Reviewed by Jeanne
Halloween night can be creepy enough—adding murder really
takes it up a notch! Kensington Publishers have a holiday-themed collection of
cozy mystery novellas featuring some of their better known authors. This is a good way to sample a new to you
author or to just enjoy a visit with characters you already know and love.
In Halloween Night
Murder by Leslie Meier, reporter Lucy Stone is surprised by a a late-night
trick-or-treater who seems a bit old to be ringing doorbells, but she loads him
up with candy anyway. The next day she is shocked to learn that a teenager died
as the result of a hit and run—and it sounds just like her visitor. She decides to look into the incident and
discovers a complex family situation with some dark secrets. Reading one of this novellas convinced me to
try the novels. I like Lucy; she’s no-nonsense, but curious and compassionate,
and I like her relationship with her husband. These stories just feel very
grounded.
Lee Hollis’ Death of a
Halloween Night Stalker is definitely the most atmospheric of the
three. Hayley Powell and her friends are
trying to make it home after a concert but a detour leaves them stranded in the
middle of nowhere. The only house around
is one that could be used as the setting of any horror movie, and while they’re
warmly greeted by a woman, her son is a different story. Speaking of movies, the son could star in one—and
not as the hero. I wasn’t as enthralled with this story but then I didn’t know the characters and their relationships,
or the conventions of the series:
sections were interrupted by essays by Hayley which I found distracting—probably
because this was a novella with a lot of ground to cover in a small space. Laura Levine uses hilarious emails from Jaine
Austen’s parents to break up her novels and I don’t mind that at all.
Finally, Mrs. Claus and
the Wily Witch by Liz Ireland has a more fantastical setting: the North Pole. April was just an Oregon innkeeper when she
was swept off her feet by handsome Nick—who turns out to be the real Santa
Claus. Ireland has created a whole world
of elves, living snowmen, reindeer, and other creatures who live for Christmas—but
the new Mrs. Claus keeps introducing new holidays. Halloween, for instance. The first sign that things are going wrong is
that one of the snowmen is really and truly frozen. The suspect is a recently returned exile who
insists he’s innocent, and April is starting to believe him. These are fanciful and humorous. You have to
suspend a lot of disbelief, but I find them charming.
In short, this is a wonderful selection of treats!
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