by Sandra Murphy, Cynthia Chow, & Linda Kay Hardie

This week we have another fun group of cozy mysteries, some are even set at Christmas-Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews, Sugar and Spite by M. C. Beaton with R. W. Green (an Agatha Raisin mystery), Death by Java by Alex Erickson, A Perilous Plot: A Booktown Mystery by Lorna Barrett, and Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win copies of all 5 books and links to purchase them from Amazon at the end of each review.

Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews
Review by Sandra Murphy

A Christmas wedding sounds nice in theory but is not anything a sane person would attempt, much less two cousins who seemingly hate each other – and who have picked the same location, same venue, and the same day. It puts Meg in the middle, trying to settle mini arguments stemming from lifelong real or imagined insults.

The ceremonies will both be at the Episcopal church, receptions at the Inn, and many of the wedding party and relatives are staying at Meg’s house, next door at her brother Rob’s, or at their parents farm. Cozy. Crazy.

Meg’s mother, ordinarily an organized, calm, in charge woman, has sent her home with a stress induced migraine. The final straw for Meg was when both cousins were rude to the most peaceful and calm person on the planet – Rose Noire. Add in Meg’s twin sons, as co-directors of the annual Christmas pageant, and there’s pretty much nowhere to go to avoid stress.

Of course, that was before they found the photographer’s body.

There’s no lack of suspects. The photographer was hired by both brides. He was ‘friendly’ to all the bridesmaids, many of the female guests, and perhaps both brides-to-be. He called his photos candid, but they were an embarrassment and not at all flattering—sometimes worthy of criminal status, although whether on the guest’s part for getting caught or his for taking the pictures. He also treats his assistant like she’s a servant, low in status and in pay.

Meg’s been involved (a mild word for it) in murders before, as the person who finds a clue and puts the puzzle together to name the killer. This time, well, he had it coming. Still, no one will go home until the killer is caught so Meg to the rescue.

This is book 38 in the popular series. Meg is more organized than any 10 people you know, calm in the emotional storm, able to get things done when most of us would have taken to our beds. Her family is huge with someone or other visiting for who knows how long at any given time. The books are full of humor as Meg tends to her family and works her way through problems and past dead bodies.

Start anywhere in reading the series but read them all. They’re just too good to miss.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

Sugar and Spite by M. C. Beaton with R. W. Green (an Agatha Raisin mystery)
Review by Sandra Murphy

Agatha Raisin always likes to pretend her love life is a casual thing. Still, she’s grown fond of John Glass. When he’s called away for his job as cruise ship dance instructor, she feels rather lonely, not that she’d ever admit it.

What’s one to do? Mingle with the villagers, of course. Much to their dismay, Agatha joins the local birding group, mostly for the lectures and refreshments after the meetings. However, when a series of deaths occurs among the members, Agatha, a private investigator herself, is ready to solve the crimes – with the help of her team, of course.

The motive seems to be buried in the past, an added challenge. Agatha is up to the job. Of course, it would be easier if Sir Charles Fraith weren’t underfoot all the time. He’s heard of John’s departure and it’s his goal to take John’s place in Agatha’s affections or at least in her bed.

It’s always a pleasure to be back in the Cotswolds with Agatha and her friends. Her wit, ability to ask outrageous questions and expect a polite answer, and bits about her love life, make a great read.
This is book 36 in the series. As regular readers will know, M. C. Beaton passed away several years ago. R. W. Green is carrying the series as well as the Hamish McBeth books.

Being a good friend of Beaton’s, the transition appears seamless. Look for more tales of Agatha’s life to follow – you’ll be glad you did. Cotswold is nice, any time of year.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

Death by Java by Alex Erickson
Review by Sandra Murphy

Krissy is on vacation, well, visiting her hometown. It’s in California so it counts as a vacation. She likes the concept of taking one, loves the thought of relaxing, but has concerns about just how that is going to happen. After all, she’d left her business in the hands of her best friends and partners but there was a problem with flickering lights and maybe they were too busy to keep up or worse, no one came in. It’s a coffee shop after all.

