Sunday 6 December 2020

Christmas Card Murder (Lucy Stone #26.5) by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Peggy Ehrhart

Join bestselling authors Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Peggy Ehrhart for a collection of the coziest Christmas capers! Everyone dreams of a picture-perfect small-town Christmas, but when murder is in the cards, some holiday greetings are addressed to kill... 

CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by Leslie Meier 
In the midst of holiday home renovations, Lucy Stone accidentally unwraps a murder mystery decades in the making when she discovers an old Christmas card with a nasty message belonging to one of her farmhouse's previous residents. The case may be colder than a New England Christmas, but Lucy's determined to sort it out before Santa comes to town.

DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Lee Hollis
The Island Times Christmas soiree gets off to a scroogey start when Hayley Powell, Mona Barnes, and Rosana Moretti receive a Christmas card from the town flirt, Carol Waterman, who threatens to run off with one of their husbands! The ladies chalk it up to an imprudent prank...until they find Carol mistletoe-up under her tree... 

DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CARD CRAFTER by Peggy Ehrhart

Slay bells ring when the body of Arborville High School's beloved art teacher (and annual Christmas card designer), Karma Karling, is discovered on the first day of the Holiday Craft Fair. Now, Pamela Paterson and the Knit and Nibble crew must swap swatching for sleuthing in order to put a Christmas killer on ice.   (Summary via Goodreads)


Christmas Card Murder is actually a book consisting of three short stories written by three amazing authors.  All of these stories are obviously Christmas themed.  I will give you a brief, mini review of each story below.


CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by Leslie Meier  .....  In Ticker's Cove, a little seaside town in Maine, Lucy and her husband are tearing down a wall upstairs to make their master bedroom bigger.  While doing this they find a Christmas card that was hidden inside the wall and it has a very unChristmas-like message hoping the recipient rots in hell.  It is only signed with the initials G.B.  This leads Lucy down the rabbit hole as she tries to find out the story behind this.  Seeing as she is a reporter for the local newspaper, the Pennysaver, she knows how to dig up facts.  

Christmas Card Murder will have readers enjoying this little tale and how Lucy goes about finding out the truth behind the card....and it will warm your heart a little when the mystery behind the card is resolved.  And just in time for Lucy and her family to hang the stockings to await Santa's arrival.


DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Lee Hollis  .....  Death of a Christmas Carol was a very quick read for me !!  As soon as I started reading I was hooked and read it in one sitting !!

When Death of A Christmas Carol starts Hayley, one of her best friends Mona and her boss's wife Rosana are getting things ready for the office Christmas party.  They are having fun getting ready and keeping Mona from sneaking into the cheesecake when another co-worker David comes into the office and gives the three ladies a joint Christmas card from his much older girlfriend, Carol Waterman.  Unfortunately Carol is not well liked by the three and when they see what she wrote on the inside it confirms their feelings.  Carol states that she is leaving town with one of their husbands !!  When all three husbands show up late to the party and all have lame excuses, the ladies let their imaginations run wild.  Sadly when they go to Carol's house the next day to confront her, they find her strangled under the Christmas tree !!

Hollis will have readers turning the pages faster than Santa comes down the chimney trying to find out the truth and who killed Carol.  There will be two big shocks when you get to the end and you will never see them coming !!!


DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CARD CRAFTER by Peggy Ehrhart  .....  Pamela and Bettina are working at the annual Holiday Craft Fair selling their knitting creations and those of their Knit and Nibble knitting group when the event is suspended due to a death at the Christmas tree lot outside.  When they find out that the deceased victim is a teacher of Pamela's daughter Penny from when she was in high school, they are in shock.  But they get an even bigger shock when they find out she was murdered and a dear friend of their's is arrested.  The two decide that they have to look into her death and possibly prove their friend's innocence.....

Death of a Christmas Card Crafter is another fun and quick read.  The storyline and the atmosphere will have readers settling in for the good read.  The way Ehrhart brings the story full circle will amaze readers and also insures that they will be looking into other books she has written.


Christmas Card Murder is the perfect book to pick up during this holiday season.  Each story can be read in one sitting or if you're just taking a small break from holiday preparations, you can read them over time.  However you chose to read them, I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did !!


Review by Missi M.


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