Not all of the stories are about Campion and not all of the stories are mysteries. But all are set at Christmas and display the skill Allingham had in weaving a story, even a short one. A definite holiday classic to be re-read every year.
In earlier Nugget books, Raylene Rosser was decidedly the villain. And in this book, she's the heroine. It's a long slog to get her there but Stacy Finn manages to do it well. Raylene is back in town for her brother's wedding and literally no one is happy. And she really deserves it. Not only was she kind of a bitch, she was an alcoholic, and almost helped to put an innocent man in jail for murder.
Charlotte Gorman doesn't understand her twin sister. An elementary school librarian, Charlotte doesn't often get dressed up as opposed to her sister who regularly competes in beauty pageants. Ginny is REALLY into beauty, even keeping a popular Instagram series about her competitions. She throws herself into her causes, just recently adopting a dog in order.
Gwen Davis has been in love with her best friend Ted since they were teenagers. But he doesn't even seem to notice that she's there.
Another Cat Latimer book, another group of writers at her B&B writer's retreat. This time, it's historical romance writers and they're ready for a day out at the local tourist town set in the Old West. When they go, they meet the roommate of the current student writer at Cat's retreat. Like Jessica Ball, the student, her roommate works at the town as a saloon girl. But it's the roommate, rather than the wealthy and "connected" Jess who ends up murdered.
Florrie Fox and the Color Me Read characters are dealing with another murder. This time, it's one of their own. Coloring club member Dolly Cavanaugh loves to attend garage sales and she has an eye for a bargain. At the latest sale, she snaps up a rare book infuriating the previous owner, the man who was directing the estate sale, and any number of people who read about her find when she posted it on various social media platforms.
Elizabeth, Lady Overfield had a horrible marriage. Her husband abused her to the point that her family actually not only took her in, they kept her. Something unheard of in their time. But she's relatively happy where she is. In her mid-thirties, she can't ask for much more.
Willa Reverly won the most points in a game with her friends when the Duke of Camberly proposed marriage. But she hasn't seen the man since and she's ready to call off the marriage so she sends him a note.
Ivy Meadows is in the audience for a Renaissance Faire with her boyfriend, her brother, and her brother's girlfriend. She's delighted to learn that her friend Riley is also there; he's participating in the jousting tournament against the man who used to be his mentor. But the time comes for the bout, Riley is not the opponent who walks onto the field and his mentor is the one who ends up dead.
Elise and Jay are perfect for each other. He doesn't want kids and she can't have any. Except, despite all the odds, Elise is pregnant. And she's terrified about what that's going to mean for their relationship.
This book walks you through how you can develop your own brand and then use that brand to make sure that your customers know who you are so they can be satisfied.
Catalina just wants her sister's wedding to go smoothly. So when her soon-to-be-brother-in-law's mother summons her, Catalina goes. It turns out a family heirloom has been stolen and the only person who could have taken it has to be a family member.
When a vendor drops out of the American Birding Expo in Philadelphia, the organizer, Phoebe, asks Amy to step in. She doesn't think it's a good idea but it might be that she can spend some alone time with her boyfriend. Even if there are three other people going with them. Including a strangely reluctant Esther.
Was Lady Adelaide "Addie" Compton upset when her husband crashed his newest car into a tree? Well, it would've been better had his companion not have been his current mistress, the last in a string of lovers. And it would have been even better if he had stayed dead instead of coming back as an all too real ghost. And in the middle of her first house party since his death. One where the wife of one of the guests has been murdered.
This book was exactly what I thought it would be: fast, fun, and fluffy. A little on the surface, especially in terms of seeing where this was more a romance than a really good friendship, but an incredibly enjoyable read.
Erika Moen is not only a wonderful artist, she and her husband are great, sex positive people. They test various sex toys and she publishes their reviews as a coming on her website Oh Joy Sex Toy. This book covers all sorts of topics including gender fluidity, condoms, and sex toys.
Jane Winston MacGowan is a widow, pregnant, and visiting prisons with her reverend father. She is only trying to make a man on death row feel a little better, she doesn't expect a marriage proposal. Nor does she expect to find out that he's a long-lost duke and about to be rescued from the noose.
