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Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Novella Review: The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies by Laura Levine

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Characters, strong plot, laughs
Cons: None for me
The Bottom Line:
Visit to parents
Jaine still finds murder to solve
Filled with Christmas laughs



Star Crash

Freelance writer Jaine Austen’s adventures are usually set in Southern California, but there are a couple of exceptions.  One of which is the Christmas set novella The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies.

Jaine is visiting her parents in Florida for the holiday.  In between watching her cat being spoiled rotten and her dad try to get his horrid gold Christmas tree set up, Jaine attends the community's Christmas play.  At the end, the leading man is supposed to float off the stage, but instead he falls to his death.  Considering he was a horrid womanizer, the suspects are plentiful.  But who actually wanted him dead?

Outside of e-mail exchanges in every book, this is the first time we've met Jaine's parents, and I got quite a hoot out of meeting them.  The series is comic in nature, and that comedy continues here.  The plot kept me guessing until the end.  The story was mostly populated with people we haven't met before, but they all seemed real enough to make me care about the outcome.

Since this is a novella, it’s only about 100 pages.  Just perfect for a quick read to polish off in a sitting or two.

This story was originally released in the anthology Gingerbread Cookie Murder, but the publisher decided to release it as a standalone ebook release.  Obviously, if you already have it, there’s no need to buy it again.

But if you haven’t read it yet and want a festive and funny short mystery, you’ll be glad you picked up The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Jaine Austen Mysteries.

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