Occasionally, a long-running series will become stale and require a bit of literary surgery to freshen it up. This has never happened with the Women’s Murder Club novels. James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have demonstrated a continuing practice of keeping the series in flux while preserving an internal continuity, striking a delicate balance between the new and the familiar. This is particularly evident in THE 19th CHRISTMAS, the latest installment in a series that is approaching the conclusion of its second decade.

In keeping with the authors’ practice, the book explores two mysteries, the “lesser” (though no less intriguing) of these involving journalist Cindy Thomas, whose efforts to explore the true meaning of Christmas lead her to a case of potentially wrongful imprisonment. Interestingly enough, she enlists the services of ADA Yuki Castellano to see that justice is ultimately done.

"Patterson and Paetro appear to have an inexhaustible supply of ideas to keep the Women’s Murder Club open for business, and hopefully will continue to present them well into the foreseeable future."

The greater of the mysteries begins with a snatch-and-grab in San Francisco’s busy downtown shopping district. The doer, a lowlife named Julian Lambert, is almost immediately apprehended by Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner (and Cindy’s significant other), Rich Conklin, but offers a trade of information in exchange for his freedom. He alleges knowledge of a major heist that is to take place in San Francisco over the hectic Christmas holiday. The brain behind the plan is an enigmatic criminal mastermind known to Lambert only as “Loman.”

One clue leads to another, with the San Francisco Police Department running in increasingly violent circles, resulting in a trail of dead-ends that brings them no closer to identifying the where, when or what of the heist, which is supposedly going to be a record-breaking one. Readers know just a bit more about what is going on than law enforcement does. Still, there are plenty of surprises throughout, not the least of which is the one that closes out the book and opens up all sorts of possibilities for future volumes of the Women’s Murder Club --- including, but not limited to, a (temporary) change of locale.

I am tempted to call THE 19th CHRISTMAS the best entry in the series thus far --- quite an accomplishment, considering what has gone before --- but I would be better served to leave that determination to you and the countless readers who have been fans of these books from the beginning and undoubtedly will continue to do so. Patterson and Paetro appear to have an inexhaustible supply of ideas to keep the Women’s Murder Club open for business, and hopefully will continue to present them well into the foreseeable future.