The Sherlock Holmes mysteries consist of 56 short stories and four novels. And only one of those stories takes place at Christmas time in Victorian England. It’s the famous story, “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” which finds Holmes and Watson chasing a jewel thief in London who has stuffed his prize down the throat of a live Christmas goose. Yes, you heard me. A goose. First the goose is alive, then it’s not, then it’s well and truly cooked. And zaniness ensues. It’s fun story but there’s a huge gaping plot hole in the middle of it all…

Well, the folks over at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog I write for, have me contributing a post on this, the deadest reading day of the year, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when all good Americans are out spending themselves blind. Not to be outdone, I have managed to blame the entire Black Friday concept on short story writers, the very same folks who operate the SleuthSayers blog. I know, it’s wacky clickbait premise, but you can’t blame a guy for trying. My argument is based on one of the oldest American Christmas traditions…