Books like The Christmas Collection: Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark

The problem for me with the Mary Higgins Clark/Carol Higgins Clark Christmas crossover books can be summed up in one word. ALVIRAH. I didn't like Alvirah in 'Dashing Through the Snow' but I did want to find out what happened to Flower and Duncan, and Regan had quite a prominent role. In 'Deck the Halls' despite it being Regan's father Luke who is kidnapped, the book might as well be called 'The Alvirah Meehan Christmas Show.' Alvirah is always THERE being an overgrown, smug Nancy Drew who treats the police like her own personal investigative team and sticks her nose in everywhere. She constantly goes on about how awesome she is and how many cases she solved and how she won the lottery. She's loud, arrogant, and obnoxious, and I just couldn't stand to carry on reading.From now on I'll be sticking purely to Carol Higgins Clark's own books which are just about Regan, her friends, Jack and her family. Unless she writes a book with her mother where someone offs Alvirah the Awful and Regan has to find out who killed her. *That* would be awesome.