Two Christmas cozy mystery reviews for you: A Nutcracker Nightmare (A Killer Chocolate Mystery Book 2) and The Twelve Suspects of Christmas: a heartwarming Provence cozy mystery perfect for the holiday season

250 pages BooksGoSocial October 20,2023 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

Grannies, gangsters, murders—and a rollicking journey across France!

It’s January 4, 1961, and Marseilles housemaid Annie Malian is in love. It’s also the day her fiancé René takes his life under peculiar circumstances.

Many decades later, an old Christmas postcard addressed to Annie arrives, and all her doubts come flooding back.
At 84, there’s no time to waste!
Annie enlists the help of Rose Tassy, an eccentric retired teacher and amateur sleuth.
Thus begins an unforgettable journey from Provence to a quaint village in Picardie and then on to the sparkling Riviera, with a detour through wintry Paris.

Amid yuletide festivities, Annie and Rose navigate perilous terrain. Their list of suspects quickly grows. Was it Rene’s older brother? Maybe the ex-gangster turned chicken farmer? The powerful Monegasque tycoon?
Stumped, Rose begins to question her detective mettle when a new death compounds the plot…

This Christmas, will Annie receive the overdue truth as a gift?

MY THOUGHTS

Based on factual and fiction happenings and locations, I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s quirky and it stands out among the rest.

Our protagonists are two elderly women who set off on a trip through France to solve a years old cold case. Amateur sleuth Rose Tassy, and Annie Malian brave the wintry elements after receiving an old Christmas postcard addressed to Annie. Her love interest was said to have committed suicide but did he really?

These two, at first can’t agree on anything and I can just imagine what the arguing in the car sounded like, but a mutual respect soon settles over the two.

So many suspects, so little time, it seems as though this case will stay unsolved with so many suspects but when things start to hear up with the clues there’s no telling what will happen. This is my first time reading this author and I’m hoping I’ll be able to read more cases with these two in the driver’s seat.

Pub Date 20 Oct 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

302 pages Crooked Lane Books publisher October 17,2023 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke and Laura Childs, when twin sisters Hanna and Alex help out at the local high school reunion, volunteering takes a turn when they find a former classmate’s dead body.

Hanna and Alex, owners of the Murder and Mayhem book and chocolate shop, are busy preparing for the Harriston High School’s reunion weekend. Neighbors will connect with old friends and perhaps try to avoid old foes. One person no one can avoid is Kyle, the former star quarterback, who is busy using his entire playbook to try and score with Hanna, even threatening her if she doesn’t play nice. At the reunion, Alex glimpses more drama than nostalgia as insults are flung around like a football at a Friday night game. The party is put on hold when Alex finds the dead body of none other than Kyle himself, bludgeoned to death by a nutcracker that the sisters admired earlier in the night.

Hanna quickly becomes the prime suspect—someone saw her slap Kyle in the face at the reunion dance. She’ll need her sister, their sleuthing canine, Watson, and their old friends and colleagues to help break this case wide open. While looking through old yearbooks and taking a stroll down memory lane, Alex uncovers a few secrets about Kyle, now, it seems like everyone had a motive to kill him.

But when the suspects start becoming the victims, Alex and Hanna know that they can’t melt under the pressure—they must find the killer before they become just another yearbook memory.

MY THOUGHTS

A Nutcracker Nightmare is the second book in Killer Chocolate, a cozy mystery series. Though I am reading the second one first I still was able to enjoy the story fully. I do need to read that first one now.

Sisters Alex and Hanna live together and jointly own Murder and Mayhem: Killer Chocolates and Bookshop in fictional Harriston, Montana where this is set. When they signed up for a best chocolates competition, they didn’t realize the competition would be delayed several times and finally fall right during the Christmas season when they were swamped with candy orders. Can the sisters keep up with everything including trying out recipes of new chocolate favors to create for the shop?

I did think it was pretty neat that the names of their chocolates go with the theme of their shop. Some of the names of the chocolates include True North Nicotine Caramel, recipe included and Gingerbread Gelsemine Truffle, recipe included. In real life would these names of chocolates be off putting or draw people in? I’d say both.

With high school reunion weekend coming up, some of the former students are looking forward to it and some just want to try to avoid their foes. When an arrogant former student shows up everyone tries to avoid him. They know how rotten he still is. One of the sisters is accused of murder because of an action that was said to have happened.

Will this candy maker still be able to stir the chocolate pot, or will the cooking fires be growing cold? The victim was very unlikable so many had a reason to want him out of the picture.
Loved the Christmas theme, it was there but not overwhelming. I enjoyed this mystery set around the holidays and it kept me reading to see how it was solved.

Pub Date 17 Oct 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own,

Have you read these or plan on it? We have snow coming in again tonight and into tomorrow. After what happened during our last snowstorm you know I’ll be staying in. Be safe and stay warm.