After a horrific murder, a sleuthing English teacher will need a Christmas miracle to prove a condemned man innocent.

Colourful Christmas lights dapple the family homes in the idyllic lakeside town of Sweet Haven when Jennifer Dean, a young librarian at the local elementary school, is brutally murdered. There are witnesses and her boyfriend Travis Blake confesses to the crime... but something doesn't add up. Blake is a third generation Army Ranger, awarded the Silver Star for his heroism in Afghanistan. How could a beloved son of this tight-knit community commit such a grisly deed?

Sweet Haven is made up of military families, so no one wants to investigate a war hero. In steps Cameron Winter, a rugged and lonesome English professor haunted by the ghosts of his own Christmas past, whose former lover asks him to prove Blake innocent. The Sweet Haven murder echoes a horrific Yuletide memory from Winter's youth, and he knows the case is even darker than it seems. If he can solve this small-town mystery, just maybe he can find peace from his inner demons too.

Reviews for When Christmas Comes

'When Christmas Comes is wonderful, gripping, a pure delight' Dean Koontz
'This terrific holiday-themed novel will leave readers unsettled and hopeful at the same time' Publishers Weekly

An exciting but tender, heartfelt crime novel about an English professor's attempt to clear a former Army Ranger of murder. It's fast-paced, haunting, with a central character you'll love * Dean Koontz, AARP The Magazine *
Andrew Klavan's When Christmas Comes is a masterclass in mysteries of the melancholic kind * John Valeri, Criminal Element *
This terrific holiday-themed novel will leave readers unsettled and hopeful at the same time * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
Just the thing for one of those lengthening nights between Halloween and Christmas * Kirkus Reviews *
Andrew Klavan is the most original American novelist of crime and suspense since Cornell Woolrich -- Stephen King

Andrew Klavan is a highly successful author of thirty-six thrillers and hard-boiled mysteries. Born in New York City, Klavan was raised on Long Island and attended college at the University of California at Berkeley. He published his first novel, Face of the Earth, in 1977, and found critical recognition when The Rain won the Edgar Award for best new paperback. He lives in California.