This is a fun Christmasy collection of mysteries, one of which is a murder. The other two were such enjoyable mysteries that the lack of a murder to solve didn’t bother me at all. I found out that I really love the characters of Jaine Austen and her hilarious cat, Prozac. I definitely need to get to that soon, maybe in the new year.
My Goodreads review:
Christmas Sweets by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the first compiled short Christmas stories volume that I’ve read, and I really enjoyed it. It didn’t seem to matter where a person was in the series. Each book just fit in well.
In the Twelve Desserts of Christmas by Joanne Fluke, we met Matt and Julie a couple of love-struck teachers who volunteered to stay with some kids at boarding school over Christmas. There was no murder, but it was a fun little mystery that Hannah got involved in, since she was baking cookies and desserts for the kids and the two teachers. I enjoyed all these short story characters a lot!
After reading Nightmare on Elf Street by Laura Levine, I was laughing so much that I just knew I wanted to start reading the Jaine Austen series soon. Oh my goodness, the descriptions of some of the funny scenes had me laughing out loud, especially when Jaine’s cat Prozac got loose at the mall. This was a good murder mystery. There weren’t a lot of suspects and I was a little suspicious of who ended up being the killer.
The third story, The Christmas Thief by Leslie Meier focused on Elizabeth Stone, Lucy’s daughter that we don’t really read much about in the books that are about their daily lives. I just knew that Lucy would come to her rescue when poor Elizabeth was accused of being in on the theft of a mega-valuable jewel collection at the hotel where she worked. Miss Tilley came along (I just love this lady!) and the 90-something’s computer skills definitely came in handy in sifting out a perp. Elizabeth got a very happy ending out of the little story!
These three stories just showed how very different Christmas celebrations can be, but the main thing with people is being around those they love, or in Jaine’s case, a pet she loves. Despite Prozac being crazy-kitty-from-Elm Street sometimes, she loves the little bugger a lot!
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 