Murder Trims the Tree by Deb Baker

Title: Murder Trims the Tree, a Gertie Johnson Christmas Mystery
Author: Deb Baker
Format: eBook
Genre: Novella, Cozy, Amateur Sleuth, a Gertie Johnson mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased at Barnes and Noble.

Gertie Johnson has an investigative service she calls The Trouble Busters. Problem is, The Trouble Busters have run afoul of the law. Just a little thing called obstruction of justice, you see. Ordered to perform community service, Gertie and her gang wait until the last second to pack into the vehicle and head for Applegate Senior Living, an assisted care facility nearby.

A bad snowstorm is headed their way, but Gertie is certain that they can put in their full day of community service. If they don't get this done, they'll all be behind bars come the new year. Grandma Johnson is hoping to kindle a flame with Earl (one of the Applegate residents), Cora Mae is prepared to do a shampoo and set for anyone who wants one, and Kitty's going to make sure that all the residents have every bit of legal advice they could possibly need or want. Of course with this gang, nothing is going to run according to plan, and you know they're going to stumble over at least one body and one person up to no good.

If you've never read any of Deb Baker's Gertie Johnson mysteries, this novella is an excellent place to start. If you're already a fan, you're going to love Murder Trims the Tree. It's fun to try to piece all the clues together as to what's going on at Applegate, the characters provide plenty of laughs, and there's plenty of holiday spirit. Plus the length is perfect to start a new holiday tradition of reading this story aloud on Christmas Eve. How can you resist?

Murder Trims the Tree at Barnes and Noble.

Murder Trims the Tree at Amazon.

Looking for Some Yuletide Crime?

Many readers like to add season appropriate books to their reading lists. For example, in the days leading to Halloween, they like to read scary books, and when Christmas is just above the horizon, it's time to add some mistletoe and murder to the mix. (For us mystery lovers anyway!)

Tuesday I shared the titles of five Christmas-themed mysteries that hit the bookstore shelves on that day. Today I'm sharing five more titles-- this time of books that were published in past years. They're all suitable for folks who prefer a little yuletide murder and mayhem. Let's see which ones I've chosen for today....

Title: Season's Revenge
Author: Henry Kisor
ISBN: 0765306662
Publisher: Forge Books, 2004
Mass Market Paperback, 192 pages

Synopsis: "'Tis the weeks before Christmas in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and some big events are stirring for Lakota Deputy Sheriff Steve Martinez. The normally sleepy woodland area is uncharacteristically alive with activity after the body of one of its most respected residents is found at a forest campsite, the victim of what looks to be a bear attack.

But from the moment he arrives on the crime scene, things just don't add up for Steve Martinez. Lead by curiosity, Steve begins an unofficial investigation and discovers that this 'random' animal attack might not be so random after all. It seems trhat quite a few people in town had reason to do in the victim, and the more Steve investigates, the deeper he sinks into a mystery as old as the town itself."

Title: Mistletoe Mysteries
Editor: Charlotte MacLeod
ISBN: 0892964006
Publisher: The Mysterious Press, 1989
Mass Market Paperback, 245 pages

Synopsis: "The Queen of the Whimsical Whodunit presents a collection of mystery stories centered around a Yuletide theme, written by some of the best practitioners of the cozy mystery working today."

Good for those of you who prefer your bloodshed to be on the vintage side, says she with a twinkle in her eye.

Title: Deck the Halls With Murder
Author: Valerie Wolzien
ISBN: 9780449150368
Publisher: Fawcett, 1998
Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages

Synopsis: "Building contractor Josie Pigeon and her all-woman construction crew have a big project to wrap up before the holidays--and they're hard at work when carpenter Caroline Albrecht keels over, fatally poisoned.

Suddenly an icy wind of suspicion chills the cheer of this quiet island resort town, and Josie realizes that one of her employees must be Caroline's murderer. Is it Caroline's old friend Layne? Sandy, who scarcely knew her? . . . or good-time local girl Betty? It will take Josie's razor-sharp eye and smart sleuthing to single out the suspect and keep Christmas from turning into a real killer of a season."

