I normally don’t care much for Christmas-themed music or stories. The tunes drive me crazy with the exception of two albums: Christmas Is a Special Day by Fats Domino and Come On Christmas by Dwight Yoakam. Christmas novels? The only one I could tolerate up until now was THE SPY WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS by David Morrell, which is not only a wonderful Christmas tale but is also one of Morrell’s best books ever. I now add to that very lonely volume on that very empty bookshelf a new novel titled FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY by Timothy Hallinan.

"Hallinan obviously did yeoman’s work in researching his subject matter. He somehow makes both the history and the inner workings of the ubiquitous shopping mall interesting and, at some points, fascinating."

FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY is a complex book, being part murder mystery, part investigation and part war story. The investigation section is by far the meat of the book. Junior Bender, the burglar to the crooked and corrupt, finds himself corralled into investigating shoplifting, of all things. A very frightening Russian mobster (quickly nicknamed “Vlad” by Junior) is first among equals in the ownership of Edgerton, a once grand and now failing mall. He wants Junior to investigate why this is the case and how so much shoplifting is occurring at stores that remain among the landscape of increasingly empty storefronts. Junior can’t understand why Vlad, who has more money than God, is upset about the shoplifting. It doesn’t make sense, at least not at first, but it doesn’t have to. What Junior does know is that he basically has just a few days to find out, or he may be looking at his last Christmas Eve.

Hallinan obviously did yeoman’s work in researching his subject matter. He somehow makes both the history and the inner workings of the ubiquitous shopping mall interesting and, at some points, fascinating. He also folds some secondary information about keys into the conversation; believe it or not, he somehow renders that an even more intriguing topic of discussion.

Junior is about ready to chuck the whole investigation and take his chances with Vlad when one of the mall store owner-operators is murdered. The victim is someone who Junior had come to like, and he’s motivated to investigate her untimely demise, which he feels may well tie in with the shoplifting problem. He’s right, of course, but not in a way you’ll ever guess. As the investigation progresses, one of the mall’s seasonal employees, if you will, tells Junior a story about a time long ago and a place far away, which dovetails nicely into a small but important secondary mystery that he takes upon himself to investigate. And as if all of the above were not enough, Junior is confronted with the greatest puzzle of all: what to get his loved ones for Christmas.

FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY is very much part of the Junior Bender canon, its seasonal title and subject matter notwithstanding. That title, in any event, is simply terrific, given how it conjures up the festive and the macabre simultaneously. As far as presents are concerned, Hallinan waits until the end (no peeking) to give the reader a hint that leads into a future installment of the series. Whether you are filled with the spirit of the season or otherwise, it’s a must-read for all seasons.