Reviews

Happy Homicides, 1: Thirteen Cozy Holiday Mysteries by Lois Winston, Jenna Bennett, Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene, Sara Rosett, Jim and Joyce Lavene, Linda Gordon Hengerer, Neil S. Plakcy, Camille Minichino, Joanna Campbell Slan, Annie Adams, Nancy Jill Thames, Teresa Trent, Nancy Warren

theavidreaderandbibliophile's review

4.0

Delightful Stories! I just finished reading Happy Homicide: Thirteen Cozy Mysteries for the Holidays. It contains some delightful cozy mysteries by Camille Minichino, Nancy Warren, Jenna Bennett, Sara Rosett, Neil Pakcy, Joanna Campbell Slan (the first and last story are by this author), Lois Winston, Annie Adams, Nancy Jill Thames, Linda Gordon Hengerer, Teresa Trent, and Joyce and Jim Lavene. I liked this book because it gave me a chance to check out some series that I have not read before and revisit some series that I enjoy. I like the story by Camille Minichino because it is a prequel to The Periodic Table series. One of the first series I have read in the cozy mystery genre was The Periodic Table series. All the stories in the book are easy to read and enjoyable. The common theme throughout the books is that they all take place during the holiday season. If you like to read cozy mysteries, then you will enjoy these delightful short stories. I give Happy Homicide 4 out of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of Happy Homicide from Reading Alley in exchange for an honest review.

saranel81's review

2.0

I'd give it 2.5 stars, to be fair. I didn't expect to like all thirteen stories, which may all be cozies but are still varied enough for different tastes. But I was still a little disappointed because there were only two or three that I really enjoyed. Warren's Toni Diamond story, Minichino's prequel to her series, and Slan's Kiki Lowenstein story were the highlights, and they all did a decent job at putting together well-constructed mysteries. On the other end, the three dog-related mysteries were all rather weak, and many of the other stories suffered from dysfunctional families masquerading as functional people. Not a bad holiday read if you're just looking for some cozy-style fluff.

hugbandit7's review

5.0

13 novellas by 12 mystery writers, how could you possibly go wrong with this book?! I don't think I had read any or much by any of these authors but I definitely plan to search out these author's other books. Some I might even already have on my Kindle (so many books not enough time)

Not all of the stories had a death, but there was some sort of mystery that needed to be solved. I'm not sure if I can pick out which one was my favorite because they were all good. I don't think I figured any of them out until the end when the killer or perpetrator was revealed. Of course there were several stories that involved dogs and I might have favored those a bit more, but only because I'm a dog lover!