A Bizarre Heartwarming Holiday Tale. When Barry Higgins, part-time department store Santa and failed father, is wrongly accused of being the infamous AxMas Killer, he sets out to stop the real killer, save Christmas, and decode the hidden message in the lyrics to Billy Joels Piano Man. Both a comedic attack against commercialism and a grisly noir thriller, author Brian Francis second novel takes the reader on a tour of Phillys frozen underbelly during the final days of the holiday season. A wonderfully hilarious and bizarro tale of holidays gone wrong.