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Advent of Mystery, Day 8: Death Comes at Christmas
Continuing the theme of short and sweet, next on our list is Death Comes at Christmas. This collection of short stories aggregates new writing by some of the most exciting modern crime writers. The promise is a compendium of Christmas crime stories that explores the spirit of the season, while providing intriguing puzzles from today’s…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 7: Murder Under the Mistletoe
Sometimes, you’re looking for something short and sweet that immerses you in the familiar traditions of the holiday season. The Reverend Richard Coles’s Murder Under the Mistletoe does just that, taking the readers to an English country parish. This novella continues the story of Canon Clement and his family in the days leading up to…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 6: The Christmas Eve Murders
For today, we’ve got a British import: The Christmas Eve Murders by Noelle Albright releases June 2025 stateside. (This strikes me as strange timing for a Christmas mystery… But who am I to dictate to Big Publishing?) When Maddie Marlowe’s car breaks down on Christmas Eve, she takes shelter in a tiny pub in Yorkshire.…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 5: Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop
As a US-based mystery reader, it is a literal bucket list goal to visit The Mysterious Bookshop one day. (Or to live in the hopes that they decide to open West Coast branch, which seems… unlikely.) Until that happens, I can live a little vicariously through Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop. Christmas Crimes at…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 4: The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning
Last year, just as I was wrapping up the final Advent of Mystery post, a recommendation from crossexaminingcrime landed in my inbox. Not only that – a comedic Christmas mystery with a strong rating from a blogger who cares just as much (if not more) about the puzzles! Despite having just binged several Christmas crime…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 3: The Mistletoe Mystery
For day 3 we’ve got a short and sweet novella that continues the Maid series by Nita Prose. The Mistletoe Mystery catches us up with Molly the maid and her cinnamon roll boyfriend Juan as they celebrate the holidays together. This one is really tiny, clocking in at just 128 pages. (I’ve also seen a…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 2: Murder at Holly House and The Christmas Stocking Murders
Next up is a double feature with a bit of an epistolary twist: Denzil Meyrick’s Inspector Frank Grasby series. This first came on my radar last year with Murder at Holly House, as an epistolary mystery potentially worth reading. This year, Meyrick expanded the series with The Christmas Stocking Murders, which follows up with Grasby…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 1: Everyone this Christmas Has a Secret
Every year, I tell myself that this is my last year with the Advent of Mystery. And every year, new Christmas mysteries pop up on my radar that I feel I have to read. And if I’m already reading them, why not share my thoughts with y’all? Two years ago, we did Golden Age murder…
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When murder meets music: Gethsemane Brown’s paranormal Irish adventures
It’s a bit of a leap from the past to the present in mystery novels, but this next entry should help bridge the gap. Alexia Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown Mysteries have been popping up on my radar for a while, but I’ve been reluctant to engage. The series follows Gethsemane Brown, a violinist who finds herself…
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Murder aboard! Drama and race in Miss Aldridge Regrets
Black Mystery Month continues, and this time we’re keeping things cozy – and going back in time. I’ve mentioned my love of train mysteries in the past, and that magic extends to boat settings. So as I was researching reads for this month’s posts, I was delighted to come across Miss Aldridge Regrets, a 1930s…