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Nick & Carter Holiday #24
Boxing Day, 1981
Saturday, December 26, 1981
It's Boxing Day and Nick and Carter are renting a sprawling 19th century house in the heart of Auckland, in New Zealand.
The sun has barely risen when Nick sits up in bed after hearing the sound of a woman screaming.
While Carter rolls over to go back to sleep, Nick investigates the house next door where he finds a corpse who's been stabbed in the back.
Once the police detective arrives, he asks Nick and Carter for their help.
What they turn up is an unexpected connection to a sad and sorrowful time in their past...
In the end, however, some old ghosts finally find peace and so do Nick and Carter.
It's Boxing Day and Nick and Carter are renting a sprawling 19th century house in the heart of Auckland, in New Zealand.
The sun has barely risen when Nick sits up in bed after hearing the sound of a woman screaming.
While Carter rolls over to go back to sleep, Nick investigates the house next door where he finds a corpse who's been stabbed in the back.
Once the police detective arrives, he asks Nick and Carter for their help.
What they turn up is an unexpected connection to a sad and sorrowful time in their past...
In the end, however, some old ghosts finally find peace and so do Nick and Carter.
74 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 30, 2020
3 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Frank W. Butterfield
123 books106 followersFrank W. Butterfield, not an assumed name, loves old movies, wise-cracking smart guys with hearts of gold, and writing for fun.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2021
Boxing Day, 1981 (Nick & Carter Holidays 24)
BY Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2020
Four stars
I’m pretty sure that Frank Butterfield didn’t imagine, when he started his year-long series of holiday-themed shorts featuring Nick Williams and Carter Jones, that these two dozen pieces would be framed by a year unlike any other in the living memory of his fans.
The final installment of this engaging series falls on a rather lame holiday—Boxing Day, which is generally only known to Brits and people like me who had a relative born on December 26. The story, which is a murder mystery, also sets about tying up some loose ends in another, rather darker part of Nick and Carter’s travels together: their years in the Belgian Congo, learning how to do something significant and transformative with their fortune in the context of a completely foreign setting.
The deceased, whom Nick discovers early one morning, as he and Carter are staying in a Victorian mansion in the poshest part of Auckland, New Zealand, becomes a person of real interest when her true identity is discovered, leading Nick and Carter down a sometimes tearful memory lane. As always, Nick figures things out, finds another gay man to rescue from unemployment, and manages to spend a great deal of money in the name of justice and the WilliamsJones enterprise.
For all its well-crafted, tightly scripted mystery, this is not one of the more emotionally rich holidays for the reader; but it does drive home the consistent truths of Nick and Carter’s life together. Be honest, be generous, and only use your money and influence for the right reasons, one of which is looking out for your global family of LGB people wherever they might be oppressed or marginalized. (T and Q+ hadn’t made it into the lexicon in 1981.)
As a new, one hopes better, year begins, I can only wonder what new ideas will pop into Mr. Butterfield’s mind. Whatever happens, I’ll be along for the ride.
BY Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2020
Four stars
I’m pretty sure that Frank Butterfield didn’t imagine, when he started his year-long series of holiday-themed shorts featuring Nick Williams and Carter Jones, that these two dozen pieces would be framed by a year unlike any other in the living memory of his fans.
The final installment of this engaging series falls on a rather lame holiday—Boxing Day, which is generally only known to Brits and people like me who had a relative born on December 26. The story, which is a murder mystery, also sets about tying up some loose ends in another, rather darker part of Nick and Carter’s travels together: their years in the Belgian Congo, learning how to do something significant and transformative with their fortune in the context of a completely foreign setting.
The deceased, whom Nick discovers early one morning, as he and Carter are staying in a Victorian mansion in the poshest part of Auckland, New Zealand, becomes a person of real interest when her true identity is discovered, leading Nick and Carter down a sometimes tearful memory lane. As always, Nick figures things out, finds another gay man to rescue from unemployment, and manages to spend a great deal of money in the name of justice and the WilliamsJones enterprise.
For all its well-crafted, tightly scripted mystery, this is not one of the more emotionally rich holidays for the reader; but it does drive home the consistent truths of Nick and Carter’s life together. Be honest, be generous, and only use your money and influence for the right reasons, one of which is looking out for your global family of LGB people wherever they might be oppressed or marginalized. (T and Q+ hadn’t made it into the lexicon in 1981.)
