Candy Slain Murder -- A Cozy Review- Deep in the Series

I read Candy Slain Murder because it was picked as our book club read for December.  As you can tell by the title and the cover, this is a Christmas-themed cozy mystery. As you know from reading my blog, I really enjoy seasonal-themed cozy mysteries.  This book delivers on the Christmas vibes.  There is tree lighting, shopping, as well as cocoa sipping, and a Christmas surprise. 

The book also has a lot, and I mean a lot of day-to-day at the cafe scenes and this became boring reading for me. This might be in part because I plopped into a series on book eight, maybe if I was invested in the series I'd have enjoyed the daily specials at the cafe more. 

The mystery in this series is decent and the story has a nice Hallmark-ish ending.  I noticed that on Amazon this book got some very poor reviews because some readers were mad the book included some people who were Muslim and especially because one character dealt with some prejudice as a result of being Muslim. I felt that those reviews were unfair.  

What I didn't enjoy in the book was the over-the-top "country" dialect, especially the way the Mayor in this book spoke, it seemed absurd. 

The Mayor of the town

Overall, I didn't connect with our sleuth Robbie, so this isn't a series I'll be reading, but it is a popular series so if you are looking for a cozy series set in a cafe in Southern Indiana, and you like food talk with your mystery, this may very well be one for you! 

3 Stars for Candy Slain Murder 

A Spin-Off from the Rylie Cooper Mystery Series! Mistletoe Malarkey, A Shayla Murphy Mystery

 I very much enjoyed this new book starring Rylie Cooper's best friend Shayla Murphy.  This book takes place in Ireland at Christmastime. Shayla is meeting her boyfriend Seamus's family for the first time. There are a couple of surprises for Shayla before we even get to the murder. In fact, I was far enough in that I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be a murder at all--seeing as there was already a few potential non-murder mysteries happening.  But Stella Bixby was just building up the tension and soon enough a body had dropped, literally.

I believe this book is the start of a new series and I will be waiting for book two with much anticipation!  In Mistletoe Malarkey we are introduced to a small Irish town and Seamus's quirky family, it was fun to spend time with them and I look forward to future adventures.  I like that in this series there can be a nice partnership of sorts with Shayla and Molly the constable.

5 Stars!  If you have Kindle Unlimited make sure to add this to your Kindle!

Cozy Novella Great For Christmas Week Enjoyment! From #NetGalley #TheStarlightMintSurpriseMurder

 

This book zips along and has all the elements that I love in Christmas-themed cozy mysteries.  You have a Christmas Festival that has a cookie contest, you have cocoa and coffee, a B&B a cozy little town--this one is in the mountains, there is snow and there is of course a murder.

I read the book in two sittings, I enjoyed that in this story the protagonist Mel is a retired police officer, this makes her sleuthing and her investigating seem second nature.  She has a new business and she needs it to be successful--a common theme in both Hallmark Christmas movies and Cozy Mysteries.

A big mystery for me was the cookies.  I have never heard of Starlight Mint Suprise cookies, not knowing if Marla White made them up whole cloth or if they were a thing, I did my googles and found that they are a thing.

So Retro!  Check out the recipe- Starlight Mint Suprise Cookies from the blog A License to Quill

Overall 4 stars, I liked Mel alright, the Christmas theme was on point, and some nice red herrings were all part of this fast-paced- mystery!