Barbara M. reviewed on 1/5/2019 + 147 more book reviews

I happened to get this book off a thrift store's free table. I've never read this author's books before. It looked like it might be a quick read. Well, it is because the book is 374 pages but the novel ends on page 200. As others have stated, the first several chapters are devoted to discussions/prep about the upcoming holiday party and then setting out the dishes on the various assigned tables (and naming all of the dishes). My impression as I was reading through this (before the murder had been discovered, which is on page 91) was that the author apparently didn't have much of a story if she was writing in detail about how tables were decorated, what dishes were placed where, etc.

The characters are fairly one-dimensional although the author made a half-hearted attempt in character development by describing Andrea ("real estate professional," very capable, etc.) and a few other others.

As some others have mentioned, the Santa letter written by Hannah's niece (Tracy, who is 5-6) is completely unrealistic. Tracy was uncertain how to spell "body" yet correctly spelled multi-syllabic words that children her age would likely not know, much less spell or use correctly in a sentence. This Santa letter was also very lengthy (a couple pages) for a five year old. Just didn't ring true.

While I didn't discern who would be the murder victim or the perpetrator, the scenario was unsatisfying. Further, when Hannah questioned the perp and was told it was an accident, Hannah accepted the perp's version without question since she knew the individual and was certain the person couldn't have deliberately killed the victim. I'm pretty sure that's up to law enforcement and possibly the county attorney.

The other thing that drove me crazy was the fact that Hannah, who supposedly has a history of investigating crimes, didn't seem to carry a small notebook and writing implement on her at all times. Instead, she kept snagging paper napkins to write down info. Then when she was later trying to find the napkin that had certain info on it, we had to hear the author describe the napkin (i.e., the one with the snowmen on it, etc.).

I'm glad that I didn't pay for this book. I don't plan on reading any others in this series.

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