Christmas Is Murder by C. S. Challinor

Christmas Is Murder is the first book in C. S. Challinor's series starring Scottish Crown Prosecutor Rex Graves. He has received an invitation to spend Christmas at a English manor-turned-hotel from a friend of his mother's and, since it beats spending the holidays alone, he goes. By the time he arrives (on makeshift snowshoes made out of tennis rackets with a new stray puppy in his coat pocket), a death has already occurred and the local authorities and medical personnel cannot make it through the snow storm to get to the hotel. I guess they don't have any tennis rackets of their own.

Rex soon meets the remaining guests -- paramedic Charley and his new wife Yvette, gay interior designers Patrick and Anthony, recently divorced Wanda traveling with her friend Helen, and a literary agent from New York named Miriam. Upon finding out that Rex is a criminal attorney, Charley tells him that he believes the recently deceased guest was a victim of cyanide poisoning and the two go poking around trying to find out who killed the old man.

And then there's another victim.

And another.

And ... well, you get the idea.

Very And Then There Were None-ish. In fact, it's even mentioned in the story along with Murder On The Orient Express and my favorite Belgian, Hercule Poirot. It's like a light-hearted Christie mish-mashed with the board game Clue right down to the big reveal with everyone who's left gathered together at the end. Christie it definitely is not, but it is a cozy little jaunt (I finished it in a work-shift while also folding laundry and doing other job-related stuffs) reminiscent of some other favorites like Charlotte MacLeod and M.C. Beaton. And I already have the next book in the series in my Cloud waiting to be read ...

I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows by Alan Bradley

It's Christmastime at Buckshaw -- home of the de Luce family and my favorite chemistry/poison-obsessed youngster, Flavia. Facing financial angst her father has rented out the house to a film crew  including famed actress Phyllis Wyvern. As a favor to the vicar she and her co-star agree to put on a short performance for the locals to help raise money for the church. While dealing with the movie crew, the majority of the town showing up for the performance, and her everyday hassles with her two older sisters, Flavia is also making plans to try and capture Saint Nick. Of course someone ends up dead, a blizzard strands everyone at Buckshaw, Flavia butts her nose in where it shouldn't be, and all is well in the end.

While this has not been my favorite Flavia tale by a long shot, there were some delightful bits and pieces. The relationship between Dogger and Flavia gives me so many warm fuzzies it almost makes up for the fact that the mystery aspect of the story seems to have been thrown in as an after-thought. It was also nice to see some surprise guest appearances by characters from previous books and even Aunt Felicity.

All in all, not one that I'll probably add to the re-read list, but a nice addition to the series as a quick Christmas-y read.

#BookBeginnings & #Friday56 -- Alan Bradley's I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows

Oh, Flavia at Christmastime! I've only just begun so I'm not quite sure what all will be happening with my favorite poison-obsessed 11-year-old, but I do know that there's at least a plot to capture Santa in the works ...

As always, Friday56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences & your thoughts) is at Rose City Reader.

Jennifer Harlow - Death Takes A Holiday

So, this has ended up being my least favorite of the first three F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad series. I thought it was going to be awesome since it starts out with Bea going home for Christmas and leaving the whole angst of the triangle behind in Kansas -- possibly for good. How was the new confident Bea going to adjust being home again? Would she fess up to anyone that she hasn't really been setting up executive daycare centers around the country since leaving? (Yeah -- that was her cover. Do people actually get paid to do that?) Would she meet someone new and have the triangle shatter ... or become a rhombus? Would there be killer Santas or zombie elves or psycho reindeer? All of these thoughts went barreling through my mind in the minutes between finishing the second in the series (ramble here) and starting Death Takes A Holiday.

Without really spoiling anything: Awkwardly. Eventually. (Still don't know.) Kind of. Sadly, no.

Way too much focus on thee ol' Triangle of Angst in this one for me and, I hate to admit, I found myself skimming quite a lot. Not because of steamy stuff like I typically skim ... but I'm just getting so. dang. fed up. I get it. The girl/wolf/vamp thing is popular ... and I'm sure that there are plenty out there who read the series primarily for that. Me? Give me more of the F.R.E.A.K.Sy stuff, please. Pick one. Pick the other. Pick someone else. What.Freaking.Ever.

Maybe it's just that I missed Bette. She hardly got any page time and that's just not cool. Bea's best friend April almost made up for it but .... nah.

There's a fourth book in the series but it'll be a while before I bother with it. After all, I've got Christmasy stuff all lined up and, as far as, I know not a triangle in sight.

#TeaserTuesday # 38 & A Ramble -- Jennifer Harlow's F.R.E.A.K.S Squad series 2 & 3

I read the first book in Jennifer Harlow's F.R.E.A.K.S Squad series back in October. If you want to catch up on the teaser and ramble on that, go ahead and do so now. Neither one is very wordy so it won't take long.

Okay. Ready?

I mentioned in my ramble of the first book about the love triangle and that takes a bit more center-stage in the second book, To Catch A Vampire, but not obnoxiously so. In fact, for the vast majority of the book we only actually see main character Bea and hot vampire Oliver who are off on a vampire hunting special assignment. The hot werewolf is on vacation doing wolfish things for the first 3/4 of the book or so. Of course, this gives Bea and Oliver plenty of time to bond (especially since their "cover" is that of husband and wife), but of course it's not all that simple to rule out Will because of, well, plot-line stuff and whatnot. 

Yeah, I'm not telling. You shouldn't be surprised.

Everything I loved about the first book is there to love about the second. The humor and snark gets joined by some confidence and grit. Bea is really growing in her investigative skills and how to use her gifts (although she still cringes when anyone calls them that). Bette (Bea's machete) even gets a makeover and some nice action. The rest of the Squad, although largely absent from the tale, make a huge impact when they are around and after plenty of "holy *$%^$" moments, I already can't wait to see what's happens next ....

So, I won't.

On to the third book!!!

The Book & The Tease

Jennifer Harlow - Death Takes A Holiday

The Meme