I enjoyed the three different stories by these authors. I'm always a fan of Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone mysteries. It always feels like you're catching up with an old friend that you haven't seen in months. This was my first experience with the work of Lee Hollis and Peggy Ehrhart. I've already looked into the work of Peggy Ehrhart and reserved one of her titles for my next novel to read. I thought all three mysteries complimented each other and enjoyed them all.

This book was a lot of fun to read. There are 3 short Christmas cozies written by 3 different authors in this book. The books are all very different from the others except, every mystery involves a Christmas card. I found this to be a delightful holiday read.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Christmas Carol Murder is a book with three short stories in by three diderot authors- Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Peggy Ehrhart.
Each story is a festive story about a killer at Christmas time and keeps you trying to guess who the culprits are from start to finish.
These are cozy Christmas stories with mystery and suspense and have great tests and turns and likeable, fun and lighthearted characters.

Christmas Card Murder by Leslie Meier

Lucy Stone is tired of hitting her head when making the bed. Adding a bedroom upstairs had been a good idea, but the sloping roof on either side made changing the sheets a hazardous occupation. Her husband, Bill, is a contractor so why can’t he work on their house for a change? For Christmas, she’d like a bedroom she can walk around in while remaining upright and a master bath hideaway. Is that too much to ask?

Focused on the result, she forgot how messy renovation can be. Luckily, she has a distraction in the form of a Christmas card with a nasty message inside. With the help of her friends and former librarian Miss Tilly, Lucy is determined to find out who sent the hateful card and why.

The newspaper where Lucy works is inundated with irate phone calls due to an article about Phillip Radcliffe, convicted of killing a young lifeguard years before. Evidence was circumstantial, he maintained his innocence, and now a group has worked to get him released. Will he return to Tinker’s Cove?

Only ten chapters long, this story moves fast, tying all the clues and loose ends together for a satisfactory conclusion.

Death of a Christmas Carol by Lee Hollis

The annual holiday party is almost ready to start at the Island Times newspaper office. The food looks great, the employees and their plus-ones are scheduled to arrive, and the decorations are festive. Still, Haley worries something will go wrong. Mona, her friend, is there and loves Hayley’s appetizers. It’s a full-time job just to keep Mona and the goodies apart until everyone is served.

Carol Waterman is a fortyish woman who prefers twentyish men. She’s on the guest list and that’s enough to make anyone nervous. She’s been seen around town with the youngest reporter, David, who’s been asked to hand deliver her Christmas card addresses to Hayley, Mona, and Rosana. Inside, Carol announces she’s moving away and is taking one of their husbands with her!

With no hints as to which one, the women are in a panic, particularly since the husbands are supposed to be at the party but haven’t shown up. Each wife can think of a time Carol cozied up to their husbands. The suspense is too much and they go to Carol’s house to confront her.

It seems someone already has—Carol’s dead, strangled with a Christmas tree garland. Will the crime be solved before Santa’s arrival? Whose husband was Carol’s new love interest? And will Mona eat all the cheesecake?

The fifteen chapters include recipes for Mona’s favorite no bake cheesecake, hot buttered rum, eggnog martini, pin wheel appetizers, candy cane vodka cocktail, and candy cane bark.

Death of a Christmas Card Crafter by Peggy Ehrhart

Each year, local crafters set up in St. Willibrod’s church hall to sell their wares at the Holiday Craft Fair with the proceeds going to the Arborville High School art, drama, and music departments. Pamela and Bettina are two mainstays of the Knit and Nibble knitters and are working at the group’s table. Karma Karling, the art teacher, designs a special Christmas card each year based on the song, Twelve Days of Christmas. This year is the twelve drummers drumming.

When a body is found in the Christmas tree lot, everyone is stunned to find it’s Karma’s. Who would want to kill a beloved teacher? The police soon zero in a knitter who fashions tiny fairy-sized sweaters as tree ornaments. One was found at the scene.

Pamela and Bettina have assisted the police on other cases (welcome or not), and since this hits close to home, they’re on the job. Usually, Pamela’s daughter, Penny, would be against their involvement, but since Karma was her favorite teacher, Penny’s as eager to find the killer as Pamela and Bettina. Can they do it in time to save Christmas?

At the end of the twelve chapters is a pattern for a doll sweater (not the tiny ornament design), and recipes for chocolate mousse cake and not-too-sweet quick bread.