Title: A Rumpole Christmas
Author: John Mortimer
ISBN: 9780670021352
Publisher: Viking Adult, 2009
Hardcover, 176 pages

Pubishers Weekly Synopsis: "As this fine holiday collection shows, Mortimer (1923–2009) could tell lovely tales that end with a gentle punch. Each of the five stories highlights English barrister Horace Rumpole's quirky personality, his love of food and drink, and life with his formidable wife, Hilda (aka She Who Must Be Obeyed). But most of all, each illustrates Rumpole's sense of justice and commitment to the law as well as his dry wit. As usual, Rumpole overshadows plots that often focus on the barrister trying to ignore the holiday. Rumpole and Father Christmas suggests that even a career criminal can get the holiday spirit. A businessman's past is used to secure funds for a church in Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces. The most timely is the twisty Rumpole and the Christmas Break, about a murdered professor and an Islamic student with a religious vendetta against her. This is a perfect stocking stuffer for Mortimer fans."

Title: Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop
Editor: Otto Penzler
ISBN: 9781593156770
Publisher: Vanguard Press, 2011
Paperback, 288 pages

Booklist Synopsis: "Every year since 1993, Penzler, founder of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York, has asked a different genre writer to produce a short story to be published and given away as a Christmas gift to customers. The only requirements: the story must be set around the Christmas season, and it must involve the bookshop in its action. This very entertaining anthology contains all of the stories published so far, by such writers as Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Anne Perry, Mary Higgins Clark, Andrew Klavan, and Ed McBain. The stories—every single one of them—are delightful, and there’s something for everyone, too: funny stories, serious stories, charming stories, silly stories. Any time writers of this caliber are collected between the same covers, it’s a can’t-miss opportunity for mystery buffs. Even those who might find the Christmas trappings on the treacly side will enjoy the stories as stories."

Well... I'm all set to go, and I hope I helped you to choose your own holiday-themed reading. I have Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop and Season's Revenge waiting for me first-- along with some hot chocolate and a comfy spot by the fireplace!

What are some of your own personal Christmas mystery favorites?


 

New Holiday Mysteries to Get You in the Mood

I know it's not even Halloween yet, but then I've never been much for trick or treat. Besides, if you like to read certain types of books at certain times of the year, it's always better to plan ahead.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do here. Today there are five brand-new Christmas-themed mysteries hitting the shelves, and I'd like to give you the lo-down so you can get your hands on the ones you want.

When the holiday season arrives, I'm going to be able to curl up on the daybed by the fireplace surrounded by Christmas trees, armed with a couple of black bottom cupcakes, a cup of hot chocolate laced with a bit of peppermint schnapps, and my holiday mystery of choice. Join me, won't you?

Title: Twelve Drummers Drumming
Author: C.C. Benison
ISBN: 9780385344456
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Hardcover, 384 pages

Synopsis: "Introducing Father Tom Christmas, the wise, warmhearted new vicar of a picturesque English village that seems to be a haven of peace. But appearances can be very deceiving. . . .

Thornford Regis has never been lovelier: larks on the wing, lilacs in bloom, and the May Fayre in full swing. But inside the empty village hall, the huge Japanese o-daiko drum that’s featured in the festivities has been viciously sliced open—and curled up inside is the bludgeoned body of Sybella Parry, the beautiful nineteen-year-old daughter of the choir director.

That she was too young to die, everyone agrees. But did Sybella’s apparent affinity for Goth and the black arts, and her rumored drug use, attract a shady element that led to her distressing demise?

Father Tom Christmas, still haunted by the tragedy that has left him a widower and his nine-year-old daughter motherless, soon realizes that this idyllic village is not the refuge he’d hoped for. He also comes to a disturbing conclusion: Sybella’s killer must be one of his parishioners. No one is above suspicion—not Sebastian John, Father Tom’s deeply reserved verger, nor Mitsuko Drewe, a local artist, nor irritable Colonel Northmore, survivor of a World War II prison camp. One by one, infidelity, theft, and intrigue are exposed. And over all, like an approaching storm, hangs the long-unsolved mystery of a sudden disappearance, one that brought Father Tom to a picture-perfect place to live—or die.

