Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany

Item: Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas
Rating: 4
Author: BaronessMom

Posted September 16, 2023 by BaronessMom in #HolidayMystery, Blog Tour, Contest - Giveaway, Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from Great Escapes Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas

by Vicki Delany

Series: Year-Round Christmas Mystery #6
Series Rating:

Published by Crooked Lane Books on September 19, 2023
Setting: Rudolph, New York
Genres: Cozy Animal Holiday Mystery
Pages: 288
Format: Kindle
Source: Great Escapes Book Tours
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, BookShop.org, Penquin Random House, Nook
Also in this series: Silent Night, Deadly Night

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in the sixth installment of this charming cozy mystery series, perfect for fans of Donna Andrews and Jacqueline Frost.

It’s the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America's Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a gift and décor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it’s not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

Tensions come to a head when a member of the group is found dead shortly after a shopping excursion to Mrs. Claus's Treasures. Was someone looking to cut out the competition? Everyone in the cast and crew is a potential suspect, including Aline, Merry’s mother, and Merry's shop assistant Jackie O'Reilly, who was desperate for a starring role.

It could be curtains for Christmas—and for Merry—unless the killer can be ferreted out of the wings.

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany is a wonderfully written mystery that kept me guessing.

Will Merry figure out who killed Paula and why?

Merry Wilkinson

Our sleuth is Merry Wilkinson. She owns Mrs. Claus’ Treasures in Rudolph, New York. This is Merry’s busy time of year, with Christmas coming up fast. She is busy as can be at her shop, and one of her employees is in the local performance of A Christmas Carol, which means Merry is covering at the shop for her. This doesn’t mean that Merry is all work; she is making time for her boyfriend, best friend, and family.

I like Merry. She tries to be honest with everyone. In this installment, she tries not to get involved in the murder investigation. However, she can’t shut her mind off, which I can totally understand and find admirable. Matterhorn, her Saint Bernard, is also adorable, and the way that Merry takes care of him is lovely. Mattie steals the show every once in a while.

The Mystery

Rudolph’s amateur theater group is putting on A Christmas Carol – the musical version. Merry’s mother, the famous retired opera singer Aline Steiner, is part of this year’s performance. Because of this, Merry is more involved than in previous years. Anyway, she gets acquainted with the cast and crew during rehearsals. One of the cast members is killed in Merry’s shop while she is in the back room. But it has been busy, and there were many people around until there wasn’t. Paula wasn’t well-liked by many people. Okay, the only one who liked her was her son, not that she deserved to die.

I actually thought a different person, who was upsetting more people, would be the victim. And I completely fell for a red herring that the sleuth dismissed, but I was sure would pop back up. I didn’t see the actual culprit in there at all. Well played, Ms. Delany.

Four Stars

My rating for Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany is four stars. I highly recommend this book and the series to all. It is a fantastic mystery set in the time before Christmas.

Year-Round Christmas Mystery

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Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany. Check out the other stops and giveaway if you have time.

Until the next time,

About Vicki Delany

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea By The Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series.