Here’s to a Deadly Easter
Kensington is really beginning to branch out with their holiday anthologies. This year, they are including Easter with Easter Basket Murder, featuring their go-to combination of Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross.
Up first in the title story from Leslie Meier. The merchants in Tinker’s Cove are hoping that an Easter basket promotion will help boost sales in town. You get entries by making purchases in local stores, and the grand prize includes chocolate, gift certificates, and a golden Easter egg carved by a reclusive local artist. However, someone steals the egg. Can reporter Lucy Stone figure out what is going on?
Once again, I found the mystery to this one to be weak. Lucy does interview some suspects as she is working on articles, but most of the big revelations were given to Lucy instead of her figuring things out from her investigation. Plus the pacing was off. On the other hand, Lucy was very involved in a subplot that was the focus early on. I do like Lucy and the other characters, and the town is cute.
Next comes Death by Easter Egg by Lee Hollis. Hayley Powell is thrilled that her son and his young family are coming to spend Easter with her in Bar Harbor, Maine. Their plans include the annual Easter Egg Hunt that takes place the weekend before Easter at the local middle school. However, the fun time ends when Hayley finds the man playing the Easter Bunny dead in a classroom. Who would want to kill him?
Since I only check in on these characters via the novellas (at least so far), the updates in their personal lives, like Hayley becoming a grandma, always surprise me. I’ve got to admit, her grandson is the biggest reason I struggled with this story. He’s a two-year-old terror. Yes, I get that they can misbehave, but I really didn’t like how any of the young kids in the story were portrayed. I have a feeling it was supposed to be funny, but it didn’t work for me. What did work was the mystery itself, which was fun and kept me engaged the entire time. We also get some fun Easter stories and recipes via Hayley’s column for the local paper.
Finally comes Hopped Along from Barbara Ross. Julia Snowden and her family are hosting Easter dinner out on Morrow Island now that they’ve finished with the restoration of Windsholme. While her nephew is out hunting Easter eggs, he says he saw the Easter Bunny lying in the garden. Julia goes to investigate, but discovers a dead man wearing a full morning suit. When Julia returns a few minutes later, he’s gone. How did he get to the island? Who is he? And what happened to him?
The first two stories in the anthology feature an Easter that happens on a vague date in April. This story is the only one to be set in 2024, when Easter will be in March. This story played into that, which was fun, and I enjoyed the mystery. I did figure out what was going on a little early, but I didn’t have all the particulars right. I love these characters, and I enjoyed getting to see them again. Those who have been faithfully following the series will be interested in the updates we get on the family, especially since it’s been about nine months since the last book was set. There’s also a delicious sounding recipe for grilled lamb at the end.
All three stories find a fun yet creative way to incorporate the theme of the anthology, and they all have a great Easter vibe. Since all three are set in Maine, it is a colder Easter than this California native is used to, but I still felt like it was spring even though I was reading it in January. They also really incorporate that sense of community we love.
Each story is roughly 100 pages, so these are short enough to read in a sitting or two. Yet, all three combine for a full length book.
With Easter coming earlier than normal this year, now’s the time to be thinking about what to read for the holiday. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, you’ll be glad Easter Basket Murder hopped onto your to be read pile.
Be sure to check out the rest of the Maine Clambake Mysteries.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Kids must be so hard to write. There are so many ways for them to come across as either a terror, or precocious, or otherwise painful!
ReplyDeleteChanges can be abrupt when you are only checking in on characters through ancillary novellas. I once read a novella from a series I hadn't read in a while and the main character had broken up with his girlfriend, moved to Australia, and lost an arm. It had been a rough few books for him.
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