For most people, what you feel at Christmastime and what you feel when there’s been a murder lie at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Perhaps here at Crime Fiction Lover we’re not quite normal because we have no mixed feelings at all, at least not when the murder is fictional. We just love a Christmas murder mystery, and we know our readers do too.
Enter Mona Marple, an author from Nottinghamshire, near Sherwood Forest, who grew up watching cosy crime mysteries with her mum. She always felt she could pen one herself and, reassessing her life after her mother’s stroke, decided to give it a go. She’s now written several crime series under the name Mona Marple as well as other monikers, but one of her most successful is the Candy Cane Hollow series – nine books so far which begin with Christmas Corpse.
Originally self-published, the novels have been brought into print by Vinci Books, and you can now find them in good bookshops in the UK and further afield. It’s a series that takes the Christmas fairytale of Santa and his elves working away in a winter wonderland, and turns the dial right up to 11. But then there’s the crime aspect to the stories, which sort of brings you back to reality. It’s this juxtaposition that Mona handles so effortlessly. Here prose is light and playful, with a touch of nostalgia and it seems to carry just the right emotional weight in each scene.
Things get underway in the Christmas Corpse when protagonist Holly Wood (yes, really) crashes her car into a snowdrift and ends up in Candy Cane Hollow with Mrs Claus her rescuer. By the time Mrs Claus is suspected of murder by poisoned mince pie, the weirdness of the situation has fallen to one side as you’re swept along by the story. It’s a cosy crime series, but there’s a lot more to it than cosiness. We decided to ask Mona a little more about her books and how she created them…
What are crime fiction lovers going to love about Christmas Corpse? And what will they love about the further novels in the series?
My Candy Cane Hollow series is just me giving myself permission to explore my love of Christmas and all of the magic and whimsy that the season involves. So, yes, the series includes Santa and his family, a very sassy house elf, and even talking reindeer. It’s just good, warm hearted fun!
Who is Holly Wood, how did you come up with the character and how have you developed her in the novels?
Holly came to me as an overworked, jaded person who had really lost the Christmas magic. Like many of us, she’s got bogged down by work and bills to pay and responsibilities, and this series throws her into a winter wonderland where she can remember how fun it is to believe.
What is she up against in the Christmas Corpse?
Firstly, she drives her car into a snow bank on her way home from work. She’s rescued by a sweet lady who says she is Mrs Claus, and so Holly’s first challenge is to get her head around that!
Who are some of the characters we’ll meet in Christmas Corpse, and in the next few books as well?
Because Candy Cane Hollow is a small village, there are plenty of fun, recurring characters. In particular, there’s Mrs Claus, her husband Father Christmas, and their handsome son Nick. Then there’s the reader favourite, Gilbert, he’s a sassy house elf with high standards, big emotions and a huge capacity for flouncing around when he feels under appreciated.
Candy Cane Hollow feels like it might be a place anywhere in England. What were the challenges blending Holly’s reality with the Christmas fairytale setting?
One of the true joys of Christmas is that it becomes more fun the more you allow yourself to believe in it. So why wouldn’t the magical home of Santa be accessible from a snow drift outside London? If Holly could find it from there, maybe you could find it from near you, too.
Tell us about some of the other crimes that crop up in the series and how fiendish they are to solve?
Candy Cane Hollow battles some of the same issues the rest of the world does – people do strange things for reasons we can perhaps understand: jealousy, greed, love, betrayal. A poisoned mince pie? A glitter ball designed to crush someone? Sometimes, Christmas can be murder.
As well as the mysteries, is there a hint of romance too?
I mentioned the handsome Nick Claus earlier. He’s the next Santa in training, and he has quite the devoted fan club among my readers. Holly spots him right away, and let’s just say that Mrs Claus is ready to keep a close eye on any blossoming romance…
The stories are very entertainingly told, but were there some wider themes that you wanted to explore?
Holly hasn’t had an easy life. She’s lost her ability to feel that childlike wonder at the world, and part of the series is her lowering her guard enough to really let people in, become part of a community and perhaps even take a chance on love. Later in the series, the books explore divorce and custody battles; regular topics that many of us are familiar with.
Which other cosy crime books and/or authors have inspired you, and were there any other Christmas stories that have inspired you as well?
I really love Liz Ireland’s Mrs Claus series, which takes a unique spin on imagining the personalities of the people (elves?!) who make Christmas happen. I read really widely and love the mysteries by Janice Hallett, Krista Davis, Wendy Meadows and Tonya Kappes, among many, many more.
We’re nine books in with Mince Pies to Die For. What’s next for Holly Wood, and what’s next for Mona Marple?
Next for both of us is book ten, which will be out towards the end of 2026. This feels like a really momentous book for me and Holly! I’m so grateful that readers have supported this series so much, it’s incredible fun to write.
Christmas Corpse and the following eight books in the Candy Cane Hollow series are available no in print and for Kindle. Use the buttons below to explore the set.
