O, Deadly Night by Vicki Delany Narrator: Dina Pearlman
Series: A Year-Round Christmas Mystery #8
Published by Tantor Media on October 14, 2025
Source: Library
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Length: 8 hrs 24 mins
Pages: 320
Format: Audiobook
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It’s Christmastime in Rudolph, New York, which means it’s time for the December Santa Claus parade. This year, shop owner Merry Wilkinson has decided to decorate her float as Santa’s elves' workshop and invites her landlady, Mabel D’Angelo, to help supervise the excited children playing the elves. But when Mrs. D’Angelo doesn’t show up, Merry begins to worry.
Worry quickly turns into frustration when Mrs. D’Angelo reveals she was delayed by new neighbors moving in. As the center for all things gossip, Mrs. D’Angelo is determined to introduce the new arrivals to the neighborhood. As the days pass, Mrs. D’Angelo notices strange things about the newcomers, but Merry, busier than an elf in Santa’s workshop, has little time for matters that really don’t concern her. But things turn from jolly to downright concerning when Mrs. D’Angelo disappears, and Merry is forced to admit that something might be terribly wrong.
With family and friends counting on her during this stressful holiday season, it is up to Merry to make sure this Christmas doesn’t end up wrapped in blood red.
Rudolph, New York, is the place to be for Christmas – the town goes all out to welcome tourists to America’s Christmas Town. Merry once again doesn’t win the best float in the Santa Claus parade, but all the shops in town are bustling. Also a new neighborhood has moved in across the street, but Mrs. D’Angelo thinks something is up. She never sees them and they won’t answer the door when she tries to drop off cookies. Mrs. D’Angelo is one of those nosey neighbors and even asks Merry to mention the elusive new-comers to the police. Then Mrs. D’Angelo disappears and Merry realizes the older woman might have taken her snooping too far. Eventually, Merry finds Mrs. D’Angelo relatively unharmed – and a dead body.
The killer is pretty easy to guess in this one, as is the motive, but the characters are fun to spend time with. Merry’s family and friends are appropriately quirky and her dog is adorable, if large. It’s more or less a standard Christmas cozy, but that’s something I enjoy. I love the Christmas touches Now, I may need to bake some molasses cookies.
About Vicki Delany
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing three cozy mystery series: the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane, the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series, for Crooked Lane Books.
Vicki lives and writes in bucolic Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I’m going to see if Libby has this series.
I listened to it on Hoopla.