Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.
A SlayRide Together With You
Year-Round
Christmas Mysteries
Vicki
Delaney
This is
book number 7 in the Year-Round Christmas Mystery series. Merry Wilkinson finds
herself sleuthing a mystery with Halloween vibes during the Easter season in
the Christmas themed town of Rudolph New York. Not to worry, you do not have to
be familiar with the series to be able to enjoy the story.
Merry’s BFF
is Vicky Casey, a very gifted baker who is engaged to be married to an equally
gifted chef named Mark Grosse, and together they purchased the fixer-upper
known as the Cole House. Apparently the word around town is that Vicky and Mark
must have lost their minds because the place has a sad and possibly cursed
history. Not to worry the backstory for the Cole house is included in fact there
is plenty of backstory regarding all of the characters to keep you in the loop.
In addition to backstory there are some great interactions between characters. There
are some truly interesting characters such as Merry’s parents. Her mom, Aline
Steiner Wilkinson, is a real diva as in opera diva and a little bit of a
regular diva. Noel Wilkinson, her dad, is the official town Santa Clause,
complete with real beard and the jolly disposition. Merry takes after her dad a
bit more than her mom, which is probably why everyone in town thinks that Merry’s
store assistant, Jackie O’Reilly is indulged to the point that she gets
delusions of grandeur. In Jackie’s defense, Merry is often running off to ask
questions and hunt for clues instead of managing Mrs. Claus’s Treasurers. If it
wasn’t for Merry, we the readers would not get to armchair sleuth.
Ms. Delaney does a great job of keeping the reader intrigued and turning pages while trying to reason out who could have killed the sue‑happy and obnoxious Jim Cole, cousin to the former owner of the Cole house. Instead of being able to challenge the will for ownership of the really run down house, he got blunt force trauma. Suspects include Jim’s own daughter whom he had nothing to do with since she was little and he left her mother. There is also an additional ex-wife and a current girlfriend, both of whom are “distraught” that such a financially well off and loving man has been murdered. The only reason Merry is involved is because Mark has a little bit of a temper and was the unfortunate person who found the body.
The story moved at a good pace and the red herrings were well thought. I was able to figure out the “who” but not the “why.” I also enjoyed the little something extra that both Aline and Jackie add to the story. It might not be Christmas time but this was a great cozy for a year round Christmas town. Be sure to check out the recipes at the end of the story. I am adding the Coconut Sugar Cookies to my holiday baking list. The cookies are both easy to make and tasty to eat.
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