Hey, Lavar here. We are kicking off the holidays a little early this year with a 3D immersive

remix of this very fun mystery about mall Santas. Hope you like it.

Hi, I'm Lavar Burton and this is Lavar Burton Reads.

In every episode I hand pick a different piece of short-fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

For some of us it's the holiday season right now and I thought I would take this opportunity

to bring you not only a holiday theme story but a holiday themed mystery featuring the

ultimate man of mystery Santa Claus and yes if you are listening with children be aware.

This is a story that involves Santa. You have been warned.

The story is called The Usual Santas and is by Mick Heron from his collection Dolphin

Junction published by Soho Press in the US and John Murray in the UK.

Mick Heron is a British novelist who you may know from his award-winning series of

Slauhaus Thrillers which has been adapted for an Apple TV series called Slow Horses that

stars Gary Oldman. Yeah.

The Usual Santas follows a group of professional mall Santas who are posted up in a sprawling

shopping complex outside London. It's Christmas Eve and after a busy holiday season the

Santas are finally getting to hang up their hats though not literally since they have

kind of an unspoken rule about staying costumed on the premises.

I had an amazingly fun time reading this story so let's just go ahead and get started.

Shall we?

I'm going to go ahead and take that deep breath.

And begin.

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