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book_concierge 's review for:

Deck the Halls by Carol Higgins Clark
3.0

Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, combine their talents in a new mystery series featuring the collaboration of the two writers’ lead characters – Alvirah Mehan, former cleaning lady who won the lottery and is now an amateur sleuth, and Regan Reilly, daughter of a famous mystery writer and a licensed private investigator. Regan’s mom, mystery writer Nora Reilly, sustains a broken leg in a household accident. Her hospitalization just three days before Christmas makes news, and gives a couple of kidnappers the perfect opportunity to nab Regan’s father, Luke Reilly.

This is an interesting and fun mystery. Of course, the reader always knows who the culprit is, but it’s fun to watch the police, Regan and Alvirah arrive at the solution. They have plenty of suspects and follow several wrong leads, but I found their thought process as they examined various clues and red herrings interesting.

I’ve never read anything by either of these authors before, so the characters were completely new to me. But I never felt lost and the way they come together seemed plausible. I also thought the writing was seamless; I certainly couldn’t tell if one section was written by Mary and another by Carol. All told, this is a quick, entertaining cozy with a satisfying ending. I think I’ll have to read something by each of these authors in the future.