"A very special chorus of gratitude to the folks at Rockefeller Center for the joy they have given to countless millions of people over the past seven decades with their tradition of finding and decorating the most beautiful Christmas tree in the world."
-from Acknowledgments in the novel
This is the 2nd novel of one volume---both Christmas mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark, "America's Queen of Suspense," and her daughter.
Private investigator Regan Reilly returns in this novel, now engaged to Jack Reilly, head of Major Case Squad of NYPD, whom she met in Deck the Halls. The two are planning a long weekend in Vermont along with Regan's father and mother, Nora, a mystery writer, as well as friend and journalist/amateur detective Alvirah Meehan and her husband. A new character is introduced, Opal Fogarty, a former lottery winner whose millions were scammed by Packy Noonan. Alvirah invites her friend Opal to come along on the trip.
If the protagonists are familiar, the antagonists are new. Packy Noonan's release from prison is imminent, after 12 years of incarceration for cheating investors out of almost $100 million dollars, Opal having been one of the victims. His accomplices are Jo Jo, Benny and the unsuspecting Milo. Their roles are arranging a getaway car for Packy's escape from parole and a hideaway until they can retrieve the hidden millions, long since converted to diamonds and secreted away. And wouldn't you know the hideaway is near the lodge where the Reillys and others are staying!
The third part of the plot is the well-publicized cutting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree from a property in Vermont, very close to the vacationing Reillys and friends. So, you guessed it: the title refers to the theft of THAT tree---all 80 feet and 3 tons of it! Sounds crazy, huh? I'll let you read to find out why and how that comes about.
I will rate The Christmas Thief a 2.5, pretty far-fetched but it kept me reading until the end.
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