Pros: Return visit with fun characters, great story
Cons: I’m not in the spirit to find cons
The Bottom Line:
Murder at Christmas
And Lucy must clear a friend
Fun second entry
Somebody is Going to Have a Frosty Christmas
It’s funny how trends come even in cozy mysteries. After years of reading mysteries set in every
dessert business you can think of, I’m now reading three series set on
farms. I guess I have to offset all that
virtual junk food somehow, right? Fatal Frost takes us to a small farm in
a small town in Texas for the second Dewberry Farm Mystery, and it’s a winner.
Christmas is fast approaching in the small town of
Buttercup, but things aren’t quite as smooth as Lucy Resnick is hoping
for. For starters, she awakes in the
middle of the night to find someone digging up her dewberry bushes and peach
trees. The new mega church outside of
town is boycotting the Christmas market as being too commercial even though the
funds are going to help a local resident in need. Even Lucy’s love life has hit a snag with her
boyfriend’s ex-wife in town looking for property to buy.
Things take a deadly turn when Lucy spots a fire. Inside the burning home is the body of Krystal. It might look like an accident except for one
thing – the body is cold. Someone killed
Krystal and then set the house on fire.
The local sheriff latches on to the first suspect, Lucy’s friend
Molly. While Molly was certainly angry
with Krystal, she never would have killed her.
Can Lucy find the real killer and clear Molly before Christmas?
As I’m sure you can already tell, there are plenty of
storylines to keep you invested in the book.
Something is always moving forward, which kept me wanting to turn the
pages. Author Karen MacInerny juggles
the various plots and sub-plots perfectly and brings everything together for a
logical and suspenseful climax.
And the characters are wonderful, too. This is only the second book in the series,
but there are several regulars we are definitely getting to know, and we get to
know them even better here. Lucy really
grows with what she goes through here, and I appreciated that growth. And I wouldn’t complain if some of the characters
introduced here came back in future books.
Now, I talked about healthier food and being set on a
farm. But this is a Christmas set book,
and you can’t have Christmas without goodies, can you? In the back, you’ll find mouthwatering
recipes for Brown Sugar Fudge Balls, Czech Christmas Bread, and Lebkuchen
Bars. These might not be traditional
American Christmas treats, but they will make your mouth water.
Fatal Frost is a
wonderful second novel. It brings back
characters we love and gives them a fun new puzzle to solve. Sit back and let this book put you in the
murderous Christmas spirit.
Enjoy more visits with the rest of the Dewberry Farm Mysteries in order.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Enjoyed your review & can't wait to read this second book.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy all of Karen's books that I've read.
DeleteI've read another series by this author and really enjoyed them. I like that this one is set on a farm and it is funny about the settings. I've noticed that I keep ending up on farms in my cozy mysteries too though I hadn't noticed that!
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed your Gray Whale Inn books as well, which are set at a bed and breakfast.
DeleteSo if farms are the current trend, I wonder what will be next.
Thanks for the great review! Looking forward to this one.
ReplyDeleteYou'll enjoy it.
DeleteI love books that put you in the spirit of Christmas, but murderous spirit sounds fun! :-)
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of Christmas mysteries out there, and more all the time, or so it seems.
Delete