Three different stories all revolving around Christmas cards. Each involves a murder and the story lines keep you captivated. While I was familiar with Leslie Meir, I had never read anything by Lee Hollis and Peggy Ehrhart but I will be sure to include them in my list of authors in the future. A pleasant way to spend an afternoon with a good cozy mystery and this book is well worth reading. Thank you Net Galley and Kensington for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't what I was expecting and was actually a book of short festive stories. They were easy to read and not like the typical romantic genre. All the stories were easy to read with mystery and drama. I particularly enjoyed the venomous Christmas card left in the old barn house. Who could have sent it and why?

For patrons who love cozy mysteries this is a perfect holiday collection. Three authors contributed to this book and it is perfect for those who can only steal a few hours to read over the holidays! It is also a great way to introduce "cozy" fans to other authors they may have never read before.

This book contains three cozy mysteries by three different authors.
"Christmas Card Murder" is written by one of my favorite cozy mystery authors. I love the main character, Lucy Stone, She is an ordinary woman who is juggling family obligations, work as a reporter, community service projects, a household, and being an amateur sleuth. This story has her discovering the history of the house she lives in and finds her and her co-worker in a hostage situation. It made for a very exciting story!
"Death of a Christmas Carol" has a very interesting plot that I thought was rather clever. The main characters are friends that work together to solve the mystery. This time the mystery involves them personally. There are two recipes at the end of the book.
"Death of a Christmas Card Crafter" is about two neighbors who are also members of the local Knit and Nibble Club that work together to solve murder mysteries around town. I didn't care for this series as much. The plot was all over the place and at times I tuned out because it wasn't as exciting as other cozy mysteries I've read. The end of this book has two Christmas recipes and instructions for a knitting project.
If you enjoy reading cozy mysteries, this is a great book to read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

In this wonderful holiday read enjoy three shorts from three great authors. In the first read Lucy Stone is helping her husband do some renovations on their home. With it being the holiday season Lucy thinks its great when she finds a Christmas Card during some demo, that is until she reads the horrible message inside. Even though the card is old Lucy wants to figure out who not only sent the card but also who received it. She knows that the person who received it had to be a past resident of the house so she starts there. Follow along and see if Lucy can bring this mystery to a satisfying end!
In the second story Hayley is helping get the paper ready for its annual Christmas party. While setting up her along with two other helpers receive a threatening Christmas Card from the town flirt. When they find said flirt dead under her tree the three know they must investigate to figure out who the killer is before they become the main suspects. Will the three clear their names or did one of these woman decide they had to stop the flirt before she took one of their men!
In the third story Pamela and the Knit and Nibble crew make it their mission to figure out who killed everyone's favorite nigh school art teacher. Will their sleuthing bring down a killer or will they be left out in the cold when it comes to finding the killer.
I love these books, they are always filled with great shorts from much loved authors!

Three enjoyable cozy mystery short stories each with a Christmas card theme. Welcome additions to the individual series of each author.

Kensington Books has been publishing seasonally-themed collections of mystery novellas from their culinary cozy (and adjacent) authors since 2007, and this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve read so far! A lot of my friends have complained of shorter attention spans since the pandemic started, and while I’ve been lucky not to have been afflicted in the same way, this delightful collection is the perfect remedy, packing a ton of plot and character into each 100-plus page story. It also serves as a terrific introduction to the work of each author, if you haven’t yet had a chance to discover them.

The book’s opener is the titular novella, Leslie Meier’s Christmas Card Murder. With her kids nearly all moved out, Lucy Stone is thinking of expanding her bedroom in their rehabilitated farmhouse to a master suite with adjacent bath. Her husband Bill grumbles his way into agreeing with her, and unearths a surprising discovery while demolishing a wall: a Christmas card with a very unsettling message inside. Being a reporter, Lucy senses a story, and sets about investigating the family who’d previously lived there. But an unexpected snowfall and a prisoner who may have been wrongfully convicted complicate her investigations more than she could have possibly anticipated.

This was a very strong lead-in to the book, showcasing not only Lucy’s unerring nose for investigation but also casting a critical eye on the flaws of our judicial and penal system. It’s a very thoughtful, empathetic look at who we believe and why, and what constitutes adequate punishment and restitution. Despite Bill and Sarah, Lucy’s middle daughter, being wildly irritating to me as usual, this was definitely my favorite Lucy Stone mystery to date.

