He may just be the meanest Christmas villain of all time.

A man who counts his money while children starve, who mocks the sick and begrudges his most loyal friends

even the tiniest bit of happiness. Oh yes, he's the OG of bad guys. All right. Darth Vader, the Grinch

Voldemort, all rolled into one evil lump of a man. Now, but just you wait. This nasty piece

of work will get his comeuppance and in the most unexpected and satisfying way.

I'm speaking, of course, of Evaneser Scrooge.

I'm Keith Morrison, and this is Season 2 of Morrison Mysteries. and mysteries.

Our story is set in the 1840s, London, England.

It's winter, cold and bleak.

But it's Christmas Eve.

The warmth and joy of the season of giving permeate the gray fog of the city in all places,

but one, the tiny shriveled heart of Ebenezer Scrooge.

As we begin, Scrooge is sitting in his office, barking orders at his kind-hearted clerk, Bob Cratchett, who's only hoping to have Christmas Day off to spend time with his family, especially his desperately ill son, Tiny Tim.

But Loisome Scrooge doesn't give a thought to any of that, no. Cratchett's family means nothing to Scrooge.

And Christmas? A passing annoyance.

A waste of valuable time.

Yes, and meanness Scrooge was second to none,

except just possibly, to his old business partner.

The greedy Jacob Marley, who'd pinched his last penny

and died seven years before the Christmas Eve of our story. In fact, it's thoughts of Marley

that begin Charles Dickens, a Christmas Carol.

Marley was dead, to begin with.

...