While remodeling the new spa location, a female body was discovered. While the police work on that, a con man scamming gullible women takes Mrs. Lloyd for 20,000 pounds. The man ends up dead at Conwy Castle a few days later, making a couple of Penny's clients the prime suspects. A rash of small thefts hits town, and they seem to be tied to a thrift shop. Gradually pieces fall in place, assisted by the recovery of some stolen items. It even features a guest appearance Dorothy Martin of the Jeanne Dams series. This pleasant cozy makes an enjoyable, although perhaps too coincidental, Christmas read. ( )

Christmas time! I really enjoyed visiting with Penny in her cozy little town in Wales. She is in the process of opening her new spa when a new man in town raises eyebrows by getting close to an older woman. When he is found dead, and his lady friend is implicated, Penny does what she can to crack the case. This book was Christmas cozy, wintry, snowy and fun. I loved it! ( )

This is the third in the series and it's a dependable series. I find the writing a tiny bit stilted and I think I dislike Penny's friend Victoria more with every book. But the plots are solid and I love reading about Wales and the small villages. I'll never rush out to buy this series as soon as it hits the shelves, but it's never a waste of time to read them either. Pleasant. :) ( )

Things are busy for manicurist Penny Brannigan in the weeks before Christmas. Penny and her business partner, Victoria, plan to open their new spa in time for Christmas. They've also agreed to judge the Christmas window display competition among the Welsh village's merchants. They still don't know the identity of the decades-old remains found in the spa during the building's renovation. Penny gets even busier when a newcomer to the village is murdered at Conwy Castle. The prime suspect is one of Penny's customers, and she asks Penny to look into the murder to make sure that the police don't overlook any other suspects. Since Penny and her art group were touring the castle when the murder occurred, it's possible that she noticed some unusual detail that would point to the murderer's identity. On top of everything else, a petty thief is on the prowl in the village and Penny is dismayed when she finds that she's become one of the thief's victims.

The mysteries in this series aren't terribly complicated or cleverly plotted. The Welsh village setting and the pleasant characters are what continue to attract me. I've been to Conwy Castle so it was fun for me to “return” there with Penny and other characters in the book. This series is a lot like another cozy village series I enjoy – the Dorothy Martin series by Jeanne Dams. I think Dorothy Martin's fans would also enjoy this series and its surprising connection to this book. ( )

"Fresh Meat" by Terrie Farley Moran for Criminal Element

In 2008, Elizabeth J. Duncan became the first Canadian writer to win the St. Martins/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel competition. Her book—the highly entertaining The Cold Light of Mourning—is set in Llanelen, Wales near magnificent Conwy Castle constructed at the end of the thirteenth century. Now, this area isn’t overly far from Holyhead, the Welsh port for the ferry that runs to and from Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary) Ireland, which was scenery for parts of Benjamin Black’s Elegy for April, an audiobook I recently enjoyed. So when I was settling in to read Duncan’s newest book, A Killer’s Christmas in Wales I prepared a double-large cup of tea, kicked back in my recliner, and pretended to be crossing the Irish Sea on a seriously gray Celtic morning.

The next thing I knew I was in picturesque Llaneden just as Canadian ex-pat and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan finished her breakfast “on a dark gloomy morning in early November.” Penny is a very independent women who makes her own way in the world, and is (Hooray!) in her early fifties. I get so tired of reading about twenty-somethings having all the adventures. What’s wrong with a bit of maturity in our protagonists? Not a thing, I assure you.

(Read the rest at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/10/fresh-meat-elizabeth-j-duncans-a-ki... )