The Claus Conspiracy: A Novel by Tamara BerrySeries: Seven Ponds #2
Publication Date: October 6, 2026
Pages: 320
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Rating: ★★★½
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press / Sourcebooks
Synopsis:
A witty, rompy mystery full of holiday hijinks from award-winning author Tamara Berry! It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in this holly-jolly mystery where true crime meets tinsel.
Six months into her new life in Arizona, former journalist-turned-PI-turned-barista Amber Winslow is settling into a slower pace—podcasting with her grandma’s octogenarian friends at Seven Ponds Retirement Community. But her quiet days take a sharp turn when a battered, amnesiac teen crashes into her life—literally.
The girl, dubbed Mal, only knows Amber’s voice from the Death Comes Calling podcast and arrives with two things: a Post-It note containing Amber's address and a dead Santa Claus in her trunk...
As the quirky retirement crew and Amber investigate, they uncover strange links between Mal, a string of rogue Mall Santas, and a Navy SEAL past that ties back to Amber's PI ex-boyfriend, Bones. The team races to find answers, navigating a tangled web of secrets involving suspicious Santas, deadly drugs, and one very personal bombshell that changes everything Amber thought she knew...
REVIEW
Amber Winslow thought she was done with dead bodies. Six months after trading journalism and PI work for barista life and co-hosting a true crime podcast with the octogenarians at Seven Ponds Retirement Community in Arizona, her version of drama is lukewarm lattes and cold cases. That peace shatters when a bruised, amnesiac teenager crashes into her driveway calling herself only Mal, clutching a Post-it with Amber’s address and a dead Santa in her trunk. Tamara Berry leans all the way into the absurdity, and it works.
This is cozy mystery at its most delightfully unhinged. Berry balances genuine stakes: a girl with no memory, a string of suspicious Santas, and a personal twist tied to Amber’s ex, Bones. With laugh-out-loud banter from her retirement home sidekicks, who are more than willing to commit a little light B&E for justice. The plot moves fast, the clues are cleverly scattered, and the Arizona-does-Christmas setting gives it a fresh spin on the usual snow-covered whodunit.
Where it stumbles a bit is in the middle, where the conspiracy threads get a little tangled and rely heavily on coincidence. I wanted a bit more time with Mal herself, who is fascinating but gets slightly sidelined by the Santa shenanigans. Still, Berry’s voice is so witty and warm that you forgive the chaos. As Amber quips, “True crime teaches you two things: never trust a man in a costume, and never trust a crime that looks simple.”
Perfect for readers who like their murders merry and their heroines scrappy, The Claus Conspiracy is a romp that delivers heart, humour, and just enough holiday menace. It didn’t quite reach four-star perfection for me, but I closed it grinning and already missing the Seven Ponds crew.
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