It’s nerve-racking but she’s visiting her dad and his girlfriend and has brought her boyfriend along. Her dad is a fairly famous writer and has a super fan, Rita, who is still in Pine Hills, Ohio and pouting because Krissy didn’t invite her to come along too. Rita is nothing if not persistent.

A major drawback is in the person of Valerie Kemp, a past classmate of Krissy’s and a bully. She’s opened a coffee shop/bookstore suspiciously similar to the one Krissy opened – with one exception. Krissy’s coffee shop has customers.

To get it over with, after all Valerie was a classmate, Krissy stops in to say hello – right in the middle of an argument between Valerie and an inspector. With at least three men who’d do anything to get Valerie’s attention, the inspector is outnumbered and leaves but not before announcing he’ll be back to check for repairs.

It should come as no surprise that the inspector turns up dead the next morning, inside the should-be-locked coffee shop. It wasn’t. Otherwise, how could the inspector’s body be in the back room?

With the wannabe boyfriends keeping secrets, the odd infractions the inspector cited for all the businesses (but two in particular), and rumors, Krissy is at a loss as to how the crime was committed.

But she just can’t help herself from getting involved. Not only is she nosy, but since her boyfriend Paul ends up helping the local police, and the detective in charge seems as interested in Paul as in solving a murder, Krissy has to keep an eye on him.

There are 15 books in this series plus other titles Erickson’s written. Krissy is a bit quick to think the worst of a situation but she is generous and willing to help others – which explains why she spends any time at all with Valerie.

Have a cup of coffee and enjoy!

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s the editor for the upcoming Yeet Me in St Louis, an anthology with stories from twelve St. Louis writers. Her own short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, and anthologies such as The Perp Wore Pumpkin and I (Almost) Died in Your Arms. ‘Lucy’s Tree’, published in The Eyes of Texas, won a Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. She lives in St. Louis with Ozzie the Westie Impersonator and his sidekick in crime, Louie the Cat.

A Perilous Plot: A Booktown Mystery by Lorna Barrett
Review by Cynthia Chow

To say that sisters Tricia and Angelica Miles have had a complicated relationship with their parents is something of an understatement. Just six months ago their mother Sheila dropped by unexpectedly to announce that their father was dead, leaving behind an urn before spiriting off again. What’s an even bigger surprise is that when they take the cremains to be made into mourning jewelry, they are told that inside the urn are not their father’s ashes but kitty litter and a Rolex watch.

Determined to discover the fate of their father and why their mother lied, the sisters are forced to investigate their parents’ activities and financial straits. Reported sightings of Sheila and John Miles around their town of Stoneham, New Hampshire have them wondering just what scheme they are planning, but learning more gets sidelined as Tricia is drafted into hosting and then being a bridesmaid for her frenemy, Becca Dickson-Chandler. Becca happens to be engaged to Tricia’s ex-boyfriend, Stoneham Police Chief Ian McDonald, whose investigative skills completely fail at detecting his fiancée’s narcissistic selfishness. What no one could have predicted though was a murder and Sheila being kidnapped, only to have her then found with a case of amnesia. What she hasn’t forgotten is her disdain for Tricia though, making the sisters’ attempts to discover the truth as irritating as it is heartbreaking.

Their mother has resented Tricia and unreasonably blamed her for the loss of her brother to SIDS, and only now is Angelica finally realizing how cruel this behavior has been. That is why Angelica is resistant to reveal more about her own secrets and relationships to her mother, whose judgment is harsh and without compassion. Fortunately, Tricia and Angelica have the support of their found family in Stoneham of employees, neighbors, and friends, allowing them to run Tricia’s Haven’t Got a Clue mystery bookstore and Angelica’s many philanthropic local businesses. They have each found love as well, and Tricia’s romance with a much younger children’s librarian is going far smoother than she ever could have expected.

