October 30, 2023
Claire’s appealing second mystery featuring sisters Ellie and Meg Christie (after 2022’s Dead and Gondola) sees them enter the dating pool, with deadly results. Ellie and Meg co-own and operate the Book Chalet, a bookstore tucked away in the mountain village of Last Word, Colo., that specializes in mysteries—particularly those by their idol, Agatha Christie. When the sisters’ cousin, Lorna, starts a dating service for bookish people, she talks Ellie and Meg into signing up as guinea pigs. Ellie’s date is a disaster, but Meg is immediately smitten with her match, the charming Joe Darcy. They make a date for the next day, but Joe stands Meg up, and a concerned Lorna heads to his ski house to find out why. Joe, it turns out, has a good excuse—he’s lying dead at the bottom of a ravine below his balcony. Bolstered by their familiarity with mystery tropes, Ellie and Meg set out to crack the case. Claire throws plenty of clever red herrings into the mix, but the murderer’s motive is wildly unbelievable. Still, quirky characters and toasty fireside atmosphere make this a no-brainer for cozy lovers.
January 19, 2024
The Christie sisters are back, diving into their bookstore and showcasing a bit of romance--and a lot of murder. When the sisters are roped into bookish blind dates by their cousin who's launching a matchmaking business, it seems that at least older sister Meg will find a possible match with a delightful gentleman. However, she is ghosted the next day. It turns out that her date is dead, and Meg is the last one to have seen him alive. Younger sister Ellie is sure that Meg is innocent, but when her own blind date is discovered to have a possible fianc�e, or more than one, and a former flame of Meg's shows up in town, all eyes turn to Meg as the prime suspect. With humorous dialogue and family drama, the novel's character arcs are just as engrossing as the murder mystery itself. VERDICT The second "Christie Bookshop" novel, after Dead and Gondola, is a delightful escape to a Colorado mountainside, featuring fun family exploits and a delightful scene-stealing cat.--Kristi Chadwick
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