The Twelve Suspects of Christmas

A Provence Mystery

by

Ana T. Drew

A long-forgotten cold case may add up to murder!

The Twelve Suspects of Christmas is a spin-off cozy mystery set in the Provencal world of the author’s culinary-themed Julie Cavallo Investigates series. It features elderly grandmothers Rose Tassy and Annie Malian. The two sassy senior sleuths work together to uncover the truth behind the decades-past suicide of Annie’s first love. 

The main characters, Rose and Annie, are the grandmothers of Julie Cavallo and Gabriel Adinian respectively, the leads in the foundation series; both appear in this story and lend a hand or two when needed. However, the investigation is all on the two older women and told from their viewpoints. While Rose has been studying to become a licensed PI in the future and guides their steps and interviews, Annie was personally involved with the victim back in the day, provided background details, and can interpret some of the clues. The pair gets off on the wrong foot with each other at their first meeting, so their collaboration is sometimes uneasy and uncomfortable initially. I liked how they secretly acknowledged their antipathy toward the other but still managed to work together successfully and loved watching them gain confidence with each other and eventually become friends. Annie also has quite a surprise waiting when the two women are menaced by one of the bad guys. BEST. SCENE. EVER. 

The case itself is from the early 1960s, and I enjoyed Annie’s occasional flashbacks to that time and place when she was a young woman in love. The author creates ample and opposing angles for their investigation and how the victim may have run into trouble, hence, the twelve suspects of the title. Each possible avenue of investigation was intriguing and followed plausible lines of inquiry, with some clues coming to light after twists in the plot. Yet, with the plethora of suspects available, it was still easy to keep them all separate and sorted without confusion. The strong subplots made for an intriguingly robust and complex mystery in a compact length. 

I recommend THE TWELVE SUSPECTS OF CHRISTMAS to cozy mystery readers who enjoy stories with a culinary theme, books set in France or Provence, and fans of the original series. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

Merry Merry Merry Murder

Cuddle Farms Mysteries, #1

by

Paty Jager

Nice holiday-themed start for a new cozy mystery series.

Merry Merry Merry Murder is the debut novel in author Pay Jager’s new cozy Cuddle Farm Mysteries series and features a widow returning to the hometown she grew up in to reunite with her family and start her life without her beloved husband. After the accidental death of her husband two years earlier, Andi Clark had experienced deep grief, and her dog, Cocoa, turned out to be the key to her healing. Realizing she could provide the same type of comfort to others, Andi learned more about therapy animals and decided to move back home to her family’s farm, rebuild her life, and start her own business, taking trained therapy dogs where they were needed most, like schools, hospitals, and retirement facilities. Thus, Cuddle Farms was born and soon expanded to include a miniature donkey, goat, and chicken, as well as Andi’s three dogs: Cocoa, Athena, and Lulu. 

The holidays officially kick off in town on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with a Christmas market followed by their traditional tree-lighting ceremony later that night. But during the evening’s festivities, the body of a local woman is discovered, strangled with a string of Christmas lights, and Andi is determined to find justice for the victim’s little girl, whom Andi had overheard confiding to Athena about seeing her mother kissing Santa Claus, a man not her father. 

Andi finds out it’s hard to come home after so many years away. People have changed, life has moved on, and there are long-hidden secrets. The dead woman, Lauren Sheffield, is at the center of many of those secrets, and there are plenty of good suspects who have clear motives for wanting her out of their lives. Andi jumps into the case feet first because she wants an inroad with the new sheriff as an investigator: skills she’d developed over the twenty years she was away while helping her husband discreetly solve international murder cases involving privileged, high-placed, or government officials. From the sheriff’s perspective, she’s a nosy civilian but has local knowledge and connections he still lacks as a newcomer in town. So, although he cautions her to stay out of his investigation, he relies on her for the information she digs up. Along the way, Andi finally begins to reconnect with her old high school friends and expand her impact with her therapy animals. 

The murder occurs early in the story, and the author does the heavy lifting of building the world of Auburn, Oregon, while Andi asks questions. The murder victim had quite a well-deserved reputation as a seductress, and many local couples had been drawn into her games. With so many guilty husbands and wronged wives, the suspects are thick on the ground, and Andi has her work cut out for her just ruling out the most likely. The story meanders a bit with so many distractions, but when the truth begins to come out, the pace really picks up. With questions about her family’s dynamics that still require answers and the hint of a possible romance in the future, I look forward to the next book in the series. 

I recommend MERRY MERRY MERRY MURDER to cozy mystery fans, especially those who enjoy a holiday-themed story. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

Beautiful Monsters

by

Julian Christian

"…it took just 4.7 seconds for everything to change…"

Beautiful Monsters by Julian Christian is frightening and tragically realistic in some instances, yet it offers a plausible look into a future manipulated by AI. Vance Mercer was at the top of his profession: a wildly successful cover model, a face women dreamed of, and a guarantee of romance becoming a bestseller should he grace its cover. It took just 4.7 seconds for his marketability and future to evaporate when the autonomous vehicle he was in experienced a software glitch and crashed. Now, Vance was out to regain his life, maybe not the one he'd always envisioned, and revenge was on his new bucket list. 

Vance's life was one in a billion, and though we don't know him before the accident, he's an engaging and sympathetic character afterwards. He's a tragic figure, especially as he dissects his past while recuperating from surgery after surgery. His introspection is brutal, laying open every insecurity he has. 

