2021 Holiday Reviewlets: on the page

 

Welcome, fellow fans of holiday fare! Yes, some is cheesy, some is sleezy, and some is simply syrup spiking our insulin levels faster than those cookies and slices and chocolate-dipped cherry bombs are doing. But they're all part of the season for us modern media consumers, and I'm here to kick off some easy enjoyable fare - mostly light mysteries - to enhance your idle moments or your daily commute.

First up: a quartet of contemporary crime authors with their seasonally spiced new books:

Death on a Winter's Day 

by Verity Bright

The 8th in this series of Lady Eleanor Swift mysteries takes place in a chilly Scottish castle over the holidays. An ill-suited, sometimes ill-tempered assortment of guests has gathered for the feast and some non-genial verbal sparring when all the lights go out. There's rustling and shuffling and great consternation until they come back on, Et voila! A body very obviously murdered. All too soon a gale blows up, trapping everyone in the best 'isolated manor' tradition and we're off to the races, in this case a spirited competition between Team A (Lady Eleanor and her butler) and Team B (the Scottish police). The motives pile up and alibis evaporate until, in a dashing confrontation with a dangerous enemy on a storm-wracked night, All Is Revealed.

This book hovers around 1920-21 Britain going by the clothing & technology but I couldn't date it any nearer by the text, and some of the language is jarringly modern. If words like 'upgrade' and 'partying' are going to interfere with your enjoyment, this isn't the book for you. Likewise, if you're a fashion history purist who shudders at the thought of a Society hostess wearing her departed mother's old favourite evening gown without so much as a minor alternation to bring it within spitting distance of the long straight lines of a 1920s cut, spare yourself. If you're not a stickler for those or for proper modes of address between social classes, you'll do just fine with this wintry Scottish crime.

Christmas on Palm Court

by Stephanie Edwards

A sweet romantic suspense novel about a paranormally gifted family, with sections alternating between the 1960s when their grandmother was young and in love, and the granddaughter 60 years later negotiating life with her own fiance. Just when it starts to seem too charming for words, irate ghosts appear and must be dealt with. You'll want to be acquainted with earlier books in this series to understand how everyone's ghost-management skills came about. There's not a lot of overt Christmas stuff, so if you're looking for tree decorating & recipes you'll be happier elsewhere. If you just want something seasonal set in a warm climate with some ghosts and some sisters and some light romance, this might be your ticket to a few hours of escapist reading.

With thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC #RomanticSuspense #Ghosts #Christmas #IsleOfPalms #31Days31Reviews

Death by Gingerbread Drop
by Jo A. Hiestand

This novella's as Christmassy as a Hallmark movie from the very first page. Someone literally drops dead at a charity cookie auction, forcing all concerned into a busy hunt for the means and motive behind this very public deed. Set in small-town Missouri, on tree-lined streets hosting white clapboard churches, it's centered on the owner of a bakery/cafe (the Linn House Mystery series), so features lots of goodies to tease your appetite while you read. You don't need to know all the series' characters' back story to enjoy this one. The writing, pacing, and descriptions are all satisfactory; the mystery's solution very much rooted in the characters seen in this installment. It's a good choice for a short commute or a coffee/cookie break in your favourite cafe.

As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles

by Leslie Budewitz

A Food Lovers' Village Mystery promises, well, food, and one set at Christmas promises to be extra delicious. The village is being decorated lavishly for the seasonal tourist/shopping influx when Erin, owner of an upscale foodie shop in her family's ancestral Mercantile building, witnesses a nasty moment between nearby antique dealers and their adult daughter. With visions of previous foul play dancing in her head, Erin fears the frosty moment is a harbinger of further furors, and when that daughter fails to turn up at a cookie exchange right before her boss discovers money is missing, well, suddenly the village is looking at a deadly December.

This author has a long record of satisfying light mysteries and this one - a revised edition of one previously published by Midnight Ink - is no exception. Since it's part of a series, she's kindly included a cast list annotated with just enough detail to orient us to the characters we'll meet. The writing is crisp and exceptional for easing in just enough back story to make sense of the fast-moving present. Holiday decorative details delight, and the lavish foods and drinks will have you thirsting for a wassail cup all your own. Even this picky reviewer is more than happy to relax into a cosy reading chair by the fire and follow Erin into this holiday crime investigation.

#holidays #homicide #cookies #Christmas #cooking #baking #feast #food #fiction #CrimeFiction #Cats #Murder #CosyMystery #MysteryFiction #bookstagram #booklovers #LeslieBudewitz

 HOLD ME DOWN

By Clea Simon

This is NOT the usual cats-n-cosies mystery we've come to expect from this author. In this novel of women's suspense, an aging rock star’s gig at her old band-mate’s memorial service-slash-benefit-concert brings back familiar faces and fractured memories of life on the road. 

The past is at once poignant and unapologetically raw, raucous, and raunchy. Concerts and parties, long blurred into a drug-and-booze-filled kaleidoscope, begin to come back into focus. This book could be a straightforward trip down a fictional Memory Lane but it’s so much more: an interrogation of celebrity-worship, the music industry, the fractal nature of memory and the essential question of whether we’re really who we think we are.

When one of those old familiar faces is found dead outside the concert venue, the suspense, uncertainty, and mutual distrust rise along with Gal’s growing collection of returning memories and nightmares. Her inner vulnerability pulls the reader in early as she maneuvers through the crowd and later the financial and legal tasks needed to set up a trust for Aimiee’s daughter. Amid the police investigation and her own groping for some shreds of reliable truth, she must interrogate her memories of every event, every individual encountered during the band’s chaotic rise and sudden collapse. We’re right there in her claustrophobic motel room with the nightmares, walking through the midnight streets when she can’t sleep. Questioning everything.

This novel slides between past and present like a well-constructed concert set shifts on a single note from driving rock lyrics to soulful ballads of lost love and friendships gone wrong. The tension tightens mercilessly until we’re no longer sure whose word to trust over anything.

 I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #CleaSimon #HoldMeDown #suspense #CrimeFiction #murder #rocknroll #concert #killer #memory #nightmare #party #danger #death #music #touring #roadie #guitar #drummer #bassplayer #frontman

ALOHA ALIBI by Jasmine Webb, Narrated by Khristina Hvam

If you’re looking for someone a bit smarter and more ethical than that Plum woman, yet still getting into entertaining scrapes through (usually) no fault of her own, slip on your flipflops and bring along your beach hat for this lively skedaddle between Maui’s high-rise tourist hotels and the long, low bungalows where the locals live. 

After an unfortunate encounter with a local gangster and the subsequent arrival of a gory and suggestive ‘gift’ on her doorstep, Charlotte ‘Charley’ Gibson flees the mainland for the Hawaiian island she left a decade ago. 

Even worse, due to lack of funds she must move into her mom’s spare bedroom, a situation that makes any adult cringe. 

She immediately lands a job to start saving for rent, but murder intervenes on her very first day. 

Soon she’s up to her neck in dubious suspects and even more questionable allies, including a delightful pair that make this new series a great gift choice for seniors as well as thirty-somethings. The subsequent investigation is fast-paced, fun, sometimes scary, but fully believable, and the narration is sharp and sassy, well suited to Charley’s breezy attitude. 

It’s like a Hawaiian vacation in a novel, an exciting escape from gray, cold Canada, an enjoyable listen for any commute.

 I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 #NetGalley #audiobook #AlohaAlibi #JasmineWebb #KhristineHvam #Maui #mystery #murder #tourist #tourism #LandDeveloper #protestors #beach #crimefiction #listenNow #BeachRead