EXCEPT when it comes to love. She does NOT do love potions.
Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.
So, Courtney asked about poison, instead.
She said she was joking. That's what happens between wives and husbands. They get angry and talk about killing each other. They don't really mean it.
It seems to make sense ... until Courtney’s husband turns up dead on Christmas Eve.
He was poisoned, of course.
And who is the number one suspect? Courtney. Of course.
But did she actually do it? Or is she being set up?
It's up to Charlie to sort through all the twists and turns in a case that gets more complicated the deeper she digs.
Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She's back, making teas and solving cases in this funny, twisty, cozy mystery series set in the 1990s in Redemption, Wisconsin. (Summary via Goodreads)
In The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek, the first book in her Charlie Kingsley Mystery series a young pregnant woman, Courtney, comes to her asking for her help. Charlie is not a private investigator. In fact she is far from that....Charlie makes specialty teas and tinctures for clients out of her home. But Courtney had heard from a friend that Charlie could develop a love potion and she desperately needed that to save her marriage. After talking with Courtney and learning why she needed a love potion, she stresses to her to go home and have a heart to heart talk with her husband and see if that helps the marriage.
Unfortunately Charlie learns that Dennis, Courtney's husband, died on Christmas Eve and the cause of death was poison. Charlie cannot shake the feeling that she somehow could have helped the couple. But when she goes to offer her condolences, she is asked to look into Dennis' death. Against her better judgement she agrees to ask some questions.....unfortunately no one will tell her the complete truth and she always walks away knowing the person is keeping secrets from her. And as she gets deeper into the case, she finds more reasons for people to want Dennis dead and things pointing to Courtney as the killer !! But deep down Charlie knows that it wasn't Courtney but she doesn't know how to get to the bottom of things !!
Readers will totally love The Murder Before Christmas. You will love how Charlie seems to run in circles and not get anywhere and with the series being based in the 1990's, you will enjoy the simplicity of not having the internet and such to rely on to find answers. I highly encourage readers to grab a copy of The Murder Before Christmas and get lost in the story just like I did.....no thank you is required.
Also check out Michele's other books and get to know the author at : https://mpwnovels.com/
Review by Missi M.
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