THE 19th CHRISTMAS

4 stars out of 5

By now, the 19th book in the series, the members of the self-described Women's Murder Club seem like old friends to me: San Francisco Police Department Detective Lindsay Boxer, attorney Yuki Castellano, medical examiner Claire Washburn and crime reporter Cindy Thomas. As usual, Lindsay's escapades take center stage in this one, with Yuki and Cindy getting some page time as they deal with inequities in the U.S. immigration system (a timely issue for sure). Claire shows up only a couple of times - seems she left town over the Christmas holidays to teach college students.

It all begins with all four women hoping for a carefree Christmas holiday with their significant others. Then readers are backtracked to a time when Lindsay and her partner Rich (Cindy's beau) chased down a street thief. He spills the beans on a really bad guy who's holed out in a hotel; the FBI is called in and a shootout ensues. Yuki and her sweetie Brady are prepping for a pre-Christmas dinner with the district attorney (Yuki's boss) when Brady gets called to the hotel scene. From that point on, it's mostly Lindsay and Rich investigating leads that suggest something big-time is going to go down with an eye toward prevention and apprehension. Concurrently, based on Cindy's research that suggests an innocent immigrant man may be languishing in jail too long awaiting trial, Yuki gets involved with trying to get justice for him as Cindy hustles to make her story deadline.

All told, it makes for an enjoyable adventure that won't tax your brain - great for curling up next to a cozy stocking-hung fireplace with a mug of hot mulled cider.

The 19th Christmas by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown and Co., October 2019); 368 pp.