Some nice short stories for the holiday season featuring some of our favorite sleuths, including my favorite, Lucy Stone.

Yule Log Murder is a delightful compilation of three short stories by three fabulous authors, Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross who joined forces to bring to reader absorbing and entertaining seasonal read.

It all three stories Yule Log cake plays a vital point with some new and some old and much loved characters.

We get to celebrate Christmas with Lucy and her family who show unexpectedly bringing some unresolved issues with them, as Lucy is trying to jump start her acting career while saving her friend from getting arrested,then we meet at Hayley's home to discover if her daughter's new boyfriend is a serial killer and end up Julia's tiny town for a bit or romantic mystery.

Lovely written, fast paced and truly absorbing this book by our favorite authors is a perfect choice for a cozy night at home by the Christmas tree with a mug of hot chocolate.

This is the perfect book for the Christmas season kickoff ! I loved this book of three cozy authors stories each unique and perfect for the season. These three are all Christmas related and set at Christmas time.

The Yule Log Murder is part of the Lucy Stone series set in Maine. It includes the recipe for the yule log at the end of the story. Someone is suspected of committing murder by a frozen yule log ! Many Christmas recipes are included in this novella and the sleuth is fun and well crafted. The Yule Log recipe is included. This is a short story but a fun sleuth and a great Christmas time story.

Logged On is part of the wonderful Maine Clambake Mystery series. The author helpfully includes an easy recipe for Jewel Brooch Cookies which is fabulous. Logged on has a great plot and as part of the Maine Clambake Series is fun to read about Maine events and decor at Christmas time. It has a well crafted story and is a enjoyable short read.

Death by Yule Log by Lee Hollis takes place in Bar Harbor, Maine. Halley Powell is a food writer for the local newspaper. At Christmastime, she bakes Yule Logs for many of the people in town. When a young man is murdered in the woods with some Yule Log in his stomach and the weapon an actual wooden yule log, Haley begins to investigate. Recipes are included. This is another fun short story with Maine as the backdrop for the Christmas season.

A great kick off for the season these collection will appeal to all mystery readers and those who like Christmas themed mysteries. Very well done to all the authors ! Thank you for the ARC which does not influence my review. .

Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc!

You don't have to read these authors' respective series in order to enjoy these short stories ... they are fun, quick reads with some definite surprises along the way. You are in good hands with these authors and their sleuthing protagonists as they transport you to Christmas in Maine. I'm looking forward to their Halloween collection!

Yule Log Murder
By: Leslie Meier; Lee Hollis; Barbara Ross
Kensington Books
4 Stars

What a great set of Christmas cozy mysteries to start off the holiday season. Although each of the stories is part of a series, they are very much stand alone stories. In fact, I’ve never read a book from the Hayley Powell series or the Maine Clambake series, and I immensely liked them. I plan on reading more books from all three authors.

Each of the stories provide a unique and interesting mystery. The plots include the death of an assistant on a movie set, the death of the town bad boy, and the mysterious acts of a cantankerous old lady. All have great plots and well developed characters. The endings were all very surprising. And of course, each has a tie to Yule Logs. At the end of each story you will find recipes for Christmas treats. Yum!!! So light a fire in your fireplace, make a cup of hot chocolate, cuddle up on your couch with your favorite blanket, and grab your book and settle in for a great read. When you are done, you will probably be in the mood to try your hand at one of the holiday recipes included in the book.

Anyone who enjoys holiday stories and cozy mysteries will enjoy this book.

Thanks to Net Galley and Kensington Books for an ARC of the book. #NetGalley #TheYuleLog

Yule Log Murder is a compilation of three cozy mystery reads by three different authors. Each story contains a Yule Log for Christmas. While Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone is an old favorite of mine, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross were new to me. I am glad that I took the opportunity to read these novels.
Lucy Stone must locate who murdered a cook helper while she is cast as an extra for a movie. Will she find the killer before the movie becomes a wrap.
Death By Yule Log tells the tale of Hayley Powell. When he daughter brings home an obnoxious boyfriend, Hayley must decide if she will help when he is accused of murder. Bonus content is new recipes to try.
Logged On finds us trying to figure out if the Yule Log has poisoned people and why.

I really enjoyed all three stories. I am equally glad to find two new authors to read. I received a copy from Netgalley. A review was not required.

Yule Log by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross is a very entertaining book that contains three Christmas stories involving Yule Logs. Leslie Meier writes Yule Log a Lucy Stone mystery. Lee Hollis writes Death by Yule Log a Hayley Powell mystery. Barbara Ross writes Logged On a Julia Snowden mystery. I really enjoy all three authors, so this was a real treat. Not only is this book really fun, it has three great mystery. There are twists and turns around every corner. I found this book to be a quick read, with a well developed plot and characters. Whether you have read these authors before, or are new to them the stories are easy to follow. I recommend this book and all three series, for any one who enjoy cozy mystery books. 

