Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Christmas Card Murder
Anthology
BY Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Peggy Ehrhart

Kensington
October 27, 2020/ ISBN 978-1-4967-2822-7
Mystery/Cozy / Holiday: Christmas

Reviewed by Laura Hinds

AMAZON

Mystery authors Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Peggy Ehrhart have teamed up to bring readers an anthology of short Christmas-themed stories. Each is under 120 pages long, providing a mystery you can read in one sitting.

Leslie Meier’s mystery is “Christmas Card Murder” featuring her fabulous sleuth Lucy Stone. Join Lucy as she struggles to understand the meaning behind an old Christmas card found hidden in her house. As she seeks the truth behind the mean message inside, she begins to unravel the injustice served in an old murder case. Danger ensues!

I love a good Lucy Stone mystery, and this short one was just right for the holiday season. As usual, Meier plots well, her dialogue is realistic and her characters are like old friends to longtime readers. If you are new to Lucy Stone and Leslie Meier, this is a great story with which to start your introduction to both.

Lee Hollis shares “Death of a Christmas Carol” with Hayley Powell, Mona Barnes, and Rosana Moretti.

This is a story of three married women who together receive one Christmas card from the town floozy telling them that she is about to run away with one of their husbands. When the ladies go to confront her the next day, they find her body, strangled with garland from her own Christmas tree. Each of the wives suspects her husband of both an affair and of murder.

Lee Hollis is a name I know, but I’ve not read any of the books in the Hayley Powell mystery series. I read reviews of some of the books though, and they are seemingly well-liked by many readers.

Therefore, if you read Lee Hollis and enjoy the Hayley Powell books you should like this story just fine. Nevertheless, it wasn’t to my liking for many reasons. Each and every character annoyed me; I knew who the killer was going to be before the body was even discovered; the characters’ dialogue, reactions, and suspicions of their own husbands were over the top, and we never got to meet the victim when she was alive.

To reiterate, if you like the author and series, you may very well enjoy this story.
The third story is “Death of a Christmas Card Crafter” by Peggy Ehrhart.

Arborville High School’s art teacher is murdered during the Holiday Craft Fair and Pamela Paterson and the Knit and Nibble crew decide to get to the bottom of it, but I’m not sure why.

Unfortunately, this story held neither my attention nor my interest. I had hoped it would be fun, as cozy mysteries with crafters usually are. I found some of the characters overly dramatic while others were stilted and wooden.

As with the previous story, perhaps if you like the author and the series you will enjoy this short tale. I am really sad that I didn’t like it, but I have to be honest about it. It was not for me.

Each story involves a Christmas card, and each is a short mystery set in a small town. All three authors have a large following of fans and I believe those fans will enjoy the book.

Whether you’ve read any previous books by these authors or not, these short stories are a fabulous way to escape from all the hectic activity of the holiday season.


Reviewed 2020
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