by Cynthia Chow & Sandra Murphy

This week we have even more Christmas mysteries for your holiday reading-Christmas Mittens Murder by Lee Hollis, Lynn Cahoon, and Maddie Day, A Furry Little Christmas by Laurien Berenson (two novellas in one), and Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of all 3 books and links to purchase them from Amazon at the end of each review–you may not see those links if you have adblocker.

Christmas Mittens Murder by Lee Hollis, Lynn Cahoon, and Maddie Day
Review by Cynthia Chow

Just in time for the holidays arrives a new delightful seasonal anthology from Kensington showcasing novellas from their bestselling cozy authors. Built around the theme of mittens, Lee Hollis, Lynn Cahoon, and Maddie Day all ingeniously weave unassuming mittens into Christmas homicides.

In Lee Hollis’s Death of a Christmas Mitten Murder, Reverend Ted guilts Hayley’s Kitchen owner Hayley Powell into providing a holiday gift basket for the church’s Christmas Bazaar Gift Basket raffle. Despite the good cause it also stirs up the competitiveness of local businesses to earn the most tickets, with Hayley’s most serious rivals being her brother and her best friends. While the basket with the most alcohol in it unsurprisingly wins out yet again, the bazaar is interrupted by screams that a ring up for bid has gone missing. Accusations fly between the knitting circle and the crocheting Happy Hookers, and when knitter Esther Willey is found stabbed to death with a knitting needle and a mitten stuffed in her mouth, the loss of donations will make for a very unhappy holiday. When not writing her hilarious Island Food & Spirits columns filled with boozy and delicious recipes, Hayley and her friends investigate the hostilities stirred up by viciousness that is ostensibly all for a good cause.

In Lynn Cahoon’s Two Christmas Mittens, Mia Malone is keeping Mia’s Morsels afloat by ironically working as a catering director for the very lodge that turned down hiring her catering business. That’s not the only Grinch in her holiday season though, as a witchy friend spots a cursed mitten that was most recently held by the local professor Geoffrey Brewer. Now very dead, Mia finds herself under a ticking clock as the National Office of Regrettable Events arrives to investigate the death and hints of dire consequences. When Mia’s assistant Christina is out of commission and suspected of her professor’s death, Mia uses a spell to assume her appearance and rather uncomfortably go undercover and mingle with suspects, not to mention her own ex-boyfriend.

Murderous Mittens by Maddie Day introduces readers to Cece Barton, soon to be the star of her own series. Taking a break from her life in Pasadena to visit her twin sister Allie in the Northern California town of Colinas, Cece finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation when the manager of Vino y Vida Wine Bar is killed and Allie becomes a suspect. Also visiting the town is organic farmer Cam Flaherty, whose experience in amateur investigating is a boon for Cece and allows them to join forces. Cam, the lead character in Maddie Day’s Local Foods Mystery series, is able to provide advice and support to Cece as she builds up the confidence to question local business leaders in the murder where the weapon was a mitten, alarmingly filled with a bludgeoning bocce ball.

These three novellas are all enough to whet the appetites for cozy mystery fans and hopefully lead them to seek out the many full-sized novels of these entertaining and talented authors. Lee Hollis’s humor drops in just enough moments of chaos between Hayley and her friends to leave readers wanting more, and Lynn Cahoon excellently introduces readers to a world of mystery and magic. Maddie Day cleverly brings in a new character with a reliable familiar one, making all of these tales the perfect Christmas appetizers that only hint at the abundance of books by these authors waiting to be read.

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).

A Furry Little Christmas by Laurien Berenson (two novellas in one)
Review by Sandra Murphy

Wagging Through the Snow
It’s never a good sign when Melanie’s brother Frank drops by at ten in the morning. He’s the kind of guy who says “‘if you could just do me a little favor” and you know you’re doomed. Nothing ever turns out to be a little favor where Frank’s concerned. This time is no different. Frank just stopped by an auction, and the next thing he knew, he owned a ten-acre Christmas tree farm. Now he needs someone to decorate the little office and by the way, work a few hours selling trees. And there’s the little matter of telling Bob, Melanie’s ex-husband and currently Frank’s business partner. No favor is ever little.
And that was before they found the dead man and his orphaned Maltese.

Here Comes Santa Paws
Melanie’s Aunt Peg can be overbearing, bossy, and generally nosy but she has redeeming qualities too. She’s loyal, loving, and a dog lover beyond compare. When she finds three Aussie puppies in a Christmas stocking hung on her mailbox (it was supposed to be decorative only), she has to find the original owner and, of course, homes for the puppies.

That mystery takes a back seat to finding out who killed Lila Moran and getting Melanie’s ex-husband’s current wife off the hook for murder.

With over 30 books, Berenson is a prolific author and authority on dogs, especially the Poodles who occupy her books. She also writes a spin-off series about Peg and Rose, Peg being Melanie’s Aunt Peg and Rose being Peg’s sister-in-law. The two women used to be friends, then enemies, and now frenemies. After all, they’ve solved a couple of murders without Melanie’s help and nothing bonds like crime solving.
For the dog and mystery lovers on your gift list, Berenson’s books are a good place to start. Get some for yourself too.

Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict
Review by Sandra Murphy

Former Met Detective Roz Parker is on the sleeper train from London to the Highlands, in hope of reaching her daughter before the snowstorm closes all traffic. They are somewhat estranged and now her daughter is in labor, the perfect time for a mother to be supportive—if only she can get to the hospital.

That hope dims to nothing when the train derails and there aren’t any crews who can come to the rescue anytime soon. The passengers are a mixed group, families, teens studying for a trivia contest, an influencer and her boyfriend/manager, and a couple of singles.

When a body turns up, it looks like Roz has one last case to solve. After all, by the time the police could arrive, all the evidence could be tainted. A second death follows and she begins to wonder who can be trusted, who can’t, who’s lying, and who’s innocent. Murder on a derailed train in a snowstorm is the modern equivalent of a locked room mystery, the hardest kind to solve. Is there anybody Roz can trust?

This is not just a “who dun it’ mystery but “did someone do it, if yes, how did they do it, and why” tale. While it seems to move slowly in parts, it’s because the passengers are stranded, there’s no internet, no forensics team, or help of any kind. If you’re looking for a mystery with more thriller vibes than a happy holiday story, this is the book for you.

To enter to win a copy of all 3 books, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “more christmas reading” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 9, 2023. 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. A new episode went up this week.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s editor for Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s, with twenty-two cozy stories. She also edited A Murder of Crows, twenty-one stories featuring animals and crime (no animals were harmed). She also writes for magazines, newsletters, and the occasional guest blog. Both anthologies are available at the usual outlets, print or ebook.

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.