There’s no dashing through the snow for Abby Maguire who is experiencing her first Christmas in the small town she now calls home and having a hard time dealing with the sweltering heatwave, made worse by the fact there’s no ice at the local café - her home away from home. When she accompanies the local antique store owner, Bradford Mills, to collect the lights for the town’s annual Carols by Candlelight, she meets Harold Moorhead, a retired electrician. The only way she can convince him to fix the local café owner’s refrigerator is by listening to one of Harold’s long-winded stories. It’s a small price to pay. They now have ice but they also have a murder victim. With no murder weapon, no witnesses to the crime and no obvious motive, Abby and the local detective, Joshua Ryan, deal with one dead-end after another. It’s up to Abby to find clues where none appear to exist. Humorous small town, clean cozy mystery with a cast of quirky characters.
Abby and the gang are back! Abby is experiencing her first Christmas in the small town near Melbourne, Australia where she now lives and they are having a heat wave. While Abby is busy melting due to the heat, someone else is murdering the local electrician. Abby and Joshua, the local police detective, try to solve the mystery and keep their cool.
I really enjoyed reading about Christmas in Australia! They have many traditions similar to ours, but "dashing thru the snow" takes on a whole new meaning when the temperature is over 100 degrees! Abby, Faith, Joyce and the other residents are fun and superbly written. Honestly, I can picture each and every one of them! Definitely a delightful story with a great mystery and "friends" you're going to love visiting with.
Another great read in this series. Our FMC has has just enough of the cicadas and the heat. She's just about to blow her gasket but an emergency at the cafe ends in the only electrician in town turning up dead. Who and why? Everyone turns to her to answer the questions. As the heat stays on, the Christmas decorations come out but so do suspects. Was the killer one of his ex-wives, one of his string of lovers and why does his train set up resemble the town so closely. Photos, a miniature pram, a young man on his honeymoon and old secrets. Will she work out what happened before she ends up in a pile of goo? Well thought out plot and with humour thrown in from the cafe owner's panache of Christmas wear to her dog who knows the only place to lie is by the air conditioning unit.
If you like storylines about Christmas, you will enjoy this story. It’s Christmas time and for Abby who now lives in a small town, it’s now summer with heat over 100 degrees, between the unbelievably heat, there comes a murder and Abby is beside herself with all the heat and solving a murder. Great humor, characters and storyline.
I enjoyed the Deer Abby books. They are funny and lighthearted cozy mysteries. The protagonist is endearing, and the other characters are quirky and engaging. I appreciated that the plots of the series did not follow the cozy mystery norm. There are moments in each book that I laughed out loud. I look forward to new books in this series.
Abby is in the thick of it again as a retired electrician, Harold, is murdered after fixing Joyce's refrigerator. It's baking hot and Abby is struggling to feel like Christmas, let alone find something exciting for the front page.. up until the murder all she had was a dead in the water story about a power outage in 2009.. Harold was most insistent it was worth the front page but she's really no idea why.. does it somehow relate to his murder? There's plenty of suspects with ex-wives, cuckolded husband's, lover's and a distant brother.. but who wanted him dead so badly?
Abby is having a melt down in the little town of Eden, Australia. It is full on summer in December and Abby is not in the mood for Christmas. When Joyce's fridge breaks down, Abby must go to the local electrician to have him fix it. A dead body turns up and Abby and the Detective, are trying to solve the murder in the middle of a heat wave. Read and enjoy!
Really enjoyed Sonia's latest book in the series..Once again she assisted Joshua in solving a murder. They make a great team, wondering which book in the series will bring them together other than solving crimes♥
Christmas just isn't Christmas for Abby McGuire. Not only is there no snow, there's a current heatwave going on in southern Australia. And a blistering summer it is too. After Joyce finally gets her Refrigerator working, she and Abby go out back to find the only electrician in town has been murdered. Abby is coerced into looking into the murder with Detective Joshua's blessing. The only problem is is the heat is getting everyone down, and it's affecting the investigation also. Will Abby be able to beat the heat and put all the clues together? I guess you need to read it to find out.
I didn't care for this series of books as her others. The change in countries wasn't comfortable for me. The characters were long in developing. The mysteries were good. There were 6 books in this series, with another promised. Now I will start the next series set in the 1920s.
It's a big adjustment to have Christmas in the Summer, but that's the stage for this cozy murder "down under." I really enjoyed it. There are lots of laughs and lots of clues. Also lots of quirky characters who really added to my enjoyment of the story. I recommend it.
Town residents are as funny and nosy as ever! It is Christmas Down Under and Abby is having problems tolerating the excessive heat. Murder occurs and everyone expects her to investigate. She does an excellent job but, again, confronts the murderer before Joshua arrives! This is annoying because she is, supposedly, intelligent!
Another fun read in this great cozy series. The MC’s usual rocketing style is slowed a bit by the heatwave in her adopted town. However, her rapid-fire brain continues to connect the dots until she solves the mystery within the mystery and confronts the killer.
This mystery seemed rather complex. There were several suspects and different motives for the killing. The storyline was fast-moving and the different characters were interesting. Abby is taking too many chances.
Like how the characters are developing. In chapter 16, there is an editing issue, a mixup of names twice. Using the name Joyce when it is obviously Faith who is being referred to.
This is a book I really enjoyed. I certainly sympathise with the heroine and her reaction to the extreme heat. I think part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much is the relationship between Abby and the police. It's not the usual cosy crime whereby the heroine thinks the police are inadequate or is forced to investigate a crime because the police suspect either herself or friend/family. In this case as a newspaper person she has a healthy give and take friendship with the police and understands and respects things like preserving crime scenes etc. Certainly different from a lot of other stories in this genre.