Kipton and the Christmas Gift — Charles Louis Fontenay

Kipton and the Christmas Gift. Kipton meets some children whose widowed mother does not have the means to provide a happy Christmas. Christmas is not a universal holiday on Mars because it must be reckoned from the terrestrial calendar and falls twice in the martian year. However, Kipton and her friends arrange a Christmas for the children. But when a Shakespeare-quoting, rotund scientist playing Santa falls over dead, Christmas assumes new meaning for Kipton. And when Jack appears with mistletoe, we know that Kipton is growing up. For the first time, she has the full backing of her father in her sleuthing, because the authorities have arrested a Marsaire secretary rather than investigating extensively to find the real killer.