The middle novella also revolves around a Christmas card with less than merry tidings. By turns hilarious and touching, Death Of A Christmas Carol,sees town flirt Carol Waterman sending a Christmas card to our heroine Hayley Powell, one of her best friends Mona and her boss’ wife Rosana, announcing that she’s about to run off with one of their husbands while the women are at an office Christmas party. The three frantic women are relieved when their husbands show up, though not before they’ve each had time to worry and commiserate about the state of their marriages. The next morning, the trio decide to call on Carol and engage in a little “friendly” girl talk, only to discover that instead of running off with one of their men, she’s been strangled to death instead.

If you’re at all a fan of Lee Hollis’ work, this novella is a must read! There is a significant development in the lives of one of our cast of characters that will definitely shake up future installments of the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails mystery series, and you do not want to miss how it all goes down here. I also thought the ending was perfectly bittersweet, serving as a terrific appetizer for more novels in the series. There were also six delightful recipes included, though I opted to try one from our final author for this column instead.

Peggy Ehrhart’s Death Of A Christmas Card Crafter is our closing novella. Pamela Paterson is overseeing her knitting group’s booth at the holiday craft festival and is overjoyed that her beloved daughter Penny is home with her for the season. Their happiness is marred however by the murder of Penny’s beloved former art teacher Karma Karling at the Christmas tree lot just across the way. When a mild-mannered knitter is arrested for Karma’s death, Pamela and her reporter best friend Bettina Fraser must get to the bottom of things, while avoiding Penny’s disapproving gaze.

As always, I had to grab my knitting and sit down with one of the best casts of characters in a culinary cozy today. It was super fun to catch up with them as they got into their crime-solving shenanigans. In addition, Ms Ehrhart included a knitting pattern and two recipes, and I decided to try out the following:

QUOTE
Nell’s “Not Too Sweet” Quick Bread

2 cups flour--no need to sift
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup milk
1 egg beaten lightly with a fork
2 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup dried fruit, chopped if the pieces are large
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

If your fruit is <i>very</i> dry, put it in a small bowl an hour or so before you plan to make your quick bread and add 3 tbsp. of boiling water. Stir the moistened fruit from time to time in order to make sure it all comes in contact with the liquid and plumps up.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk, and then the beaten egg and the melted butter. Stir until the batter is smooth with no dry bits. Then stir in the fruit and the nuts.

Scoop the batter into a greased 5-inch x 9-inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. To test for doneness, stick a wooden toothpick into the middle of the top. If the toothpick comes out clean, your quick bread is finished.

This is good sliced and served warm with butter, even for breakfast. You can warm slices in the microwave for subsequent servings.
END QUOTE

I asked my husband to surprise me when selecting the dried fruit while out grocery shopping the other day, and he rose to the occasion, coming home with delicious dried cherries. This quick bread is definitely not as cake-like as more common breads such as banana or zucchini tend to be, living up perfectly to its “not too sweet” descriptor. As Ms Ehrhart says, it is really good warmed with butter, which is how my family enjoyed it over the following days, as a great morning or even afternoon treat. I do think I baked it for a little longer than necessary, so recommend checking in on your loaf around the 45-minute mark, and in five minute increments from there, as an hour definitely dried it out a bit even in my cool-running oven.

Next week, we travel to the Midwest to catch up with the latest in a culinary cozy mystery series beloved by many more than just me, and bake up some cookies while preventing serious crime. Do join me!

Christmas Card Murder is a delightful holiday anthology featuring stories from Leslie Meier (Lucy Stone Mysteries), Lee Hollis (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries), and Peggy Ehrhart (Knit and Nibbles Mysteries)!
In Christmas Card Murder, the Stone’s antique farmhouse is undergoing renovations when Bill uncovers a decades old (and quite unpleasant!) Christmas card, and Lucy decides to investigate the former owners of their home to discover the reason for the nasty note. Along with the uproar from a local murderer’s upcoming parole hearing, Lucy’s got her hands full this holiday!
In Death of a Christmas Carol, Bar Harbor resident Carol Waterman is found strangled to death after sending a letter to 3 women - Hayley, Mona, and Rosana – informing them that she was moving away from Bar Harbor….and taking one of their husbands with her!
Death of a Christmas Card Crafter was the very first Knit and Nibble story I’ve read and I enjoyed it so much I’m going to read the rest of the series! When the local high school’s art teacher is killed at the Christmas craft fair, Pamela and her friends must solve the mystery! The author even included a knitting pattern at the end, how fun!
A+++

