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A Dose of Holiday Malice
Just in time for Christmas, cozy mystery Sugarplum Dead serves up the perfect blend of home-for-the-holidays warmth and page-turning suspense. In the latest addition to her delightful Death on Demand series, author Carolyn Hart takes us back to Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, where mystery bookseller Annie Darling prepares her shop and home for her favorite season. Boxes of ornaments are emptied, pumpkin bread recipes are resurrected, lights are strung, and an early shipment of new releases lies waiting for Annie's eager eyes. But the familiar Low Country Christmas Annie envisioned is interrupted before the first mug of spicy eggnog is poured.
First comes the phone call: Annie's mother-in-law was spotted talking to ghosts in the graveyard -- peculiar behavior, even for the lovably loopy Laurel. Next, the visitor at the Death on Demand shop: The man Annie had spent so many Christmases trying to forget has come to make amends and rekindle the paternal ties he broke all those years ago.
Quicker than she can say "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas," Annie is caught in a drama involving an aging Hollywood prima donna, a teenage girl desperate for sisterly love, a mysterious gentleman with a knack for wooing grieving widows away from their money, and an ex-stepmother she never knew existed. When one of the new characters in Annie Darling's life is murdered, the mystery reader must become mystery solver or risk losing the best Christmas present she's ever received: her family.
It was a steamy New York August outside as I read Sugarplum Dead, but I found myself reaching for an afghan to brace against the soft island chill. The closer I got to the end of the book, the slower I read -- I was immersed in Annie Darling's world, and I was in no hurry to leave! The book is classic Hart: vivid characters so true you'd swear they were based on your own circle of friends, charm any debutante would envy, and an unabashed passion for mystery. So warm up the apple cider and throw another log on the fire -- after a few pages of Sugarplum Dead you'll be in the Yuletide spirit regardless of the season.
--Sarah Sternberg
Genre: Cozy Mystery
A Dose of Holiday Malice
Just in time for Christmas, cozy mystery Sugarplum Dead serves up the perfect blend of home-for-the-holidays warmth and page-turning suspense. In the latest addition to her delightful Death on Demand series, author Carolyn Hart takes us back to Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, where mystery bookseller Annie Darling prepares her shop and home for her favorite season. Boxes of ornaments are emptied, pumpkin bread recipes are resurrected, lights are strung, and an early shipment of new releases lies waiting for Annie's eager eyes. But the familiar Low Country Christmas Annie envisioned is interrupted before the first mug of spicy eggnog is poured.
First comes the phone call: Annie's mother-in-law was spotted talking to ghosts in the graveyard -- peculiar behavior, even for the lovably loopy Laurel. Next, the visitor at the Death on Demand shop: The man Annie had spent so many Christmases trying to forget has come to make amends and rekindle the paternal ties he broke all those years ago.
Quicker than she can say "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas," Annie is caught in a drama involving an aging Hollywood prima donna, a teenage girl desperate for sisterly love, a mysterious gentleman with a knack for wooing grieving widows away from their money, and an ex-stepmother she never knew existed. When one of the new characters in Annie Darling's life is murdered, the mystery reader must become mystery solver or risk losing the best Christmas present she's ever received: her family.
It was a steamy New York August outside as I read Sugarplum Dead, but I found myself reaching for an afghan to brace against the soft island chill. The closer I got to the end of the book, the slower I read -- I was immersed in Annie Darling's world, and I was in no hurry to leave! The book is classic Hart: vivid characters so true you'd swear they were based on your own circle of friends, charm any debutante would envy, and an unabashed passion for mystery. So warm up the apple cider and throw another log on the fire -- after a few pages of Sugarplum Dead you'll be in the Yuletide spirit regardless of the season.
--Sarah Sternberg
Genre: Cozy Mystery
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