Christmas – Page 4 – Carol's Notebook

Murder Under the Mistletoe by Sherry Lynn

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Kinsley, a landscape artist, owns SeaScapes, a business she runs from her cottage behind her aunt's inn. The town of Harborside hires her to decorate for Christmas and throughout the year, but when local alderman Chris Chesterfield—dressed up as the Grinch, right down to the green face paint—falls off the pier and into the icy Atlantic the night of the annual Boat Parade & Fireworks, Kinsley becomes a person of interest. Lots of people knew Kinsley and Chris didn't get along, and several had witnessed them arguing on the day of his death. I liked Kinsley and her friends and family. They're believable and I like how they all have to do their jobs in addition to working on the case. Kinsley's brother. Kyle. is home for the holidays on leave, but I didn't love the questions around how their parents died. I'm just not a fan of that whole overarching family mystery arc. The mystery was fine with...

Baking Spirits Bright by Sarah Fox

December 11, 2023December 11, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Baking Spirits Bright is a pretty typical cozy mystery, which I mean in a good way - I enjoy the formula. We have a cute small town setting, a culinary theme, a cop as the potential love interest, two mischievous cats, and this time around it's Christmas. I did not read the first in the series, but I didn't feel like I missed much. Becca has moved back to her hometown and is busy preparing holiday sweets for the family chocolate shop. Her best friend and sidekick, Dizzy Bautista, convinces her to enter the annual Baking Spirits Bright competition, but the excitement of the contest is dampened when one of the bakers is murdered. Even though her friend, Sawyer Maguire, who is on the local police force, tells Becca to stay out of it for her own safety, Becca can’t help but launch her own investigation into the death. The dead woman was not a nice person, so we have plenty...

The Twelve Books of Christmas by Kate Carlisle

November 30, 2023December 14, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

I've read a couple of the previous Bibliophile Mysteries and enjoyed them well enough, so since I'm a sucker for Christmas cozy, I picked up The Twelve Books of Christmas. This time around Brooklyn gets a call on Christmas Eve from her good friend Claire, who is in Scotland. Claire is preparing to marry Cameron, a castle laird, on New Year's Day and wants Brooklyn and Derek to be there. So the couple, along with Brooklyn's parents, fly to Scotland. Claire also hopes that while she's there Brooklyn will help solve a mystery- a dozen Christmas-related books, some quite valuable, have gone missing from the castle library. Of course, there's trouble. Most of the women in town, including the castle's new librarian, seem to be anti-Claire. Then, Brooklyn and Derek find a dead body in one of the castle's closets. They, of course, have to investigate the murder in addition to the missing books - which may or may not be...

The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani

November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

A group of friends who met at university were members of The Masquerade Murder Society where they played immersive murder mystery games. The last Christmas Masquerade ended on badly when Karl, the "victim," disappeared from a locked room and was never seen again. The police were called in but never found any solid leads. The group disbanded but twelve years later, Karl's sister, Ani, has invited them all on a Christmas getaway to a remote Scottish hunting lodge, for one more Christmas murder mystery. When the guests arrive, Ani hasn't shown up yet, but everything has been planned and the murder mystery starts as scheduled. The theme this time around is The Twelve Days of Christmas with characters like Lady Partridge, Lord Leapworth, and Mr. Gold. The group, along with the caterer, is snowed in and, of course, tensions rise and secrets are revealed. Then one of them is found dead and it becomes clear that one of the group...

Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! by Donna Andrews

October 4, 2023October 4, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! is # 34 in the Meg Langslow series, but the first I've read. Honestly, the bird titles just never grabbed my attention. But this one takes place at Christmas and I always love a fun Christmas mystery. It worked fine as a stand-alone, although I assume I would know the characters way better if I had started at the beginning. Meg is a wife, mother, and blacksmith - which really has nothing to do with birds. She has been roped into competing on Blades of Glory, a weapon-making reality show being filmed at Ragnar's house right before Christmas. The show has a variety of competitors, all men except Meg, some of whom are nice and some are total jerks. The two producers and the director are not so great either and want to keep any holiday feel out of the show. Sabotage, an attack, and a murder occur on the set,...

‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt

September 29, 2023September 29, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

Honestly, I'm pretty sure I could listen to Grover Gardner read the phone book. And even then he'd still sound sarcastic and self-deprecating, just like he does as Andy Carpenter. As always, Andy reluctantly takes on a case, this time around he's defending Derek, who has adopted two dogs from the Tara Foundation. Derek's been arrested for murder, and although the evidence is stacking up against him, Andy believes he's innocent. There are a lot of characters in this story. Much of the plot revolves around gangs and gang activity, so we've got bot bosses and former associates, both dead and alive. We've also got Andy, of course, his family and the investigative team. That being said, if you've read any of the series before, you know all the regulars and their dogs. The mystery portion is put together well. There's a lot going on and the murder Derek is accused of is just the tip of the iceberg. The story...