Year Round Christmas Mysteries (Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen) by Vicki Delany

[Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review), Co-Moderator, Featured Series]

The theme for December '24 is Holiday and the series read is Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen by Vicki Delany. In Rudolph, New York, it’s Christmastime all year long. But this December, while the snow-lined streets seem merry and bright, a murder is about to ruin everyone’s holiday cheer…

As the owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, Merry Wilkinson knows how to decorate homes for the holidays. That’s why she thinks her float in the semi-annual Santa Claus parade is a shoo-in for best in show. But when the tractor pulling Merry’s float is sabotaged, she has to face facts: there’s a Scrooge in Christmas Town.

Merry isn’t ready to point fingers, especially with a journalist in town writing a puff piece about Rudolph’s Christmas spirit. But when she stumbles upon the reporter’s body on a late night dog walk—and police suspect he was poisoned by a gingerbread cookie crafted by her best friend, Vicky—Merry will have to put down the jingle bells and figure out who’s really been grinching about town, before Vicky ends up on Santa’s naughty list…


The other books in the series are :-

[QNPoohBear]

This series is on my TBR maybe list. I'll have to try it out for December. I like her other series well enough.

[Meg]

Good pick, and I already have #6 on my December/Christmas tbr list, so a winner all around.

[QNPoohBear]

I just read the first one and I didn't love it. I'm not sure how I feel about Christmas all year round. I didn't click with the characters yet. Merry's parents need to butt out of her shop and Merry needs to hire a dog sitter/walker/trainer. Why on earth did she get a puppy NOW at her busiest time of year and why a huge one when she lives in an apartment? The dog feels shoehorned in.

As for the plot - ick. There's way too much casual acceptance of older men hitting on younger women. That's simply not acceptable. I didn't care who the murderer was. I thought I had a nice list of probably suspects and then I skipped ahead to the end to check it out. I was rather surprised and I found the motive weird.

I requested the second one so I'll see how I feel about this series after that.

[Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review), Co-Moderator, Featured Series]

I just read the last (currently) in the series (A Slay Ride Together With You), which is set at Easter, but still fun to read, I do enjoy these but I am not sure how much longer the series can go on.

[Kim]

I love all of Vicky's other series but not so much this one.

[QNPoohBear]

Kim wrote: "I love all of Vicky's other series but not so much this one."

Same here so far but I'm reserving judgment. I like her Sherlock Holmes bookstore mysteries because it's so general. and funny Insert Jane Austen and the debates among the fans are the same and the casual fans would still stop by to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Colin Firth in a wet shirt! (or Benedict Cumberbatch who has posed as Mr. Darcy).

[Mark]

Interesting to hear others prefer her other series. I've found a couple of the books in this one to be just okay, but overall, I've enjoyed this series. Then again, I do love Christmas, so that's a draw for me.

[Meg]

Ditto what Mark said. I read (listened to) Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas a couple weeks ago and found it to be a good one.

[QNPoohBear]

#2 was so much better! We Wish You a Murderous Christmas has more Christmas, less sexism, the love triangle is shaping up to be less of a triangle and the murder mystery stumped me. I thought I figured it out quickly but I was so wrong. I don't like Vicky. She's annoying and rude to anyone not from Rudolph. She's fallen in love at the drop of a hat with a stranger. Good thing she has Merry.