Who Slayed The Santas? by Leighann Dobbs

Who Slayed The Santas? by Leighann Dobbs

Who Slayed the Santas? is fun, short, quirky and a little silly, just like the rest of the Juniper holiday series. This time around Juniper is getting ready for her over-the-top Christmas party and hires a Santa and his troupe for entertainment. The next day, one of the resident ghosts finds Santa dead under the Christmas tree. And that's just the first dead Santa. Detective Mallard and Juniper are both intent on solving the case. I like Juni. She's exuberant and caring, but she can be a little too mean to people sometimes. This is a totally Christmas mystery - decorations, food, music, it's all there. The mystery itself was fine if rushed. I did listen to the audio version. At least this time I knew in advance that the narrator wouldn't be my favorite....
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The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is as fun as the cover looks. Rom-com mysteries can be hit or miss, but this one was funny and cute and twisty without being annoying. Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt are both bestselling authors, rivals who don't get along well. Now they have both been invited to spend Christmas with a mysterious "fan" in England, who turns out to be the queen of mystery writers, Eleanor Ashley. They are joined by Eleanor's various family members and other staff, but on the night after their arrival, Eleanor disappears from a locked room. They're snowed in and it seems that someone wants to commit murder. Maggie and Ethan have to put aside their differences to figure out what's going on. The mystery is put together surprisingly well. Just about everyone on the estate is a potential suspect - Eleanor was rich and most of them have something to gain from her death. Eleanor herself has...
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The Twelve Saints of Christmas by Karen Baugh Menuhin

The Twelve Saints of Christmas by Karen Baugh Menuhin

Major Heathcliff Lennox was formerly an RAF pilot and hero. But, now WWI is over and Lennox is acting as an investigator along with his good friend Former Detective Jonathan Swift, for Scotland Yard on an as needed basis - usually when the upper classes are involved. This time, they've been been called to Temple House, where one of the saints has been murdered. The saints are a group of extremely wealthy, elderly, heir-less philanthropists living in retired semi seclusion. And yes, they are as eccentric as you might imagine. The mystery was put together well. We had several clues and suspects and I have to admit that I was fooled. Lennox and Swift's investigations can seem a little haphazard, since they each have their own approaches, but they get there in the end. This is definitely a Christmas mystery. We've got a decorated tree and some cute cats and a dog to play with the ornaments. We have some present...
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The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle

The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about The Knife Before Christmas and a few things I didn't. Shannon and her crew are working on a Christmas carnival at the Cliffs Hotel that has a Victorian flair and a couple of surprises. It sounded fun, but it was hard to picture how it all fit together - the tent, Santa's stall, the carousel. We get introduce to the Garrisons, the family that owns and runs the hotel. There's a lot of family drama, with almost all of them working and living at the hotel, and it's not surprise when one of them ends up murdered. I won't say who because even though it's obvious, it takes the story a while to get there. The killer, once we get to the reveal, isn't much of a surprise either. We do get a lot of Christmas touched here, plenty of decorations and food and drinks. I like Shannon - she and Mac...
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Literary Escapes Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge

The Literary Escapes Challenge hosted at Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book is one I didn't do great at last year. The goal is to read 1 book set in each of the 50 states + the District of Columbia. (51 Points). If you complete the challenge you earn 50 Bonus Points. You also can earn Bonus Points for books set in Countries around the world. 1 Bonus Point for each country – no repeats. States: Alabama Alaska Arizona   Arkansas California - Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss Colorado - Homicide and Old Lace by Dolores Johnson Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida - The Sea Turtle Did It by Kay Dew Shostak Georgia Hawaii - Hibiscus Homicide by Jasmine Webb Idaho - This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead Illinois - Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana - Haunting and Homicide by Ava Burke Maine Maryland Massachusetts   Michigan - Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper Minnesota Mississippi - Doggone Bones by Carolyn Haines Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York - Bat Eater...
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2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

I failed at this challenge in 2024, but I'm giving it another shot. The Nonfiction reader challenge is hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out. The hashtag is #ReadNonFicChal. The challenge is to read nonfiction books from twelve different categories. I’m going with the Nonfiction Nipper option, reading three from any three categories. The categories are: History - Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam Memoir/Biography - Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old by Brooke Shields True Crime Science Health Food Travel Garden Myth, Legend and Folklore Islands How-To - How to Piss Off Men by Kyle Prue Published in 2025 Books read:...
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