As a new, one hopes better, year begins, I can only wonder what new ideas will pop into Mr. Butterfield’s mind. Whatever happens, I’ll be along for the ride.
January 1, 2021
A nice completion to this series - what an excellent idea. I'm going to spend January re-reading them all, this time in chronological order, from Easter 1929 to Veterans Day 2006.
January 9, 2021
Last in series...
A first visit to New Zealand (and closer to the seventh continent for that 'most handsome man' title - which gets referred to at the end). Nick and Carter are embroiled in a murder - and that involves an episode in their past... Nick recruits a new employee, accidentally. Again. And buys a company, also again. Carter hopes to get some surfing in...
These little snippets of 'Life with Nick and Carter' have been highlights of this year which has curtailed much travel for many of us. Along the way we've learned quite a bit extra about our leading men.
Highly recommended
A first visit to New Zealand (and closer to the seventh continent for that 'most handsome man' title - which gets referred to at the end). Nick and Carter are embroiled in a murder - and that involves an episode in their past... Nick recruits a new employee, accidentally. Again. And buys a company, also again. Carter hopes to get some surfing in...
These little snippets of 'Life with Nick and Carter' have been highlights of this year which has curtailed much travel for many of us. Along the way we've learned quite a bit extra about our leading men.
Highly recommended
December 27, 2022
I have only read about half of the Nick and Carter Holiday shorts but of those I read, Boxing Day, 1981 is definitely the more mystery-centric and it definitely is one of my favorites(though I think I say that with nearly each one😉). As it's a mystery I won't say too much of the plot, being all anti-spoiler as I am, trust me when I say if you enjoy Nick and Carter then this is a must and if you are new to this universe, well despite it being the last in this series of shorts there is no real set timeline as it jumps all over the place(and that's not a bad thing with these guys) then Boxing Day is a perfect place to hook you in.
A little note of the overall series(so far):
I'll admit, I've scrolled past many of these entries on Amazon when they popped up on "recommended for you" over the past couple of years but in 2022 I was trying to find more stories that featured "forgotten holidays". Now by "forgotten" I don't mean holidays we don't honor in our lives but holidays that get glossed over or completely ignored too often in fiction. Honestly, Nick and Carter Holidays were a perfect fit for what I was looking for. Time didn't always let me read each one so in 2023 I'm hoping to enjoy the ones I missed and if Time is real good to me I'm hoping to discover the boys' complete journey(as much as I'm really hoping to explore their past I have my doubts Time has the same plan for me but one day I will make Time give me the opportunity).
I'm not going to say this series of shorts gives us a chance to see how the men got to experience the normalities of the holidays as the rest of us do because frankly, Nick and Carter are not your typical humans. Life seems to have a way of giving them experiences that most of us don't even dream of but through these snippets of holiday life we do get to see how much they love each other, how much their friends mean to them, and how much they love life in general. Be it humorous, serious, mysterious, or a number of other -ouses, I was never anything but completely entertained.
A little note of the overall series(so far):
I'll admit, I've scrolled past many of these entries on Amazon when they popped up on "recommended for you" over the past couple of years but in 2022 I was trying to find more stories that featured "forgotten holidays". Now by "forgotten" I don't mean holidays we don't honor in our lives but holidays that get glossed over or completely ignored too often in fiction. Honestly, Nick and Carter Holidays were a perfect fit for what I was looking for. Time didn't always let me read each one so in 2023 I'm hoping to enjoy the ones I missed and if Time is real good to me I'm hoping to discover the boys' complete journey(as much as I'm really hoping to explore their past I have my doubts Time has the same plan for me but one day I will make Time give me the opportunity).
I'm not going to say this series of shorts gives us a chance to see how the men got to experience the normalities of the holidays as the rest of us do because frankly, Nick and Carter are not your typical humans. Life seems to have a way of giving them experiences that most of us don't even dream of but through these snippets of holiday life we do get to see how much they love each other, how much their friends mean to them, and how much they love life in general. Be it humorous, serious, mysterious, or a number of other -ouses, I was never anything but completely entertained.
January 20, 2026
Quite Interesting
This short vignette is well crafted, as we expect when selecting a book or short story from Mr. Butterfield. Some new characters, reconnections with a few previous characters, and a plot which provides enough interest and momentum to keep it all together.
This short vignette is well crafted, as we expect when selecting a book or short story from Mr. Butterfield. Some new characters, reconnections with a few previous characters, and a plot which provides enough interest and momentum to keep it all together.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews