Book Review: Christmas Sweets

Gathered in one volume for the very first time, here are three yuletide tales of mystery, murder, and romance, featuring your favorite sleuths . . .

The Twelve Desserts of Chrismas by Joanne Fluke: It's the perfect mix of naughty and nice when two lovestruck boarding school teachers watch six kids over Christmas break. But when someone wants the cozy couple's romance to burn out faster than a scorched fruitcake, it's Hannah Swensen to the rescue, armed with her sleuthing skills--and twelve deliciously festive recipes.

Nightmare on Elf Street by Laura Levine: Aside from the mortifying costume, how bad can a gig as a mall Santa's elf be? Jaine Austen finds out when she's teamed up with the Santa from Hell. But things go from bad to worse when he's found murdered on the job--and Jaine is a suspect. Now all she wants for Christmas is to find the real killer.

The Christmas Thief by Leslie Meier: Elizabeth Stone is ready for a white Christmas in Tinker's Cove, Maine--until a fancy Yule ball at the Florida hotel where she works dumps snow on her plans. The sponsor's jewels have gone missing and the police are asking about her ties to a cute mystery guest. Good thing Elizabeth's mother, Lucy Stone, flew down to surprise her. ʼTis the season for a little investigating.

Christmas Sweets was published in November of 2019 by Kensngton Books.

Every December, my branch's Mystery Book Club picks a holiday-themed cozy mystery. We want to offer our patrons a lighter fare for this busy and joyful time of the year. This book was my choice for the group for this year. I have not ready any of the books in the cozy series from each of the three authors.

Fluke's tale here, unlike the others in her Hannah Swensen line, does not include "murder" in the title. In fact, this one comes across more as a romantic-comedy or a holiday themed sitcom episode rather than a mystery. The characters are enjoyable enough, and she does include a dozen recipes (which take up just over a third of her page count). Each Hannah Swensen book includes lots of recipes. It was a quick and fun read.

Levine steps up the mystery theme by giving us a murder. The characters in her Jaine Austen world are hip, fashionable and sassy. It is a nice contrast to the first tale in the collection, bringing different elements to the mix. If the first tale was more like an ABC Friday sitcom-of-old, this one had a WB/CW twenty-something vibe to it. There is a lot of scenes that come across as page-fillers, but it ends with a revelation of the killer after witnesses are investigated. Of the three, it is the most deserving of the category "mystery" and fairly plays by the rules of the genre.

Meier's story takes a half its chapters to set everything up before the crime occurs. Then, even though her character Lucy Stone shows up to help clear her daughter, she isn't the one who solves the case. The story rushes to a very quick ending and relies more on "tell" than "show" (making the ending something a reader has no chance of guessing). I found that very disappointing, and I suspect my book club will too.