title: The Merry Christmas Murders: a collection of extremely strange, short stories
author:  Louise Ann Barton 
description: Louise Ann Barton is a master storyteller from a family of Cherokee master storytellers, an author, a poet, and a lecturer. She has an MA in business education, a minor in law, and a Master Gardeners Certification. She has authored both Web and newspaper articles, novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, childrens stories, and plays, edits musical CD inserts, and is a ghostwriter. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, this great grandmother retired to the New Jersey Pine Barrens with her faithful, feline companion.
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  # CHRISTMAS FOR THE SHOP GIRLS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Joanna Toye
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Harper Collins Publishers Logo](../images/logo.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [Copyright](contents.xhtml#copy)
  
  
  HarperCollins _Publishers_ Ltd
  
  
  1 London Bridge Street
  
  
  London SE1 9GF
  
  
  [www.harpercollins.co.uk](http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
  
  
  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2020
  
  
  Copyright © Joanna Toye 2020
  
  
  Cover photographs © Gordon Crabb/Alison Eldred (woman), TopFoto (street
  scene), [Shuttershock.com](http://Shuttershock.com) (all other images)
  
  
  Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollins _Publishers_ Ltd 2020
  
  
  Joanna Toye asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this
  work.
  
  
  A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
  
  
  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents
  portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
  actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincid