Davis Bunn. The Christmas Hummingbird. Kensington, 2022.

Before getting into the story of The Christmas Hummingbird, I have to say that the author did not do much research on hummingbirds. This story involves wildfires threatening a California community. Among other creatures, the hummingbirds are driven out of the woods. Eleven year old Liam rescues a suffering hummingbird and with the help of some friends, helps it recover. Inspired by Liam, the community decides to put up a hummingbird feeder in virtually every yard in town to attract the birds away from the fire zone and provide nourishment for them. So far, so good.

Alas, the author tells us that the birds are Rufous-Crested Hummingbirds. Those birds are found mostly in the Andes but they do range north to the very south of Mexico—not even to Baja California, let alone the American state. Now there are a number of species of hummers that nest in California, but by Christmastime they are long gone. The one exception is the Anna’s Hummingbird, which I have seen in the winter in southern California in and near San Diego.

The novel takes place in Miramar, which in real life is a section of San Diego, best known for its military air station (formerly Navy, now Marine Corps). However, we are told that our fictional Miramar is north of Ojai, which is north of Los Angeles. There could be winter Anna’s Hummingbirds hanging around there, but the farther north you go, the less likely.

Now that I have that out of the way, if we willingly suspend our disbelief about the hummingbirds, this is actually a well told story. Besides Liam, the two main characters are his single mother Ryan and the lonely divorcé Ethan. Ethan sometimes works as a set design artist for the film industry, but his day job is with the local bank. He has been deputized to help people in the higher elevations evacuate before they are trapped in the fires. He himself lost everything in an earlier fire. He also has a melancholy feeling about Christmastime because his wife left him right before the holiday six years before.

Ryan is a police officer. Liam’s father fled as soon as he learned she was expecting. That plus the fact that police tend to be skeptical of people in general, makes her very tender towards her socially awkward son but distant towards everyone else. I recall reading that police and journalists are the most difficult people to persuade about anything because in both professions they hear a lot of people lie to them. Ryan does not appear to believe in people or in love.

Not only are there these fires to contend with, but it appears that the fires may be set deliberately. Most of the homes affected by the fires are large homes owned by wealthy landowners, many of whom only live in them part of the year. It appears that someone may be burglarizing the houses after they are abandoned. The fires then cover any trace of foul play. The thieves seem to be well organized as a number of fireproof safes have simply disappeared from the homes.

Things are also complicated because many of the homes in the fire-prone areas are owned by people who wish to remain anonymous. A number of them are represented by an attorney in Belgium. The police and the bank both try to communicate the situation, but the lawyer simply tells them that he will contact his clients. Who they are and how to contact them is none of their business.

There is some exciting firefighting and crime solving in this tale, but the real story is the warming up of both Ryan and Ethan. I am not sure the word love is ever used in the story except to describe Ryan’s maternal love for her son. Still, that is what the story is about. Hurt people hurt people, as they say. But if the guard can come down a little bit, there is potential for healing the hurt. That means love. And that gives the story a surprising and tender depth—in spite of the inaccuracies concerning hummingbirds.