Smart, funny, edgy, and packing a terrific emotional charge, Twelve Drummers Drumming is a brilliant launch for C. C. Benison’s series starring Father Tom Christmas, an appealing new detective on the mystery scene."

Title: When Elves Attack
Author: Tim Dorsey
ISBN: 9780062092847
Publisher: William Morrow
Hardcover, 208 pages

Synopsis: "I’m dreaming of a Serge Christmas . . .
Palm trees with twinkle lights . . .
Santa’s big belly protruding over a neon Speedo . . . 

It’s ho, ho, ho time in this hilarious and wacky Florida holiday tale, featuring bighearted psychopath Serge Storms and his sidekick, Coleman. Like Santa, Serge knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice. Few can give with the generosity and creativity of Serge, and as December 24 rolls around, he is filling up the Serge sleigh with an unforgettable bag of presents. 

But before that, it’s all a big free-range Christmas office party, where Serge will be spreading his special cheer. And there’s that last-minute go-for-broke spree at the mall (just beware of those attacking elves—they bite). While you’re there, skip the lame photo on Santa’s lap—Serge will give you a lap ride you’ll never forget. As for that addled elf Coleman, there’s nothing like a white Christmas. Let it snow! 

So grab a six-pack, spike the eggnog, and hit the dunes on the beach as Serge and Coleman roast some nuts on an open fire and prove that reindeer really do know how to fly!"

Title: Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Author: Agatha Christie
ISBN: 9780062074010
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks Reissue
Paperback, 288 pages

Synopsis: "Christmas Eve, and the Lee family’s reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture and a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. 

When Hercule Poirot offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man. . . ."

Title: A Christmas Homecoming
Author: Anne Perry
ISBN: 9780345524638
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Hardcover, 224 pages

Synopsis: "In A Christmas Homecoming, a familiar face from the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels—Charlotte’s mother, Caroline—travels with her young husband, Joshua Fielding, and his theatrical troupe to Whitby, the Yorkshire fishing village where Dracula the vampire first touched English soil in the sensational novel named after him. Joshua has arranged to produce a stage adaptation of Dracula by the daughter of Whitby millionaire Charles Netheridge during the Christmas holiday, but after the disastrous first read-through of her amateurish script, only the fact that the company is depending on Netheridge’s financial backing for their spring tour keeps them at work.

As tempers flare and wind and snow swirl around Netheridge’s lonely hilltop mansion, a black-cloaked stranger emerges from the storm—an eerily opportune arrival, for this enigmatic figure, one Anton Ballin, turns out to be a theatrical genius. At the same time, a brooding evil makes itself felt. Instead of the theatrical triumph that Netheridge desired for his daughter, there is murder—shocking and terrifying.

Anne Perry’s ninth Christmas novel keeps us poised on a razor’s edge of suspense, hypnotized by a story in which the heartwarming power of goodness is challenged by the seductive power of inner darkness. In the end, A Christmas Homecoming lifts the spirit and rejoices the heart."

Title: A Killer's Christmas in Wales
Author: Elizabeth J. Duncan
ISBN: 9780312622831
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 288 pages

Synopsis: "As the townsfolk of the Welsh valley town of Llanelen settle in for the snowiest winter in twenty-five years, an American stranger arrives. Harry Saunders charms the ladies, one of them in particular: Evelyn Lloyd, the town’s former postmistress, who was left comfortably off after the death of her husband. After Mrs. Lloyd invests a good deal of money with him, Harry goes missing, as does her money. His body is soon discovered outside the walls of Conwy Castle, and Mrs. Lloyd is implicated in the murder.

Although Penny Brannigan and her business partner, Victoria Hopkirk, are busy overseeing the grand opening of their new spa, that doesn’t stop Mrs. Lloyd from desperately seeking Penny’s help to prove her innocence. It’s quite possible that Harry made other enemies while in Llanelen and Penny’s investigation unfolds while she juggles her work at the spa, her growing relationship with Detective Inspector Davies, and the Christmas window competition that she signed up to judge.

With A Killer's Christmas in Wales, Elizabeth J. Duncan delivers a delightful holiday-themed mystery."


I don't know which one of these I want to curl up with first-- how about you?

Pssst... want some peppermint schnapps in that mug of hot chocolate?