Christmas, which also included a high body count, but still managed to end up a charming Christmas read that wrapped things up with a hopeful bow. Like a delicious Christmas cake, this book contains a bit of just about everything good in the kitchen – I laughed, I cried, I was surprised, and fell in love with the main character. With Murder on 34th Street, Fredericks has created her own unique piece of holiday sparkle. — Robin Agnew