Each of the short stories in this book is written well, easy to follow, and filled with holiday cheer. Or as cheery as you can get with a killer running around. I would love to receive a Christmas card from any of these characters or spend a few hours with them during the holidays. This collection of original holiday-inspired stories will have readers biting their nails, trying to figure out who the villain is and when they will be caught.

In the first story, Christmas Card Murder, Lucy is still renovating her old house, and of course, even doing this, she winds up finding a mystery. The only clue she has is an old Christmas card that had been hidden in a wall. Even when there is no body, Lucy manages to find a murder that only she can solve. It takes some time and many questions, but she gets to the center of the issue and solves the case.

Death of a Christmas Carol, the second story, is filled with gossip, innuendo, and small-town ethics. This short story takes readers to highs and lows and everything in between. There are worried women, straying husbands, and little festivities when three women received a Christmas card from the town’s biggest flirt. The card they received makes all three women question their relationships. When they find the flirts body, they are more than a little worried that one of their men has committed murder. Will they protect them if they find out one of them is a killer, or will they turn him over to the police? In the end, they find the truth and have their faith restored.

The knit and nibble crew are at it again in Death of a Christmas Card Crafter. After a beloved teacher is found dead, Pamala finds herself involved once again in soling a murder. This time, however, it’s personal. The teacher was her daughter's idol. It doesn’t take long to find suspects or motives, or for Pamala to find herself in trouble once again. After a fair amount of sleuthing and sticking her nose into other people’s business, she finds the killer and helps put the culprit behind bars.

These are lovely Christmas stories, filled with twists and turns. Great descriptions and characters worth remembering. I am intrigued by the use of something as unprovocative as a Christmas card as the theme for murder and love the idea of how something so innocuous could cause so much trouble. These are three great stories, and I know readers will enjoy spending a few hours with these classic characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
This is three novellas, written by three different authors that all feature a Christmas card in some way.
I definitely enjoyed the first story, written by Leslie Meier, the best. She is the one who’s work I was most familiar with prior to reading this and I really get along well with her writing style.
These are fun little stories that will serve you well if you want a quick getaway during the festive season. Or just a quick getaway from the year 2020- it’s been quite the year hasn’t it! Either way, it would work. Will definitely be hunting out some more of these author’s works in the future.

Overall these three short stories were the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit. It's a quick read and I ended up reading one stories each night before I went to bed. If you are used to a traditional cozy mystery this book will be perfect for you, however the "who done it" is right at the end of the story and it abruptly ends the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

These compiled short stories are always so much fun in getting a sampling from some fave authors. They always focus on a central theme, this one being of course, Christmas cards. There wasn't an actual murder in this book, but there was a death. Lucy's always like a dog with a bone when she's on a case, and it's always sweet when Miss Tilley can get involved and help out with her wide knowledge of people, since she's the town's oldest resident.

In the Hayley Powell short story, we got to know Sal's wife a little bit better. I'm pretty sure she's never been in the story this much. There was definitely a murder, and Hayley, Money and Rosana were each worried their sweeties might be the killer. I was a touch suspicious of someone but still a little surprised at the ending which was a really good showdown.

It was really fun reading about a craft show in the Knit and Nibble short story, since I'm not doing any for the foreseeable future. The next best thing of course, is to read about them. Pamela's daughter's favorite high school teacher was killed, and in her sleuthing, Pamela found out secrets that could be worth killing for. I loved how the showdown was set up in this short story.

Some great Christmas season reading, and I always look forward to this compilation usually led by a Lucy Stone mystery.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, and my opinions are my own.

