Death at a Castle Christmas by Veronica Bond

 

Death at a Castle Christmas by Veronica Bond (Dinner and a Mystery, book 3)

Reviewed by Jeanne

Nora loves working at Castle Dark, an American castle that hosts various forms of entertainment—murder mystery shows, music, etc.  Not only does Nora get to use both her singing and acting talents, but the close-knit castle troupe all pitch in with costumes, lighting, backdrops, and whatever needs doing.  They’ve become a family.

This Christmas is a special one indeed.  Nora loves the musical presentations and comedy skits, even though the schedule is a grueling one. There’s still time for Nora to spend with friends including her detective boyfriend, and Nora’s parents and siblings are coming for the holiday.

The first hint of trouble comes when two small children show up at the castle, claiming to be selling candy for their school.  They’re much too young to be out alone and the candy doesn’t look like anything a school would sponsor.  Nora and company discover the children’s mother Jenn is in the hospital and Charlie, the children’s guardian, left to go to the store and never returned.  All reports say that Charlie was responsible and loving toward Jenn and the kids. This is definitely out of character. Jenn is horrified to discover her young children have been left alone and files a missing person report on Charlie.

Things get even darker when the body of an unidentified man turns up on the Castle grounds after an attempted break in.  Could these two events possibly be connected?

I had read the first two in this series and enjoyed them very much.  The characters are likeable and there’s a strong sense of comradery that appeals to me.  I also love the descriptions of the various performances as told by someone who appreciates theatre and music.  The mysteries have been cleverly constructed too, but the emphasis is on characterization.  The fact that Nora has three kittens doesn’t hurt, either.

The writing is done with a deft hand; while “Veronica Bond” may only have three books to her credit, the author behind the series is really Julia Buckley, a long time mystery author of several series.  I especially loved her Hungarian Teahouse series because of the folklore she included.

While I think this could be read as a standalone, there are a lot of relationships in this story.  In fact, I began to have the feeling this was going to be the last in the series as couples paired off.  While I was glad to see well-deserving characters get their happily ever after, I was less glad to think that I might not see any of them again.

Usually I wouldn’t review this possibly last in series book here on the blog, but this book really feels seasonal.   It’s not just the Christmas carols sung by the troupe, though that is a part of it. I especially liked a section in which Nora meditates on one of the carols, “Good King Wenceslas” and its meaning.  The book felt very festive, and not in a superficial way.  Some books set at Christmas throw in a few seasonal details like shopping or tree trimming but don’t convey the feeling as much as this one does.

The books in the series are

1.       Death in Castle Dark

2.      Castle Deadly, Castle Deep

3.      Death at a Castle Christmas

Nevermore: Demon Copperhead, Martha Odyssey, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 

Nevermore 10-7-25

Reported by Rita

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he's eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.

I didn't like it enough to finish it on my first try, but the second attempt was much better and had me enthralled. - NH 5 stars

The Martha Odyssey by Bonny Gable
The campus is full of ghosts, they say. But are Beatrice's demons from the past or the present? It's 1915 and young Beatrice Damron burns to become a professional classical pianist. She leaves behind her meager mountain home and enters Martha Washington College to study at its well-regarded music conservatory, unaware of what lies in wait for her there. Thrilled to exhibit her prowess with Beethoven and Brahms, she wows students and professors alike. Yet a menacing presence lurks that bedevils her. Beatrice seeks solace beyond the college halls and discovers a simpler world with Jonah, the town outcast. Captivated with this newfound joy, she begins to lead two separate lives. But when tragedy strikes, her two worlds collide with life-threatening consequences-and Jonah is at the center of it all. To avert further disaster, Beatrice must take dangerous risks that may cost her everything.

Incredible! I couldn't put it down. MH 5 stars

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

A very quick read filled with fascinating characters. I enjoyed it very much. GP 5 stars


Other Books Mentioned

The Association by Sharon Ann Ziegler
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants by Jane Goodall
Land of the Dead: How the West Changed Death in America by Terry Hamburg
Captivity of the Oatman Girls by Royal B. Stratton, Olive A. Oatman
The World Made Straight by Ron Rash
The Peculiar Gift of July by Ashley Ream
The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Christmas at the Women’s Hotel: A Biedermeier Story by Daniel M. Lavery

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Manhattan, the early 1960s:  the Biedermeier Hotel is home to a number of women of various ages, from the young and eager to the elderly and infirm.  All are just scraping by, so for some the Christmas season offers an opportunity to earn much needed extra money. Most are content to pick up extra jobs as window dressers or sales clerks. 