Jill Gardner and her friends are helping out at the local animal shelter for the holidays. One dog in particular, Baby, catches her attention. Baby is an older dog, brought into the shelter when her homeless dog dad died of a heart attack. But Baby has a mystery surrounding her and Jilly wants to figure it out.
Another Grayson sibling is about to fall. Isaiah is ready to get married and decides the best way to do that will be to place an ad like his father did for his brother. After all, his brother found someone to love. He instructs his assistant Poppy to make it happen.
Walker Bean is back with his friends for more adventures. This time, he's looking for treasure and dealing with pirates. With a tough riddle to solve, can he figure out where the treasure is before the bad guys? And why does his friend Genoa seem so involved?
Katie Cooper has moved back home to help her mother deal with Katie's father who has early (and fast) onset Alzheimer's. She really needs some more money to help with the mounting medical bills. When her friend tells her about an admin assistant job, she jumps at the chance.
Christmas Homecoming by Fern Michaels
Wow. This is a LOT of female detective stories all in one place. Divided mainly by date published, this book includes not only selected short stories but brief biographies of the authors as well. Not all of the authors are women but all of the main characters are. I say main characters advisedly because the last section is labeled "Bad Girls" (which, "girls", really? You couldn't call it Femme Fatales? or Wicked Women?) and includes characters who may not exactly be on the side of angels.
Phoebe Robinson is back with more of her observations about life. This time she covers feminism, toxic masculinity and other hard (and some not so hard topics with her trademark humor).
Stranded in the Snow (Holiday Acres, Book 2) by Noelle Adams
Jonathan Wade is famous for his mysteries and famous for not allowing himself to be interviewed. So it's a shock that Taylor Scott is invited up to do an in-dept interview with man. When she gets up to his house, she's surprised to see her old classmate Mike Green. And she's surprised at their connection...
When they were eighteen, Silver Tesdale and Drew Levato had had a flaming affair. Then she broke up with him and sent him to college. Right after that, she discovered she was pregnant. Both decided they were too young and gave the baby up for adoption.
Kyle Kimpton is coming home after becoming a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. But not everyone in his home town is ready to welcome him with open arms. In fact, there at least one person who is decidedly UNhappy to see him. His former flame Ophelia. Not just his former flame but the woman who had gone to Hollywood with him to make it big. The same woman who left him without a word. And now she's refusing to let him stay at her B&B. But that's where Kyle needs to be, it's the place he can face his past.
Melody doesn't want her small town to change. That's why she's so so against Griffin coming to town. He's a developer who wants to help the town grow and he's surprised that some people might be opposed to that process. However, Griffin is determined to win the cupcake baker over.
James Warrenton is one of those unpleasant old patriarchs who so often get murdered in books from the Golden Age of detective fiction. He's old, wealthy, a little deaf, and enjoys toying with those in his purview. They include his niece (and housekeeper), his four nephews, his sister, his servants, and the local priest. The happenings in this book are spurred by an article in The New Light, a smallish newspaper, about Mr. Warrenton buying a house that is supposed to be haunted. As Warrenton himself is interested in spiritualism, this might not seem like such an odd thing. But it does bring to town the only relative who has never asked for money, Gregory Spring-Benson, one of the nephews. Gregory is finding himself behind on his bills and would like to get a job as a newspaperman. Perhaps finding out the rest of the story behind his uncle's estate will at least get him some freelance money.
Phoebe goes to drama camp while Marigold visits her sister. The two don't really get to spend a lot of time together because Marigold is so busy trying to repair the relationship with her sister.
I've been really into celebrity biographies lately and Busy Philipps seems like a pretty awesome person in general so I requested this book from NetGalley and did not regret it. Yes, there are some writing quirks that took me out of reading occasionally and I didn't love everything about Ms. Philipps but it is an honest look at her life detailing even the parts where she herself was not the greatest person and times when she thought she could have stepped up but didn't but also times when she did step up and it helped. Readings stories like this make you really realize exactly how human actors are (well, most of them) with their own foibles and good points.
