The Murder Before Christmas
by Michele Pariza Wacek
Series: Charlie Kingsley Mysteries #1
Series Rating:
Published by Love-Based Publishing on November 9, 2021
Genres: Cozy Crafts and Hobbies Holiday Mystery
Pages: 203
Format: ebook, Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback
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If you've got a problem, Charlie Kingsley probably has a tea that’ll help make it right.
EXCEPT when it comes to love. She does NOT do love potions.
Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.
So, Courtney asked about poison, instead.
She said she was joking. That's what happens between wives and husbands. They get angry and talk about killing each other. They don't really mean it.
It seems to make sense ... until Courtney’s husband turns up dead on Christmas Eve.
He was poisoned, of course.
And who is the number one suspect? Courtney. Of course.
But did she actually do it? Or is she being set up?
It's up to Charlie to sort through all the twists and turns in a case that gets more complicated the deeper she digs.
Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She's back, making teas and solving cases in this funny, twisty, cozy mystery series set in the 1990s in Redemption, Wisconsin.
The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek is the start of Charlie Kingsley solving mysteries.
Will Charlie keep Courtney from going to jail?
Charlie Kingsley
Charlie only knows about the victim through his young wife, who came by hoping to get a love potion from her. The only problem is that isn’t what Charlie does. She has to start investigating because she isn’t sure that Courtney did it, but she can’t fathom why the police are only looking at her. Charlie is an interesting character since her story is set in the 1990s, and it’s interesting to see how she does her investigating with the limited resources that were available back then. I wouldn’t mind being friends with Charlie, as it would be cool to get her insight into the different types of teas out there and what each could do for health-related ailments. I love how her best friend ends up helping Charlie in unexcepted ways.
The Mystery
Charlie Kingsley learns the day after Christmas, a couple of weeks after meeting Courtney, that she finds out that Courtney’s husband was deceased and died from poisoning. She doesn’t want to investigate, but Courtney is insistent on getting to the truth of who killed the husband. Charlie ends up digging deeper into this whole mystery the more she uncovers, which leads her to find out the truth in a way that she doesn’t want to. Well, more of who actually did it. I had an inkling about who did it, but I didn’t want to be correct.
Four Stars
The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek is a spin-off of her Secrets of Redemptions series. This book is also my first of Ms. Pariza Wacek’s, and it was quite good. I might have to read more of these later, as they are quite good. I love Charlie and her friend Pat. It will be interesting to see how they solve more mysteries together. Well, that is if they do. I am giving The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek four stars and recommending it to anyone that wants to feel the nostalgia of reliving the 1990 era. Or if you’ve never been to that era, live it through Charlie’s eyes!
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek.
Until the next time,
Happy Holiday Reading!
About Michele Pariza Wacek
A USA Today Bestselling, award-winning author, Michele taught herself to read at 3 years old because she wanted to write stories so badly. It took some time (and some detours) but now she does spend much of her time writing stories. Mystery stories, to be exact. They’re clean and twisty, and range from psychological thrillers to cozies, with a dash of romance and supernatural thrown into the mix. If that wasn’t enough, she posts lots of fun things on her blog, including short stories, puzzles, recipes, and more, at MPWNovels.com.
Michele grew up in Wisconsin, (hence why all her books take place there), and still visits regularly, but she herself escaped the cold and now lives in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona with her husband and southern squirrel hunter Cassie.
When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading, hanging out with her dog, or watching the Food Network and imagining she’s an awesome cook. (Spoiler alert, she’s not. Luckily for the whole family, Mr. PW is in charge of the cooking.)
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2022 Beachcomber Crime Scenes Bag
- 2022 Beachcomber Detectives Bag
- 2022 Beachcomber Victims Bag
- 2022 Beachcomber Weapons Bag
- 2022 Cloak and Dagger
- 2022 Craving the Cozies
- 2022 Cruisin’ thru the Cozies
- 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge
- 2022 Medical Examiner’s Mystery Reading Challenge
- 2022 Six Shooter Reading Challenge
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