Lucianne has a better idea:  she’ll start a service providing male escorts for young women who want to attend various functions but who don’t want to go alone.  She knows several young men who can be trusted to behave like gentlemen and who will cut a respectable figure. Of course, Lucianne will get a cut of the fee. . . .

Katherine, the first floor manager, has been estranged from her family for years but is cautiously hopeful when she receives a letter from a younger sister.  It’s the first time anyone from the family has reached out.

And then there’s Josephine, a retiree whose methods of picking up some extra cash are definitely not legal.

Author Daniel Lavery uses his characters from The Women’s Hotel to good effect in this holiday novella.  While it can be read as a standalone, Christmas at the Women’s Hotel would be better appreciated if one had read the first novel.  I had not, so I admit I was a bit overwhelmed with all the characters.  What kept me reading was the writing: I love the author’s sense of humor and way that he phrases things.  Of Lucianne, who is from a socially prominent family, he writes, “She was not self-conscious about her age, but she was certainly aware that it could no longer benefit her socially, though it had not as yet begun to count against her.” Of another character he writes that she was “thought of as something better than a nuisance but less than a friend.”

He also makes the 1964 time period come alive, which I really enjoyed.  I liked that not all the problems were solved or that some resolutions were not what I would have hoped.  Perhaps those endings are for another book. It felt realistically festive instead of  saccharine.

If you’re looking for some nostalgia reading set in the Big Apple, this can be an entertaining choice.

You Only Live Nine Times by Gwen Cooper

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Rachel Baum came to Coacoochee, Florida to start over.  She landed a great job in a bookstore, and is enjoying not only selling books but creating events to promote the store.  She has an apartment above the bookstore that she shares with her three cats:  Scarlett, Vashti, and Homer, a blind black cat who doesn’t let a lack of vision hamper his fearless nature.

Coacoochee is an upscale community with a thriving social scene.  Rachel’s friends include Tommy aka “Mr. Nightlife,” who works for a magazine, reporting all the gossip and news on the beautiful people; Natalie, an investigative journalist who owns “Hot Mike,” a German shepherd who flunked out of police dog training school; and Daisy, a party girl who knows everybody who’s anybody.  Rachel finds herself rubbing shoulders with a celebrity chef, a wealthy real estate developer who owns at least half the property around, and a high profile newspaper columnist, all of whom have their own agendas. Still it all seems cordial enough—until someone turns up dead outside the bookstore right after an event Rachel hosted.  The police seem to think that it was natural causes, but Rachel isn’t so sure.

Her cats definitely think there is something wrong.  Unbeknownst to Rachel, the three felines have more interests than birds and catnip.  They think something is definitely amiss and they intend to protect Rachel. Unfortunately, Rachel doesn’t speak cat—or maybe that’s a good thing, or else she’d know what they have planned could be very dangerous.

Gwen Cooper is the author of the non-fiction book Homer’s Odyssey, which is the real-life story of her blind cat Homer, and Love Saves the Day, a novel about human relationships.  I knew I liked her writing based on those books, so I was interested to see what she’d do with a mystery novel.

As with many of the cozy mystery book series, the author throws out numerous characters all at once.  I was glad there was a list of characters in the front or I might have given up. Some don’t play a major role in the story and could have been skipped.  I understand that the author wants to build up her cast of characters for future installments, but overwhelming the reader with names is off-putting. As I said this is common in first in series books: the author is creating a setting she intends to return to so it seems that the reader is introduced to everyone in town, whether or not that character is going to play a significant role in this particular story.

Once I was past that, the book turned out to be as entertaining as I had hoped.  Part of the story is told from Rachel’s point of view as she tries to prove foul play, and part from the cats’ as they gather clues and enlist helpers including Hot Mike. Incidentally, Hot Mike is a fun character; his name comes from journalism, i.e. a “hot mic” and he adores his human, but he’s welcome to lend a paw or nose to help Homer and the gang.

The mystery was interesting and the cats are a hoot. There’s a good bit of sibling rivalry going on between them, and they all have delightfully distinct personalities.  I just decided to roll with all the characters and soon found the only ones I needed to keep track of.  There were well- placed clues, a bit of romance, and lots of feline frolics—or folly, depending on your point of view.

There’s a second book planned and I am looking forward to it.