That is, until he gets the HoloMask 9000, with dermal interface sensors surgically embedded, that project a perfect recreation of his face from before the accident. Now able to leave his apartment with renewed confidence, he gets to work on a project he'd dreamed of while in the hospital. The result, Romscape, was unlike any other entertainment system ever developed. Its NeuraSynth technology used direct neural connections to its users to immerse them in the imaginary world of a romance novel, one in which they felt physically there. As profits soared, Vance began to ignore his chief scientist's concerns about the effects of their product on users' brains. 

"Just as he used technology to create an artificial version of himself that was more appealing than reality, Romscape created artificial experiences that were more satisfying than authentic life." Consequently, many users spent more time living their artificial lives than being present in their real ones. This sad state is all too real for some individuals. While this situation is often the fodder for jokes, we all probably know someone who spends their life online, chatting, going on quests or missions, with their closest friends being individuals they've never met in real life. 

The story makes for absorbing reading, especially Vance's early juxtaposition from vulnerable introspection to cold businessman and beyond. After he acquired his HoloMask 9000, which successfully camouflaged the damage to his face, he began to resent the people who treated him with the deference he previously had enjoyed at the height of his celebrity, remembering the looks, the pity, and the eventual abandonment he'd experienced when he was still recuperating and undergoing surgical interventions. He goes from fearing that, all along, he was just a pretty face, and yet after spending eight long years developing the amazing technological marvel that was Romscape, he still centered his worth on his looks, "feeling his scars were the most authentic thing about him." 

Christian's writing style is immersive, easy to read, and easy to 'fangirl' over; his use of language is stunning. While there were some repetitions and the discussion of some things, such as Dr. Chen's research into the effects of long-term Romscape usage on their clients, went a little long for my tastes, I noted so many wonderful turns of phrase while reading that I finally had to stop highlighting them and just enjoy the great story. By the way, the dialogue, descriptions, and behavior of the AI romantic leading man toward the female client in Romscape was dead on. 

I recommend BEAUTIFUL MONSTERS to readers of science fiction, romance, and thrillers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

Maddie – A Little Ghost with a Secret

by

Cindy J. Vanous

illustrated by Steven Stewart

A sweet ghost with a sweet secret.

Maddie – A Little Ghost with a Secret is a cute children's Halloween-themed picture book by Cindy J. Vanous, perfect for even the youngest among us. Maddie is the ghost of a little girl who, along with her mother, father, and many others of her kind, inhabits the small, abandoned community of Terlingua, Texas. With its cheerfully optimistic, engaging main character and positive messaging, the story is simple, fun, and entertaining: one that will be requested on repeat for bedtime reading. 

I enjoyed how Maddie introduces her town, offering a simple explanation for why its former residents had moved away. While Maddie cavorts with her ghostly playmates, delighting in Halloween activities, readers are left to guess about her past and the era in which she may have lived. However, the look of the clothing worn by the main characters, especially Maddie's mother with her stylish pillbox hat and short skirt, seems to indicate the 1960s, perhaps. On the other hand, both Maddie and her father's attire harken back to an earlier time, at least pre-WWII, when the Terlingua mines were still in operation. There are many details in Steven Stewart's colorful illustrations to examine and ponder. However, because of the artwork's style, it was sometimes difficult to discern what some of the illustrations depicted on my tablet, so maybe a physical copy would offer more clarity. 

While Maddie's vibe is joyful, she is concerned about how she fits in with the rest of the ghosts in her community; all seem to have a special gift or talent, while she has yet to discover hers, or if she even has one. But it doesn't take long before she realizes that she does something that no other ghost does; she bakes and decorates tasty and adorable cupcakes that she secretly leaves around town for the people living there to enjoy. Her skill may not be like anyone else's, but it is uniquely hers, and with it she makes others happy. Younger listeners will easily relate to Maddie's worries and, with prompting, can begin to consider their own special skills or talents as they are read this sweet story. 

I recommend MADDIE – A LITTLE GHOST WITH A SECRET to young readers and for reading aloud at home, school, or in after-school programs. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Literary Life Book Campaigns.

Father Lost Child Found

Chic Charlie, #3

by

Jane Ellyson

Genre-blending action and adventure!

Father Lost Child Found is the third book in author Jane Ellyson’s genre-blending Chic Charlie series and features globe-trotting adventurers, spies, missing persons, and not-from-this-world aliens. Set both in remote locations and major cosmopolitan cities, engaging characters work together to aid a stranded visitor from another planet find their way home. 

Galina Ivanof, who has recuperated from her adventures in the previous book, is off to spend time with her boyfriend, Seb, and learn to sail in the gorgeous waters of the Mediterranean. However, she must suddenly postpone her vacation when her estranged mother calls her home to Tallinn, Estonia, where they learn her father’s death 24 years earlier may not have been the accident they’d been led to believe. 

In the meantime, Charlotte Harmon travels to Thailand, where she and her friend, Channing, plan to sightsee from the saddles of bikes, cycling from Hua Hin to Phuket, where they’ll meet up with Charlie’s husband, Scott. But when Channing changes her plans, opting halfway through their vacation to join mutual friends aboard their yacht, Charlie continues alone, until someone leaves a baby in the basket on her bike’s handlebars. 

Journalist Mason Murray, another member of their friend group and married to Scott Harmon’s sister, is hot on the story of new crop circles appearing in various remote locations around the globe, the latest in Myanmar, very near where Charlie found the abandoned baby. 

The author deftly juggles three disparate storylines which cleverly converge for non-stop action, intrigue, and some heart-wrenching revelations for Galina. The plot twists had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next! 

I recommend FATHER LOST CHILD FOUND to readers of mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction, especially those who enjoy alien first contact stories. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.