If you are looking for a cozy mystery trilogy with lots of Christmas cheer and some sleuthing to boot, this is the book for you! I enjoyed all three mysteries as the authors did a great job of piquing my interest in solving the murder while tracking the characters and their stories along the way. In Christmas Card Murder by Leslie Meier, the heroine, Lucy Stone, discovers a decades old Christmas card inscribed with a terrible message. She finds out who the recipient is and tracks down the meaning. In Death of a Christmas Carol by Lee Hollis, some dear friends receive a Christmas card from the town hussy who reveals that she is running away with one of their husbands that evening! Whew, as you can imagine, the friends are set afire trying to discern whose husband is the one. The third story in the trilogy is Death of a Christmas Card Crafter by Peggy Ehrhart. I enjoyed the Knit and Nibble crew, the taste treats with recipes included, and solving the murder of the town's art teacher. Thank you to Net Galley, Kensington Publishers for the opportunity to read this delightful book in exchange for my review.

Christmas Card Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Peggy Ehrhart
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: October 27, 2020

Christmas Card Murder contains three short cozy mysteries by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Peggy Ehrhart. "Christmas Card Murder" is book 26.5 from the Lucy Stone series by Leslie Meier. "Death of A Christmas Carol" is book 13.5 in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery Series by Lee Hollis. "Death of a Christmas Card Crafter" is book 6.5 in A Knit & Nibble Mystery Series by Peggy Ehrhart.

These were very cute cozy mysteries with a Christmas theme. Definitely something to read to get you ready for the holidays!

I'm so grateful to Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Peggy Ehrhart, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoy holiday-themed mysteries and this book includes three Christmas novellas by different authors. All three stories take place around Christmastime and a Christmas card plays an important part of the mystery in each. The type of mystery being solved varies from one story to the other, but all three are entertaining.

The first story is Leslie Meier’s Christmas Card Murder. Lucy Stone covers various stories for the local paper in Tinker’s Cove, Maine but the mystery that has her attention in this story hits closer to home. During some home renovations, she and her husband find an old Christmas card that has to have been left there by a previous owner of the house many years ago. The card has a charming vintage picture on the front, but a hateful, handwritten message on the inside. Lucy is determined to find out the whole story behind this card which was only signed with the sender’s initials. In a matter unrelated to the Christmas card, Lucy and a co-worker end up in a very dangerous situation. This plot is pretty heavy for a holiday mystery and I was shocked at how that part of the story turns out. This isn’t a joyful tale, but is well-written and suspenseful and ends on a hopeful note. Fans of the series will definitely enjoy it.

Death of a Christmas Carol by Lee Hollis is the next story in the collection. The mystery that is the focus of this story is an intriguing one. Three friends receive a hand-delivered Christmas card from the town flirt informing the women that she has been having an affair with the husband of one of them and plans to leave town with him! Hayley, Mona, and Rosana are suspicious and worried when their husbands and the woman are all no-shows to their company holiday party. Things get even more complicated when the three friends learn there has been a murder in their town. Hayley comes across as immature for her age, but I still like the story. Some of Hayley’s food-related columns and recipes are included which makes Hayley’s job as a small-town newspaper writer come to life. I was surprised by the bittersweet ending to this story.

The final story in the book is Death of a Christmas Card Crafter by Peggy Ehrhart. Pamela and her best friend Bettina are members of the same knitting group. They are at a holiday craft fair with Pamela’s daughter, Penny, who is home from college. Penny shows her mom some attractive Christmas cards she purchased that were designed by her former high school art teacher. The fair comes to a halt when the teacher’s dead body is found at a nearby Christmas card lot. A friend of Pamela and Bettina is accused of the murder, so the two women put their knitting needles aside to do some sleuthing.The card the victim had designed provides an important clue to solving her murder. I was unfamiliar with this author before reading this story, but I like her writing style and enjoyed the story even though the solution to the murder seemed a little rushed. Knitting tips and a couple of recipes follow the story. The author includes a lot of details about Pamela’s holiday celebrations that put a smile on my face, and I’m glad to have been introduced to this author.

Whether or not you’ve read other books by the author’s in this collection, each is an easy-to-read, entertaining holiday mystery that I recommend to cozy mystery lovers. Returning readers will be happy to spend the holidays with their favorite characters and new readers may just find a new series to read.

~ Christine

Typically, these books are either a hit or a miss for me, and unfortunately this one was definitely more of a "miss." I wasn't a fan of any of these stories, but I ultimately gave the book 2 stars because I was at least interested enough to finish each of the three stories in this book. These may be appreciated and enjoyed by other people, but they just weren't right for me.