Book Review: O, Deadly Night by Vicki Delany (Year-Round Christmas Mysteries #8)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Characters and setting charm as always

Cons: Pacing of mystery and repetition

The Bottom Line:

Mystery neighbors

Merry must find her landlord

Some charm, some issues

Suspicious New Neighbors

Being the Christmas lover that I am, I’ve read Vicki Delany’s Year-Round Christmas series since it started. While I still enjoyed popping in on the characters, I did find the most recent, O, Deadly Night, a bit disappointing. 

The series is set in the fictional town of Rudolph, New York. When the city’s economy was dying years ago, they took advantage of their name and rebranded themself the Christmas capitol of the country. The tourists loved it. Our main character is Merry Wilkinson, who runs an upscale gift shop, called Mrs. Claus’s Treasures. 

It may be busy season, aka December, but Merry’s landlord at home is distracted by the new neighbors who have moved in. Mrs. D’Angelo hasn’t been able to meet them, and as the center of the town’s gossip mill, that doesn’t sit right. And, she keeps noticing weird things going on at the house. Merry’s too busy to give it too much attention. That is, until Mrs. D’Angelo disappears. Was she right about something strange going on across the street?

As always, I love the setting for this series. The town names are so charming, and I can easily get caught up in the magic of a town that celebrates Christmas all the time, especially when we are visiting in December. That holiday spirit infuses the pages and draws me in. 

Sadly, the book suffered from repetition. It was worse with a subplot involving a cookbook that Merry’s friend is putting together. But there is an entire scene near the beginning that could have been removed without confusing the reader at all. In fact, I made sure that I hadn’t wound up going back a chapter. 

Once the mystery really does get going, it was interesting, but I didn’t feel Merry was active in the investigation. She kept getting updates from others. She does figure things out at the end, but she was also pretty stupid at the end. Overall, the pacing could have been better. 

The characters are their normal charming selves. I do love the cast of characters, so seeing them again was fun. Yes, a couple annoy, but I find I even enjoy seeing them. 

While this isn’t a culinary cozy as such, we do get lots of discussion of delicious food, so I was happy to see the two recipes at the end. 

While there were things I enjoyed about O, Deadly Night, there were things that needed to be smoothed out. The result, for me at least, was a mixed bag. 

Here are the rest of the Year-Round Christmas Mysteries. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this mystery.