Murder is Always Spooky
I’ve been a bit disappointed with the last couple of books in the Year-Round Christmas series from Vicki Delany, so I was debating about picking up ‘Tis the Season to be Scary, the newly released book nine. I finally decided to get it from the library. Sadly, while this one wasn’t bad, it wasn’t any better than the last couple.
If you are a newcomer to the series, it features Merry Wilkinson, who lives in the town of Rudolph, New York. Yes, the town has decided to trade on their name and bills itself as the destination for Christmas. They go big for other holidays as well, which is a good thing since this book is set around Halloween.
Merry’s best friend, Vicky Casey, has been working on a cookbook for the last couple of entries in this series, and it is finally coming out. But the night before the official book launch, the annual fundraiser for the local hospital is happening. It’s a big gala at the Yuletide Inn, and everyone is there, including people from out of town. One of those out-of-town guests is Cynthia, an online reviewer (those evil people!) who has panned Vicky’s new book. As the evening is winding down, Cynthia falls over and then dies on the way to the hospital. If Cynthia didn’t die of natural causes, what happened to her?
The mystery started out well, but, as often happens with this series, it stalled in the middle. Honestly, I didn’t find that much was happening to move the story forward. Instead, we have some subplots that take over. I did enjoy them, but I wanted to feel like the mystery was moving forward, too. Merry was a bit more active than she was in the previous book, but she still could have driven more of the story. The suspects were good, but we could have seen more of them to better flesh them out.
Having said all of that, I did enjoy how the book ended. Mostly. (More about that in a minute.) There were some good twists and a surprising resolution.
I do like the characters in this series. There are family and friends we’ve gotten to know, and, if they don’t make me smile because I love them they make me smile because of their antics. But I don’t feel like we are learning much more about them or that their relationships are moving forward. Yes, it was fun to spend time with them, but it would be nice to feel like something new was happening in their lives.
This book includes a paranormal element. On the one hand – I get it. This is a Halloween book. But the story relied too much on it a couple of times, which I didn’t appreciate at all.
Since this book is set around Halloween, we don’t have the Christmas vibes I usually love so much in this series, but that’s completely understandable.
With all the talk about Vicky’s cookbook, I wasn’t surprised to find three recipes at the end of this novel. They do sound delicious.
‘Tis the Season to be Scary is another average book in this series. I’m not sorry I read it, but I wish it were better. We’ll see if I decide to continue or not.
Here are the rest of the Year-Round Christmas Mysteries.
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