Dr. Katheryn Shaw is one of the most well-known surgeons on Earth. Her skill is virtually unmatched. But there are other surgeons so she's confused as to why the warriors of Lyonesse are so insistent that she has to be the one to save their lord, Oberon. He had been poisoned 15 years ago (in Lyonesse time, it was two hundred years ago on Earth because of the time slippage) by a needle that is slowly, magically working it's way toward Oberon's heart. And even though he's physically alive, the magic in the needle has killed all of his emotions. Even though he sleeps, his power rages around his countryside making it impossible for anyone to live there because it is so cold.
Olive's new stepmother has pushed her rather forcibly out of her father's house. Unfortunately, Olive has no skills. Her father spent her college money on some scheme. And, unfortunately, his schemes never come out. She's rather desperate when her cousin asks her for help. It seems her other cousin, Violet, is engaged to a man who is wholly ineligible. Or at least he seems so at first glance. Olive agrees to look into the man's past for a slight fee.
If you like the 1920's historicals that are popping up, you'll like this one from a slightly earlier period. Lady Dunbridge is only 26 but she's already a dowager. When her father gives her two untenable options, she decides to make her own, third option and heads across the Atlantic to stay with her friend Bev. Too bad Bev's husband is murdered at the pickup and die in the lap of his mistress. What the heck is going on? It seems that the man had a lot of shady dealings so there are a lot of people who become suspects.
I heard about this book on a couple of different book podcasts and was delighted to see that it was still available as an ARC on NetGalley. I immediately started reading it and then... about a month passed. This book just didn't capture me like I thought it would. A history of the family behind Jello, one that is cursed? Cool. But, tbh, even with the Jello hook, this book just didn't capture my imagination. I did slog through it but it took a long time.
I think I would have liked this book more had I known that it was part of a series. I felt like I was dumped into the middle of the story of Amelia, a human in Elfhelm. She is trying to navigate a world in which she really doesn't feel like she belongs. And there are definitely elves who would rather see her gone. Then, the Easter Bunny gets involved....
I did not know there were so many strips where the cat next door took swipes at Snoopy's dog house. There are also touches of baseball, Lucy and Schroeder, and all of the favorite Peanuts characters. A lovely series of strips.
Thomas knocks another Charlotte Holmes story out of the park. I didn't love every beat but it was an entertaining story that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Cece Dee Falcon is one of Sarah Booth's dearest friends. So, when her cousin is kidnapped, Sarah's willing to do anything, even hide her involvement from Coleman. Their relationship is pretty strong right now and she doesn't want to mess it up... but it's Cece. And her pregnant cousin.
Vaughn defies the rules of weres. He the offspring of a wolf shifter and an eagle shifter, a rare double-were. Even his own pack doesn't completely accept him.
McKenna Tate isn't looking for a handout. She's looking for her family. That's the only reason she's in Gold Valley. Her mother died when she was young, McKenna grew up in foster homes. She's recently found her birth certificate and it seems that she might have some blood relatives in the Valley.
Disclosure: I love both Mullaly and Offerman. They are both so amazing on TV and in real life. And they seem so in love. There are great stories about their childhoods, their meeting , their acting. This is set up to be an oral history and reads, in the main, like a transcription. I think that this will be much better as an audiobook and I plan on listening when the book comes out..
Jaine Austen is spending her Christmas housesitting with her friend Lance. Prozac, though supposed to be boarded, had gotten herself kicked out. Luckily, the next door neighbor, Missy, offers up her home. Her husband Scotty, the titular Scrooge, is less impressed. He says that Jane can work off the boarding payments by helping him edit his screenplay.
Holly hates the yuletide season more than ever since she inherited her mother’s Christmas novelty store, but her childhood pal Sean’s determined to warm her up - to Christmas and to him. When they uncover a diary concealing secrets involving both their families, this could be the Christmas that changes their lives forever...
Autumn is a great time of year for Erica Bloom. At least it is this year. Otter Lake Security (OLS) has a job with a family that Erica used to babysit for, her... friendship... with Sheriff Grady Forrester is going well, and, well, Halloween is just a good time all around.
Joanne Farraday's adoptive parents were older when they decided to grow their family. Now her mother is gone and her father has descended into Alzheimer's. She knows that her birth mother is also dead so Joanne goes to her mother's home town to see if she might have any other living family. But she's setting off alarm bells. The reading group, the Silver Sleuths, have decided that, with all the questions she's asking, she must be up to no good.