Eight mall Santas walk into a buffet. It sounds like the set-up to a joke and it isn’t too far off. The Usual Santas by Mick Herron is a funny short story about the Christmas Eve adventure of eight mall Santas who have sat down for dinner to exchange holiday stories from the mall. I don’t want to spoil the story but if the name Verbal Kint seems familiar, you can probably guess the theme from the title.
The Usual Santas can be found in a collection of Christmas short stories. I would include a link, however the title of the collection will give up the theme (which I am deliberately hiding to ensure heighten the tension).
Instead I will recommend finding the story in the LeVar Burton Reads podcast feed. He does a great job with the reading. Each character gets a distinct voice (I think done by Burton) and personality even though they are all named Santa. The podcast is a Stitcher Original but it can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and presumably wherever else quality podcasts reside.
The Keasy Depot 