Bibliophiles will adore the mentions of Tricia’s bookstore stock and the books on her reading list, while fans of this series will appreciate the community of engaging characters populating Stoneham. The 19th of the series rewards its readers by showcasing the growth of its characters and still welcomes newbies with lively dialogue and a complex plot. By focusing on a more limited cast of Stoneham locals the author succeeds in delivering a very satisfying conclusion that resolves long-running plots while leaving room for even more.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).

Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick
Review by Linda Kay Hardie

I’m usually put off by novels that use the setup of the book being a story found in someone’s old journals. Denzil Meyrick’s British cozy, Murder at Holly House, begins with a note, purportedly by a descendant of the main character, goes on to an old obscure newspaper article, a much later note from the journal’s writer, then the story itself, which begins in 1952 and is told in first person from the disreputable county policeman, rambling on about setbacks throughout his life that were never his fault.

Usually I’m put off by lots of background exposition, yet here I was caught up in the “action” right away. While my descriptions may sound negative, Meyrick immediately grabbed my attention and led me along roads I don’t usually travel, thoroughly enjoying the trip.

The back cover copy describes a body found in someone’s chimney not long before Christmas. Then a local doctor’s husband is murdered, and Inspector Frank Grasby has to dig through the secrets the tight-lipped locals are hiding. And what do Grasby’s bumbling life choices bring to the entire adventure?

I guess it was the main character and his devil-may-care attitude that drew me in, even though he wasn’t someone I thought I would care about. Grasby is a ne’er-do-well, 40-year-old bachelor who appears to have spent his life almost succeeding at everything life throws at him. He could have been a cricket star, but ooo, that’s a bad break. He could have been a war hero, but… There’s always something that comes up, something that happens to him.

Grasby seems to attract bad luck – or is he somehow asking for it in the way he blunders through life, not thinking of consequences for his actions? He’s got a burglar to transfer to another station. But it’s a hot day, so on the way, he stops in a pub with the prisoner to drink beer. How could he have foreseen that the burglar wouldn’t stick around and buy more beers with the money Grasby handed him, but would scarper while the officer was relieving his bladder?

We get much of Grasby’s wacky history as his boss chews him out over his most recent disaster: an almost-successful arrest of a suspect that culminated in the rich victim’s expensive horses lost in the countryside. Is Grasby apologetic? No. When Grasby is told of his fate, his first thought is that it’s too bad that his landlady in Elderby village is an older woman.

“A young widow would have done nicely. There are plenty of those about since the war,” Grasby thinks. That doesn’t sound like the right attitude under the circumstances.

Meyrick’s novel kept me turning pages. What was Grasby going to do next? What was going on with the quirky characters of Elderby? And what the heck just happened now? So much of the action in the story is improbable, yet never impossible. However, seen from Grasby’s inward-focused viewpoint, everything is all strangely plausible.

The writing tugged me along through the book’s 400-some pages, and I had a ball. Grab a copy, brew a cup of strong tea. Adding a little drop of “sweetener” wouldn’t be out of the question. (No, wait, I’m identifying too much with Frank Grasby. Never mind). Still, pick up Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick and settle down comfortably to be entertained.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

To enter to win a copy of all 5 books, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “November catchup Christmas” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 6, 2025. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.

Linda Kay Hardie writes horror, crime, historical, and SF/fantasy stories (often with humor) and poetry, plus essays (usually about cats but sometimes baseball). Her stories appear in anthologies, including Lunatic Fringe, Gag Me with a Spoon, A Killing at the Copa, Sex & Violins, and The Perp Wore Pumpkin from White City Press. She’s a member of Horror Writers Association, Short Mystery Fiction Society, Queer Crime Writers, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Cat Writers Association. Linda is also an Abyssinian Rescue Ranger, a volunteer foster mom in purebred cat rescue. Linda is also a professional teddy bear builder. See more at whitecitypress.com/product-category/anthologies-collections-12/MM/12

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.