Nevermore: Listen for the Lie, Abraham’s Curse, The Crooked Cross

 

 

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera won rave reviews from one of our club members, who listened to the audio version while on a trip.  Lucy Chase’s complicated life just got a bit more complicated: she’s been fired from her job.  Her boss says that the company is downsizing but Lucy knows that is just a cover for the real reason: that a lot of people think Lucy murdered her best friend.  Now a true crime podcaster is dredging it all up again, and it may be time for Lucy to find the truth: is she a murderer or not?

Our next reviewer was interested in the arguments raised by religious scholar Bruce Chilton in Abraham’s Curse, which examines the themes of violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Chilton, who is also an Episcopal priest, begins with how the story of Abraham and Isaac is perceived and presented, and how that influences each religion.

The Crooked Cross by Sally Carson tells the story of a family in Germany during in the early 1930s.  High inflation and high unemployment are taking a toll; Lexa’s brother finds purpose in joining the Nazis, while her fiancé Moritz is facing discrimination because he is Jewish.  Published in 1934, the book has been recognized for how well it described and even predicted the rise of Nazism.  Our reader had high praise for the book and lamented the fact that Carson died in 1941, so didn’t see the end of the war. The Crooked Cross  was republished in 2024, and the second volume in the trilogy, The Prisoner, will be re-printed in 2026. 

Other books recommended included Whale Days by Billy Collins (our reader said she didn’t know you could learn so much from poems!); Underwater Dogs, which are photos of dogs, well, under water; The Women by Kristin Hannah; and our newest and youngest reviewer praised Confessions of a Class Clown by Arianne Costner.

New Books in December!

 

Armitage, Rebecca  The Heir Apparent

Arnaldur, Indridason  The Quiet Mother (Det. Konrad)

Atkins, Ace  Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Battles, Brett  Stuart Woods’ Blown Away (Teddy Fay)

Black, Cara  Huguette

Clipston, Amy  The Lighthouse at the Cove

Cornwell, Bernard  Sharpe’s Storm:  Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of Southern France, 1813

Kingfisher, T. The Snake-Eater

Klassen, Julie  Whispers at Painswick Court

Ledwidge, Michael Closing Time (Michael Gannon)

McDermid, Val  Silent Bones (Karen Pirie)

Mitchard, Jacquellyn  The Birdwatcher

Munier, Paula The Snow Lies Deep  (Mercy Carr)

Nelson, P.J.  All My Bones (Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery)

Patrick, Phaedra The Time Hop Coffee Shop

Patterson, James  The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe: A Thriller

Pearl, Matthew  The Award

Sanderson, Brandon Tailored Realities  (short fiction)

Snelling, Lauraine At Morning’s Light (Home to Green Creek)

Stewart, Jack  W.E.B. Griffin Direct Action (Presidential Agents)

Van Dyken, Rachel  Fallen Gods

 

Nonfiction

Amen, Daniel G. Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain:  Breaking the Doom Loop to Heal Chronic Physical and Emotional Pain

Weir, Alison  Queens at War:  England’s Medieval Queens

Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson

This book won't be published until March 3, 2026, but you can put the book on reserve now!

Reviewed by Kristin

Penny is a rookie cop, motivated into the career by the loss of her twin sister Nix five years earlier. At her very first murder scene in an Atlanta suburb, she not only recognizes the male victim as someone who hurt Nix and helped to create the downward spiral which led to her death, Penny then practically stumbles across a blonde woman holding a bloody box cutter.

When the woman cryptically says that the events of the night were all about sisters, Penny is taken aback and allows the woman to flee. Not exactly proper cop behavior, but Penny needs to find out how this murder is connected to Nix.

Penny discovers a slow burn trail of clues which takes the reader through many twists and turns. I didn't see the end coming, although of course I second guessed whether I should have. In this kind of domestic suspense, everyone is a suspect.

Jackson is brilliant at taking the plot in unexpected directions, while maintaining believability in the end. Every time I read one of her books, I feel that she really understands human nature in all its various possibilities. People are complex, and Jackson's characters are multi-dimensional in all the right ways.

I read this as an advanced reader copy (ARC) ebook, and I will look for the audiobook when it is available. Jackson usually narrates her own audiobooks in her distinctive but not overwhelming Southern accent, which I find wonderfully entertaining.

Thanks to Joshilyn Jackson and William Morrow for the ARC allowing me the intense excitement of reading my favorite author’s latest work months early, in exchange for an honest review!