I simply could not get into this book. I'm not sure if part was because I failed to read earlier installments or if it was only the writing which drove me crazy. I finally abandoned the book about 1/3 of the way into it. ( )

This is from an old series, published back in the late 80's / early 90's that I read when they were new. At the time I was in my very early 20's and I vaguely remember that the writing was ok, but overall not very interesting. I definitely wasn't the book's demographic at the time.

Recently, I saw this one for sale and snagged it wondering what I'd think of it now, all these years later and I'm happy to say it wasn't a wasted purchase; a mystery centering on 40-somethings, oddly enough, appeals to me more now that it did then.

Susan Henshaw is a married, upper-middle-class suburbanite, desperately trying to get ready for Christmas while juggling her two teenaged kids and a mother-in-law that arrived a week earlier than planned. Her best friend, Kathleen, is a former cop, newly married and in a much higher tax bracket, trying to negotiate a new town and social strata while dealing with a visit from her own mother. Together they get involved in the mystery surrounding a murdered neighbourhood man whose body disappears right after it's discovered, leaving his ex-wife implicated in the crime.

It's a great mystery plot - really convoluted but in a way that makes complete sense at the end. The writing is solid, too, although my recently purchased copy is an ARC, and absolutely riddled with continuity errors - I'd like to think they were caught before publication, but I did ding the story 1/2 star, regardless.

Were I ever to stumble across the other books in the series, I'd definitely snap them up; it's been so long since I've read them that I've forgotten all the pertinent details of the mysteries themselves. It would be like discovering them all over again.

Book themes for Mōdraniht: Read any book where the MC is actively raising young children or teens. ( )

This was a fast read. The setting in CT was rich and snobby but imaginably beautiful. The women characters were such upper class snobs and their jocking to be was at times annoying. Overall I enjoyed the writing enough that I would pick up another by this authore. ( )

This book is by a new author to me.
It is a Christmas murder story. At first,
I couldn't figure out who the main character
was, it may have been more me than her. The
rest of the book was great and unlike most
books, I didn't figure it out until the reveal. ( )

Housewife Susan Henshaw is up to her eyeballs in visiting mothers-in-law, shopping and preparing for an alarming number of festive events but is also worried about one of her neighbours, Kelly, who seems unable to come to grips with the fact that her ex-husband has married another woman. When they stumble upon his body and that body then disappears before anyone else sees it Susan moves into investigating high-gear.

I have to admit I didn’t really warm to this book. Normally I quite enjoy settings that are different to my own world but collectively the people in this story spend the equivalent of a small country’s GDP on presents and other seasonal paraphernalia (one woman receives a sports car as a gift for example and they all buy expensive gifts for virtually everyone they’ve ever met) and I found this off-putting and distracting as it made it difficult for me to like any of the characters. I also found the plot stretched credibility somewhat as no one in officialdom seemed remotely interested in the reported sighting of a dead man and the solution relied a bit too heavily on random guesswork for my liking. If you’re not turned off by rampant consumerism then give it a go for next Christmas as it’s definitely got lots of Northern Hemisphere seasonal traditions well depicted. My rating 2.5/5. ( )