A review by leighannsherwin
Baby-sitters' Christmas Chiller by Nola Thacker, Ann M. Martin

4.0

One thing about these books, they are quick to get through. I normally try to remember the first time I read whatever BSC or children's book I'm reading, but since this book was released when I was sixteen I'd pretty much outgrown the series by then. In fact I didn't even know Super Mysteries was a thing. Now I've read all four so go me I guess. So in the last of these so called super mysteries it's nearly Christmas time and even though it's supposed to be a peaceful time, the girls will find themselves dealing with a string of burglaries, a mysterious pregnant woman with amnesia, a weird boyfriend and a crazy ex girlfriend. Good times. It all begins when Kristy is woken up by Karen, who will no doubt be someone's crazy ex girlfriend herselfone day, to news that their neighbours had their house broken into and trashed. The worst part is the word naughty spray painted on a wall. It happens again soon after. To add to the fear in the neighbourhood, Abby's house has a note thrown through the window with the word nice on it, and Kristy finds a similar note in her mailbox. I figured out this mystery while the girls were puzzling over Abby's break in and was ready to yell don't you see? But they are only thirteen years old and fictional so it didn't matter. Mallory and Jessi find a young woman whose heavily pregnant outside the cemetery as they walk home from their church's Christmas pageant rehearsals. She has no idea who she is and is given the name Mary Doe, which gets confusing whenever she and Mary Anne are in the same chapters. The final mystery is Claudia and Stacey in New York. Stacey's new boyfriend is acting weird, and there are mysterious happens in her apartment building. Notes, fake blood in the elevator and the eerie feeling of being watched. The new boyfriend or his one time girlfriend could be involved either separately, or together or maybe it's all an elaborate prank. I liked this book. It wasn't quite as dark as the stalker one, a bit ridiculous at times, like the cops letting a bunch of teenagers solved crimes, but it's fiction. Kristy who usually is annoying and mean, was hilarious in this book and reminded me of my dad, always wondering what the neighbours are up to and nosing in any neighbourhood drama. Karen didn't show up much which was good, cell phones made an appearance, you can tell it's new because you can hear the novelty of it, like how they'll work in a blizzard when the landlines are down. They still use VCRs but I think DVDs were starting to be a thing by then, maybe not. It's fascinating to go back in time when all these technologies we either take for granted or that no longer exist were such novelties so exciting and new. It's part of the appeal of reading these old books again. This was a pretty good book, nice and quick and finally Kristy stopped being a bossy asshole and turned into a nosy old lady who spies on her neighbours even if it was for only one book.