Tag: cozy

  • Spoiler-Free Review: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

    Spoiler-Free Review: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

    An Eccentric millionaire wants to be reunited with all his estranged children at Christmastime. Oh boy, what wacky family, hi-jinks are going to ensue? What shenanigans you got planned, old man? old man? oh, he’s dead.

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  • Spoiler-Free Review: Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone

    Spoiler-Free Review: Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone

    “Apart from the murders, it had been a successful reunion”

    Author: Benjamin Stevenson

    When your dad dies in a shootout with the cops, your family doesn’t get invited to a lot of potlucks. That makes family reunions all the more important.

    For the Cunningham family, death is part of life.  Murder, self-defense, medical malpractice, it seems that every member of the Cunningham family has blood on their hands. They are also gathering together for a family reunion… at a remote ski resort… with a massive storm front coming in… this sounds like a great idea!

    It’s not long before the bodies pile up and Ernist Cunningham decides to play detective. Ernist figures he’s read enough murder mysteries to help the bumbling local cop. Unfortunately for Ernist real life isn’t a detective novel.

    This was a very fun read! Stevenson takes the Agatha Christie tropes like the trapped with a killer plot and twists it around just enough to leave you guessing. Stevenson has a banty style that is hilarious to read, he not only winks at the audience he actually dares you to solve the case yourself reminding you of detective novel “rules” along the way.

    If a killer is ever revealed and your ‘percentage read’ isn’t at least in the high eighties, they cannot be the real killer; there is simply too much of the book still to be read.

    I liked how cheeky the style is, I usually read cozy murder mysteries as “turn your brain off entertainment” but Stevenson wouldn’t let me! I had to stop and think to put all the clues together with him reminding me of “detective novel rules” every step of the way. This is a cozy murder mystery that keeps you on your toes.

  • Spoiler-Free Review: Magpie Murders

    Spoiler-Free Review: Magpie Murders

     “you can’t beat a good whodunnit”

    Author: Anthony Horowitz

    Alan Conway’s new murder mystery novel is finally finished! Editor, Susan Ryeland sits down to read Conway’s magnum opus… and hits a brick wall, when she discovers that the last chapter is missing!

    That’s right, after this book gets you all snuggled into an Agatha Christie style cozy murder mystery, it pulls the rug out from under you and throws you into a completely new mystery as editor Susan Ryeland tries to find the missing chapters, and finds herself caught up in a gripping modern thriller.

    I liked this book. I liked the wraparound plot. If you like cozy murder mysteries with an edge you are going to like this book. Horowitz has a way of pulling some great plot twists. It’s always a thrill to read one of his novels, and this doesn’t disappoint.