Holiday with a Twist by Shannon Stacey

by Carol3 Comments
Holiday with a Twist is just a sweet, feel-good Christmas romance. It's light and fun and a perfect seasonal read for me. Leigh keeping her breakup and quitting her job a secret from her family is silly, but in all honesty I like when the "issue" between the two main characters in a romance isn't a big deal that takes a lot to overcome. Croy and Leigh were friends forever, even if they haven't talked to each other in years, and I like how they settle back in to the friendship. They're a good couple. They know each other well, good and bad, and still fall in love. This is a novella, so the attraction is almost instant and the relationship evolve quickly, but I bought it. Holiday with a Twist is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you're looking for with an HEA/HFN. It's a promise! Love that! I don't have to worry if it'll work...
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The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

by Carol4 Comments
The Santa Klaus Murder is a vintage mystery, set in a country home where the family, and a couple of others, are together to celebrate Christmas. Add in a murder and it should be a perfect read for me. Unfortunately, I found it rather lackluster. It starts off slow, with members of the household telling their version of the events leading up to the murder. Sir Osmond was not a nice father, overbearing and holding the children's inheritance over their heads so that they would marry someone he deemed appropriate. Everyone had their own reasons for not liking the man. I was listening to the audio version and it got a little confusing as to who was who. It definitely picked up once Colonel Halstock takes charge of the investigation, but it's still has a few too many problems for me to really recommend it. - Just too many characters. Maybe it was because I was listening to the audio, but between the family,...
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Mistletoe Mysteries collected by Charlotte MacLeod

by Carol2 Comments
I don't know why, but I am more likely to pick up short story collections in December than any other time of year. It's even better when they're mysteries. This collection, like most, has high points and low points. I have read several of the authors before and discovered a couple I'd like to read more of. A couple of my favorites: (okay, more than a couple. There were a lot of good stories here.) "The Haunted Crescent" by Peter Lovesey has a great twist at the end that I didn't see coming. "Dutch Treat" by Aaron Elkins was fun. I tend to like when art and murder go hand in hand. "The Touch of Koyada" by Edward Hoch was another good one. I love how some writers can just pack so much into so few pages. I think I'll read more of his Simon Ark stories. Of course, Pronzini's "Here Comes Santa Claus" was enjoyable. I like his Nameless Detective. A few misses: Dorothy Salisbury Davis'...
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Through a Glass,Darkly by Donna Leon

by Carol2 Comments
It always seems like Leon has a topic she wants to discuss and works her mystery around that. This time around it's pollution and the environment. This was not my favorite in the series. The mystery doesn't really get started until maybe half way through. Up until them Brunetti is investigating even though the only "crime" was that a woman he barely knows is worried that her father will harm her husband. I'll grant you that does tie in to the eventual mystery, but a lot of Brunetti's investigating and thinking happens before the actual murder. And someone entirely different is killed. I enjoy the bits of daily life, Brunetti's conversations with his wife and kids, the delicious food. In this one, I found the glass making process interesting. It works better as a novel the a standard mystery I think. I hated the ending. I listened to the audio version, as I always do with this series and I felt like the...
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Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome

by CarolNo Comments
Apparently telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve was a tradition in England. This is a funny little book. I found it because I was looking for Christmassy ghost stories for a Thursday's Tale post, but this is more of a parody of ghost stories. "Christmas Eve is the ghosts' great gala night. On Christmas Eve they hold their annual fete. On Christmas Eve everybody in Ghostland who IS anybody—or rather, speaking of ghosts, one should say, I suppose, every nobody who IS any nobody—comes out to show himself or herself, to see and to be seen, to promenade about and display their winding-sheets and grave-clothes to each other, to criticise one another's style, and sneer at one another's complexion." The narrator tells us that it is Christmas Eve at his Uncle John's house. Gathered together are of the narrator, old Dr Scrubbles, the local curate, Mr Samuel Coombes, Teddy Biffles and Uncle John. At the party goes on and they more of the...
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Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon

by Carol2 Comments
The dog and I were home one Saturday night when Amber and David went off to watch a hockey game. I hadn't been able to dig out my box of Christmas books yet, but was in the mood for a vintage seasonal mystery. Someone, somewhere said good things about Mystery in White by Farjeon (if it was you, thank you) so I picked it up. I love how many old mysteries have been re-released as e-books in the last few years. As the blurb says, a train gets stopped by a blizzard on Christmas Eve and a mismatched group of people decide to leave the safety of the train and attempt to make it to the next station on foot. Of course they get lost, but happily stumble upon a house - that is empty but has fires roaring and tea set out. "“Don’t disappoint me? Don’t tell me you cannot supply the corpse? A bread-knife on a floor, a boiling...
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