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A triple holiday treat! Three of my favorite authors have come together in this collection of three novellas, each with a Yule Log. Each features their central character and each is a gem. First is Yule Log Murder by Leslie Meier, followed by Death By Yule Log by Lee Hollis and finishing with Logged On by Barbara Ross.
In Yule Log Murder, Lucy Stone has her hands full when murder joins a film crew. In Death By Yule Log, Hayley Powell has to deal with her daughter's unpleasant boyfriend. His suspected of using a frozen yule log as a murder weapon. Then, in Logged On, Mrs. St. Onge is suspected of poisoning, the vehicle being her Buche de Noel. I marvel at anybody who can make one of these awesome Christmas creations. Having an authentic French bakery nearby does the trick for me. If I tried to make one it would end up as a big mishmash blob.
Treat yourself to a nice cup of tea, a couple of lovely holiday cookies and settle down with three, sure to please, mysteries from three very talented writers and their feature characters. You won't be disappointed, I'm sure.

In this fun Christmas Cozy we have three authors who deliver on some great mysteries. I read all three authors and love the series that they write. In this wonderful compilation you'll first meet Lucy Stone who is happy that her grandson is there to spend Christmas with her but what also has her excited is being an extra in a film that is being shot at a local home. When one of the workers is murdered Lucy finds someone standing over the body with a knife, but did they do it? In the second story Hayley isn't sure how she feels about the boy that her daughter brought home, there is just something about him that rubs her the wrong way. She also hates that her son in snowed in at his fathers and won't be home for the holidays. While at a party an uninvited guest causes a scene and is later found dead. Who would want to kill such a young man and why? Could he really have that many enemies at his age? During the third story Julia wants to learn how to make a Yule Log so her mother suggests she seek out the help of an elderly neighbor who was at one time know for the dessert. Julia gets the older woman to help but during the process she realizes quite a few people have ended up dead around the woman. Is something sinister going on with her or is it all just a fluke? To learn what happens with each of these main characters and their stories jump right in and enjoy the mystery of it all.

I just finished Yule Log Murder which disappointedly was not a novel by Leslie Meier as I first thought. Instead it’s a collection of three short stories all about Yule logs! I sincerely didn’t think there was that much to write about a dessert.

The stories are well written but come to an abrupt end with people just announcing that they did kill so and so but it was an accident and that’s it.

Unless you are really into making a Buche de Noel, you can skip the last short story. It reads as one long recipe with a tiny bit of mystery thrown in.

I would recommend this book to readers of short stories in the cozy mystery genre. Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

3 stars

I wanted to read this book because I am an avid Leslie Meier fan and I read everything Lucy Stone related that I can get my hands on. I especially love the Christmas stories. It was great to catch up with Toby and his family and the mystery was really good, too! This is the second time that she has teamed up with Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross. I have really enjoyed reading both of their books. I really like Hayley Powell in Death by Yule Log. Not only do I like her character, but the mystery was good and I never would have guess who the killer was. In Logged On, I could not put it down! I needed to know if Mrs. St. Onge was poisoning everyone, and where Gwyn and Bradley were! I was pleasantly surprised. This is a great book to start off the holiday season.

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I am a fan of Leslie Meier so I was excited to have a new installment to the Leslie Stone series and a Christmas one to boot! This novel is true to the characters in the series and entertaining to read. The murder wasn't the most complicated to figure out, but was sufficient for a cozy mystery. I only skimmed the other stories in the collection as I am not familiar with those series, but if you are fan of Leslie Meier you will want to catch this one.

The first book by Leslie Meyer is a Lucy Stone mystery. Lucy is an extra for a movie when a young intern is murdered. Is up to Lucy to figure out what happened to Bobbi.
Second book by Lee Hollis is a Hayley Powell mystery. This time a young man has been murdered after being thrown out of a Christmas party that he has crashed. When Ryan is found with traces of her Yule log cake in his stomach it's up to Hailey to solve his murder.
Third book by Barbara Ross is dissaperance mystery, When Gwyn and Bradley go missing can Julia figure out if they are dead or alive and how do they connect to each other.
I loved all three of these cozy mysteries all set in different parts of Maine.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This is a wonderful trilogy of heartwarming Christmas stories with murder and mayhem thrown in. Yule Log Murder by Leslie Meier, Death By Yule Log by Lee Hollis and Logged On by Barbara Ross were all wonderful cozy mysteries that were quick reads and quite difficult to put down. They contained favourite characters that we know and love from previous books and we learned new things about each character and their families. All our sleuths have a tendency to investigate where they have been asked not to but usually end up solving the case for the authorities. I'll be looking forward to reading more from each of these great authors.

