Can Annie Catch a Killer at Christmas?
I’ve often talked about how I try to read seasonally when I can. I knew that Sugarplum Dead, the Christmas entry in Carolyn Hart’s Death on Demand series, was coming soon. I’d thought about saving it for nearer Christmas, but I didn’t want to wait that long. Turns out, my audio book rotation was perfectly time to read it and call it part of Christmas in July.
Once again, we are headed to Broward’s Rock, an island resort community off the coast of South Carolina where Annie Lawrence Darling runs the mystery bookstore Death on Demand. She gets the shock of her life 10 days before Christmas when her father, Patrick “Pudge” Lawrence, a man she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl walks into her store. She wants nothing to do with him, but she can’t help but be pulled toward getting to know him.
Pudge is there as part of the gathering for his ex-sister-in-law, Marguerite Dumaney, an actress who has summoned the family together for an extended birthday party and Christmas celebration. Annie winds up on hand when Marguerite makes an announcement that upsets the rest of the family at her birthday dinner. The next night, someone is murdered, and Pudge is acting strangely. Annie may not like her father, but she can’t believe he’s a killer. Can she find the truth?
This book seemed to wander quite a bit before finally getting to the murder. Yes, it was setting up the characters and the threads we’d follow through the rest of the book, but it was still hard to figure out exactly what was going on since it seemed rather random.
When the murder happened, however, the book really took off. There were a few surprises along the way that kept me engaged, and the ending made perfect sense.
I was a bit surprised how little we saw of some of the series regulars. Basically, they had cameos. Laurel, Annie’s mother-in-law, has a part to play in the story, however. I’ve really grown to love her character; she’s just enough to be funny without being over the top annoying. Annie and Max, her husband, are fantastic as always. And this gave us time to get to know some of the suspects more than we normally do, which was nice.
We also didn’t get quite as many references to other mystery authors and books as normal. Considering I find those annoying when they are overdone, that’s a good thing. On the other hand, I loved the shout out to Mystery Lovers Bookshop, a real mystery bookstore that is still opened.
The book came out in 2000. It’s kind of fun to watch the characters deal with the emerging technology. (Although I sure thought Max had a cell phone in previous entries in the series, something he didn’t seem to have here.)
We didn’t get as much Christmas cheer as I expected. There are some scenes that lean into the season but they are few. If you are looking for something to fully immerse you in the season, you’ll be disappointed, but the few touches we do get are fun.
As always Kate Reading did a great job on the audio version.
No matter when you read Sugarplum Dead, you are in for a great ride. I’m definitely glad I picked up this book.
Immerse yourself in the rest of the Death on Demand Mysteries.
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