Dead Santa!

The Christmas season gets off to a rocky start in the sleepy coastal town of Bath, Maine, when a local shop keeper finds a body dressed as Santa Claus in the doorway of the shop. To make matters worse, a valuable Christmas treasure is stolen from All Souls Church. The identity of the dead man stumps the local police, and it falls to private detectives Jesse Ashworth and Tim Mallory to look for clues the police may have missed. It's been a slow season for the Bigg-Boyce Security Agency, known locally as the Big Boys' Detective Agency, but things begin to pick up when Tim and Jesse find themselves involved in three cases they must solve. In addition, Jesse's old nemesis, Bitch Blair, is back in town after serving time in prison. Once again Jesse and Tim must navigate through the colorful assortment of local characters to look for solutions.

Stephen E. Stanley grew up on the Maine coast and graduated from Morse High School in Bath. He attended the University of Southern Maine, Lesley University, the University of New Hampshire, and Columbia Pacific University. Mr. Stanley was a high school educator for over thirty years and recently retired as the district mentor for secondary education at a large New Hampshire school system.