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A review by lolasreviews
Christmas Cocoa Murder by Alex Erickson, Maddie Day, Carlene O'Connor
4.0
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.
I have to admit that the biggest reason I requested this one was because there's a novella by Maddie Day in this book. I love her Country Store Mysteries series and I was excited to read her Christmas novella set in that series. I also like discovering new to me authors, so I figured this was a great opportunity to check out the other two stories as well which are by new to me authors.
Christmas Cocoa Murder by Carlene O'Connor
This story is clearly part of an ongoing series, but even so it was quite easy to get a feel for the setting and the characters. There were a few moments that I did notice me being new to this series, like trouble remembering all the character's names as none of them were familiar it was a bit much to get introduced to so many new to me characters and there was this part where I hadn't realized some of Siobhán's siblings were quite a bit younger than her. It also was a bit difficult at first to get the feel for the setting and characters while also following the start of the mystery. But overall I think the author did a good job making this novella accessible for those who don't know the series.
The mystery got off to a quick start when the village Santa gets murdered. Siobhán doesn't start her job at the Garda yet till next year, but she gets involved anyway and can help solve the mystery. The mystery was quite a good one. There are some clues that are important and some things I knew were part of the answer, but it still takes a while for things to come together. I wrongly guessed who the murderer was and there was quite the nice twist when everything finally falls on it's place.
I think I have the first book in this series and definitely plan to go back and read that at some point. I think if you are already familiar with this series this novella will be even more fun. I had some trouble getting a feel for the characters as I didn't know them beforehand, but even so it was nice following them around as they solve this mystery.
Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse by Maddie Day
This was the story I was most excited about and it really was a great one. I love this series and I really enjoyed spending some time with Robbie and in her store this time set around Christmas. The Christmas theme was a fun addition and I always enjoy seeing the familiar characters.
The mystery wasn't as complicated as that in most books in this series. With only two main suspects it was relatively easy to solve it and after a certain clue I was sure I knew who the murder was. Even the motive was clear already. I liked how Robbie again took the effort to be careful and not go alone when talking to possible murder suspect.
All in all this was a great short read set in this series. I enjoyed spending time with the characters and have an entertaining read set around Christmas. There also was a cute puppy and some cocoa as well.
Death by Hot Chocolate by Alex Erickson
This was a fun story. I liked the locked room type of mystery in this book. The main character and one of her friends join a escape room and during the escape room someone gets killed. Now they're stuck in the escape room and one of them is the killer. I thought this was a fun set-up for a mystery. It added some great suspense knowing one of them was the murderer.
I also liked how this set-up lend itself for a shorter read as they have to figure it out before they can escape from the room. Another bonus was that for those new to this series this short story was really easy to get into as it all takes place in the escape room there aren't many appearances of characters or mentions of things you don't know. And this story did make me curious about the rest of the series.
The mystery was a pretty good one. It was tricky to figure out who had done it, but before I had a solid guess the main character figured it out. It made sense and I liked how things fell on it's place. It also was interesting how the motive in this one was quite hard to figure out and even when the main character figured out the who she didn't know the why until the murderer told them.
To summarize
I really enjoyed this collection with three Christmas themed cozies. Only one of these was in a series I already knew and the other two authors were new to me. I enjoyed all three of the stories, although the one by Maddie Day was my favorite as I already knew that series. The other two have me curious to check out those series too. I also liked how each of the stories had a Christmas theme and hot cocoa played a role in the murder mystery. All in all I would definitely recommend this collection to cozy mystery fans.
I have to admit that the biggest reason I requested this one was because there's a novella by Maddie Day in this book. I love her Country Store Mysteries series and I was excited to read her Christmas novella set in that series. I also like discovering new to me authors, so I figured this was a great opportunity to check out the other two stories as well which are by new to me authors.
Christmas Cocoa Murder by Carlene O'Connor
This story is clearly part of an ongoing series, but even so it was quite easy to get a feel for the setting and the characters. There were a few moments that I did notice me being new to this series, like trouble remembering all the character's names as none of them were familiar it was a bit much to get introduced to so many new to me characters and there was this part where I hadn't realized some of Siobhán's siblings were quite a bit younger than her. It also was a bit difficult at first to get the feel for the setting and characters while also following the start of the mystery. But overall I think the author did a good job making this novella accessible for those who don't know the series.
The mystery got off to a quick start when the village Santa gets murdered. Siobhán doesn't start her job at the Garda yet till next year, but she gets involved anyway and can help solve the mystery. The mystery was quite a good one. There are some clues that are important and some things I knew were part of the answer, but it still takes a while for things to come together. I wrongly guessed who the murderer was and there was quite the nice twist when everything finally falls on it's place.
I think I have the first book in this series and definitely plan to go back and read that at some point. I think if you are already familiar with this series this novella will be even more fun. I had some trouble getting a feel for the characters as I didn't know them beforehand, but even so it was nice following them around as they solve this mystery.
Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse by Maddie Day
This was the story I was most excited about and it really was a great one. I love this series and I really enjoyed spending some time with Robbie and in her store this time set around Christmas. The Christmas theme was a fun addition and I always enjoy seeing the familiar characters.
The mystery wasn't as complicated as that in most books in this series. With only two main suspects it was relatively easy to solve it and after a certain clue I was sure I knew who the murder was. Even the motive was clear already. I liked how Robbie again took the effort to be careful and not go alone when talking to possible murder suspect.
All in all this was a great short read set in this series. I enjoyed spending time with the characters and have an entertaining read set around Christmas. There also was a cute puppy and some cocoa as well.
Death by Hot Chocolate by Alex Erickson
This was a fun story. I liked the locked room type of mystery in this book. The main character and one of her friends join a escape room and during the escape room someone gets killed. Now they're stuck in the escape room and one of them is the killer. I thought this was a fun set-up for a mystery. It added some great suspense knowing one of them was the murderer.
I also liked how this set-up lend itself for a shorter read as they have to figure it out before they can escape from the room. Another bonus was that for those new to this series this short story was really easy to get into as it all takes place in the escape room there aren't many appearances of characters or mentions of things you don't know. And this story did make me curious about the rest of the series.
The mystery was a pretty good one. It was tricky to figure out who had done it, but before I had a solid guess the main character figured it out. It made sense and I liked how things fell on it's place. It also was interesting how the motive in this one was quite hard to figure out and even when the main character figured out the who she didn't know the why until the murderer told them.
To summarize
I really enjoyed this collection with three Christmas themed cozies. Only one of these was in a series I already knew and the other two authors were new to me. I enjoyed all three of the stories, although the one by Maddie Day was my favorite as I already knew that series. The other two have me curious to check out those series too. I also liked how each of the stories had a Christmas theme and hot cocoa played a role in the murder mystery. All in all I would definitely recommend this collection to cozy mystery fans.