A great group of holiday stories to spend a cold winter day by the fire. The length of the stories were prefect and the stories engaging.

Three great Christmas mystery stories by three good authors. It's an enjoyable and entertaining book, fun to read and full of Christmas spirit.
I loved all the stories and I look forward to reading other works by this authors.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for this ARC

Yule Log Murder is a collection of three fun and easy to read cozy mystery novellas by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross. Each story is well written, with well-developed and likable characters.

Yule Log Murder by Leslie Meier takes place in Tinker’s Cove, Maine. Lucy Stone is cast as extra in a movie that’s being made at Pine Point in Tinker’s Cove. When one of the catering staff, Bobbi Holden is murdered, Pine Point’s main cook, Elfrida Dunphy, becomes the prime suspect. Even though Lucy already has her hands full her job at the Pennysaver newspaper, the holidays, and her family, including her son, his wife, their son and, and their dog who have shown up unannounced, she gets involved in another murder investigation.

Death by Yule Log by Lee Hollis takes place in Bar Harbor, Maine. Halley Powell is a mother of two adult children and a food writer for the local newspaper. At Christmastime, she bakes Yule Logs for many of the people in town. Hayley’s daughter, Gemma, comes home for Christmas with her new boyfriend, Conner, who she doesn’t take a liking to. When a young man, Ryan Toledo, a local troublemaker, is murdered in the woods with some Yule Log in his stomach and the likely weapon an actual wooden yule log, Hayley wonders if Conner is responsible.

Logged On by Barbara Ross takes place in Busman Harbor, Maine. Julia Snowden wants to make a Bûche de Noël (Yule Log) for her family, but her attempts are failures. She reluctantly approaches her mother’s reclusive and cranky neighbor, Odile St. Onge, to ask if she would be willing to teach her. While spending time with Odile, Julia becomes concerned that her elder care assistant, Gwyneth Hillyer, and her grandnephew, Bradley Woodard, seem to have disappeared and Julia begins to wonder if she’s a killer.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Three novellas in bestselling cozy mystery series all involving yule logs and set in the Christmas season are told in the Yule Log Murder.

The Yule Log Murder is part of the Lucy Stone series. An assistant on a movie shoot is killed while transporting a yule log. It includes the recipe for the yule log at the end of the story.

In Death by Yule Log, the obnoxious boyfriend of the daughter of Hayley Powell is suspected of bludgeoning someone to death with a frozen yule log. The recipes included sound yummy. They are:
• Mom’s Christmas Morning Cocktail
• Dustin’s Christmas Morning Cinnamon Muffins
• Gemma’s Hot Chocolate
• Mom’s Special Hot Chocolate (adds vodka and peppermint schnapps to Gemma’s recipe above)
• Randy’s Crock-Pot Mulled Wine
• Hayley’s Christmas Yule Log

Logged On tells the story of elderly Mrs. St. Onge, whose complicated Buche de Noel (yule log in French), is suspected of poisoning multiple people in the town. This tale is part of the Maine Clambake Mystery series. It includes the recipe for the Buche de Noel plus a warning by the author to find a professional baker to make the complicated recipe. The author helpfully includes an easy recipe for Jewel Brooch Cookies for those of us that are not professional bakers.

While I enjoyed all three stories, Logged On was my favorite because of its unusual plot. I liked it so much that I am beginning to read the Maine Clambake mysteries beginning with Steamed Open to be published on December 18, 2018. Many people read cozy food mysteries for the recipes. The recipes in Death by Yule Log are much more likely to appear on my Christmas table. Lucy Stone is one of my favorite characters. I feel like I am growing up (or old?) with her family and friends.

The Yule Log Murder is an excellent way to get into the Christmas spirit. Despite all the tales using a yule log, each one had an entirely different spin on the plot. It is recommended to cozy readers looking for a few light evening reads. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an advance copy.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Three wonderful, entertaining stories by three wonderful, entertaining authors. A well written read to get you in the holiday mood. Enjoy!

This collection of short stories by some of the best cozy mystery writers is just in time for the upcoming holidays! Three novellas are included in this volume and each story features a mystery with a Yule Log as a centerpiece. Because these are short stories, they go by fast but set a great tone for the holiday season. Each author brings characters into their short stories from their popular series, but you don't necessarily have to be familiar with the characters to appreciate the writing. I was pleased to see the release of another compilation from this publisher as I have been quite fond of the previous holiday story collections released. Don't miss out on the newest collection - you will be pleased - so pull up your favorite blanket, cup of hot cocoa and let this book set the scene for this years holiday season!