Novella Review: Death of a Halloween Party Monster by Lee Hollis

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great characters in an engaging mystery

Cons: I’m not partying with any cons

The Bottom Line:

Restaurant opens

But night ends with a cold corpse

Great read for season

Cold Costumed Corpse

I don’t remember there being quite as many Halloween parties even a decade ago as I am aware of now.  Not that I’m complaining.  Any chance to get together with people is great, right?  That is, until a murderer shows up.  That’s just what happens in Death of a Halloween Party Monster.

This story features Lee Hollis’s series star Hayley Powell, who is hosting a Halloween party at her new restaurant.  However, the night ends in horror when the body of the high school music teacher is found in the freezer.  Is one of Hayley’s friends a killer?

I don’t read this series, just the novellas when they are part of an anthology I want to read, but I found myself feeling right at home partying with these characters from the beginning of this story.  I did figure out one aspect of the story early on, but there were several more, including the identity of the killer, that I hadn’t pieced together until Hayley did.  It’s a twist on a locked room mystery, which is always fun.  The ending was great and kept me turning the pages.  There are also some recipes to enjoy while you read or at a party you are hosting this Halloween.

This novella started life in the anthology Halloween Party Murder.  If you’ve read that collection, you don’t need to read this story again.  But if you haven’t read it yet, you’ll be happy to pick it up on its own.  Since it’s a novella, is much shorter than a typical release for the series, so keep that in mind when you pick it up.

I’ve enjoyed these novellas featuring Hayley Powell enough to pick up the first in the series.  Fans will definitely want to read it to see what happens to their favorite characters here, but even if you are new to the characters, you’ll find Death of a Halloween Party Monster a fun, fast story to read in October.

NOTE: I received an ARC of the original novella collection.