text: I love Anne Perry's Christmas stories. I have them all. I even have some of them on CD. I enjoy reading about and getting to know the more peripheral characters as they meet and triumph over their challenges. My problem with this story is that although I had a chance to learn more about three of the recurring characters that I enjoy in the Monk series, I felt like I had read this story before written in a different way. Perhaps not, but in any case I was a disappointed.