I received from Library Thing, Early Reviewers. I have to admit I could not finish reading. I got through half of the book and I was having difficulty maintaining an interest. It moved along too slowly but I also hink it is not my preference for reading. I appreciate the opportunity for the early review and wish my review could have been more positive. ( )

I got this book as part of the Early Reviewers group. The book has a wonderful way of making the reader crave a cup of tea and nice pan de muerto. I would definitely recommend reading the previous books before jumping into this one so that you understand the background characters and history more fully, but overall the story flowed well. ( )

A Masquerade of Muertos – Patrice Greenwood – 4.5*

This is the fifth entry in Greenwood’s Wisteria Tearoom mystery series, set in a Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The primary action of the stories centers around a private Halloween party that tearoom’s Goth business manager, Kris, has booked for her friends that will turn the tea house into the setting for a reenactment of Poe’s famous short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”. The leader of the group, and Kris’s love interest, is an up and coming local artist with considerable artistic flair and personal attraction. Appropriate mayhem ensues.
This was by far my favorite Halloween read this year. Greenwood deftly balances the mystery with the ghostly elements without sliding into the ridiculous. And this entry further explores the touch relationship between the main character, tearoom owner Ellen, and Tony, the tough Hispanic cop.
It’s a great series, careful not to stray either to the side of zany antics or excessive gore. I’m looking forward to the next entry.
I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

ARC provided by Early Readers and Book View Cafe. I think coming into this series in the 5th book made it harder to relate to the characters, as it's not, I would say, a standalone book. I read the first chapter provided at the end for the first book, and I would definitely recommend starting from the beginning. That said, it was still an interesting read, I just didn't feed I connected very well emotionally with the characters. I liked the idea of the story, creating a theme party based on the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Masque of the Red Death." I also liked the detail the chef, Julio, went into preparing the food (I also liked the recipes provided at the end of the book). I'm not used to reading cozy mysteries where it's fairly easy to figure out what happened. The relationship between Ellen and Tony seemed a bit tenuous, especially five books in. I did enjoy that she met his sister, however. There were some memorable characters, but the whole "Goth" idea didn't seem fully realized--sort of wannabe Goths. I know that it was a book about a tea room, but the descriptions of the smell of the tea did get a bit repetitive. I did enjoy reading it, I just think that it would help to read the series from the beginning would be a help. The descriptions of the scenes for the rooms was well done, and did help set the mood for the Masque. ( )

Another solid entry to the series. It's much the same as the others some delicious food, and the tearoom proprietor gets mixed up in yet another murder investigation, she's still not sure about her house ghost, and doesn't know to cope with her policeman-boyfriend.

It's Halloween at the Wisteria tearooms, and in addition to all the usual tourists coming to gawp at where there may have been bodies in the past, the local group of goth friends are having a more artistic than usual party. One of their number hopes to re-stage Poe's Masque of the Red Death. There's quite a lot of failing to understand a lot of things, teenagers, how anyone could be different to the author, and the individuality of members within a group, but mostly it isn't too offensive. The mystery itself is well done, and as with all such long running series' the actual interest is the gradual accumulation and trickle of details through the characters' backstory. This is working well and the trials of tearoom life remain interesting. ( )