With its charming Christmas setting, this cozy puts you in a holiday mood complete with multiple plots, fun characters and of course murder.

Hemlock for the Holidays by Paula Darnell is part of the Fine Art Mystery series whose protagonist is Amanda Trent, who is a 50-ish divorcee who has moved to Lonesome Valley, Arizona, to live the life of a working artist. She has purchased as small house, and become a part of Roadrunner Gallery in town, and the alternate Friday artists' studios open house tour. Today she was working the Roadrunner booth at the annual high school Christmas craft fair. They were having a good day and there were some fine baked goods available, of which she partook. As she and her friend were leaving, they saw ambulances approach. As she eventually learned, several people had come down with food poisoning, ostensibly from baked goods bought at the fair. Within the next couple of days she had gone with a friend to see a man she knew, and came upon his dead body, as well as the remnants of the poisoned basked good from the fair. What a mystery.

This was a good mystery, with plenty of red herrings. Amanda leads a full life, with plenty of things going on as well as keeping her eyes and ears open for clues. She is trying to earn a living as an artist and that means following lots of leads and creating all kinds of art. She has plenty of friends and a blossoming romance with her backyard neighbor. The murder turned out to be the first person one would expect, but also the last. This is a good book. A fun cozy scenario, complete with not only a cat but as dog as well, and dogs of her friends and neighbors. The plot was good and the pacing was excellent. There are plenty of semi-well-rounded characters, interesting enough to fill out the holes in the book. It was a compelling murder mystery. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Hemlock for the Holidays by Campbell and Rogers Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #netgalley #campbellandrogerspress #hemlockfortheholidays

I enjoyed this Christmas mystery with Amanda having settled in her new town. Belle and Dennis are such awesome neighbors and gave her the most amazing Christmas gift-she had just as nice of a gift for them too. There's always a good mystery with this series and plenty of small town camaraderie as well.

The killer came as a complete surprise to me, and the showdown was awesome thanks to Mona Lisa kitty. She got to dig into the killer just in time! Once the murder was solved, Amanda and Emma could finally settle into a good winter break, and Amanda managed to finally get a good sale once she branched out a bit. I always enjoy catching up with Amanda and her gallery friends as well as her sweet neighbors.

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

Amanda is a painter who is recently divorced and trying to make her way in a new town. Christmas is coming and sales have been slow. But Amanda continues to work at her art and at the local co-op. At a Christmas fair several high school students are poisoned by hemlock. Then several day later, a friend is found dead. Amanda tries to solve the murder, sell some paintings, and make more contacts all while getting ready for a family Christmas.

I enjoyed the characters in the book and loved the Arizona setting.

Amanda is preparing for her first holiday celebration and it would have been successful except for that pesky murder!
When someone eats a pastry, it's lights out, and Amanda wonders if it was a deadly accident or a a horrible murder.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

An Untimely Death….
The third in the Fine Art Mystery series and it’s holiday season in Lonesome Valley. Whilst festivities abound sales have fallen for Amanda but events take an even worse turn when an untimely death occurs. Entertaining, warm hearted mystery with a colourful cast of characters.

This book is an easy, cozy mystery. Full of pets, art, friendships, intrigue and of course murder. The characters are relatable, the story engaging and the town interesting.

Artist Amanda Trent is preparing for the holiday season in Lonesome Valley when tragedy strikes. A local man dies after eating carrot bars sold at the high school arts and crafts fair - was this food poisoning gone wrong, or was there a more sinister reason behind his death?

The characters of Lonesome Valley seem like people you'd meet in many a small town. The town is charming, yet flawed, adding a realistic touch to the story. Darnell does a good job of creating interesting storylines and relationships for her characters, even if they're only background characters. These characters help make the mystery more interesting. I didn't see the mystery ending in the way that it did! However, if there's one thing that could be improved, it's the dialogue (particularly Amanda's internal dialogue). At times, it seemed a little stilted and unnatural.

It should be noted that the mystery is not always the focus of the story. I'd describe it as being only one of the major storylines that runs through this novel, the others being Amanda's slowing art sales and Amanda's first Christmas as a divorcée in Lonesome Valley. I liked the insight that we got as a reader into Amanda's life as it helped to flesh her character out, but readers who are more interested in the detective work behind a mystery itself may not find the other storylines as entertaining.

I read this book as a standalone, so I may have missed some of the character backstories. However, I don't think you need to have read the other books in the series to enjoy this one.

Hemlock for the Holidays - Paula Darnell

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Campbell and Rogers Press and I am leaving this review voluntarily

As Lonesome Valley kicks off the holiday season with its annual parade, artist Amanda Trent embraces the Christmas spirit, happy that her family will be coming to town to celebrate the season with her and her loyal pets, Laddie, a friendly golden retriever, and Mona Lisa, an independent calico cat.

Amanda has just one nagging concern: her art sales have stalled, so her checking account is starting to look a bit puny. Her financial woes pale, though, in comparison to her concern when several people eat carrot bars laced with hemlock at the high school's arts and crafts fair, resulting in one unlucky man's death. Was the poisoning an accident, or did someone with evil intent deliberately spike the sweet baked goods?

Whilst this is the third book in the series, I have read this as a standalone - however this has not spoilt my enjoyment of the book. I found it to be a very quick book to read, and the plot was very easy to follow.

Following the discovery that one of the local residents has been murdered with Hemlock, Amanda sets out to investigate who is behind the poisonings. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys murder mysteries and Christmas books.

Rating 4/5

An enjoyable light crime that would make a lovely holiday read. The story holds your attention and the main character's cat and dog add to the atmosphere. A fully rounded crime story that has a twist at the end.

This book was provided to me compliments of #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

A charming, holiday themed cozy mystery. I’m ready for snow, hot chocolate and the holiday season after reading this gem!

I know it's only July & I've just read a Book set around the Festive season , but `hey' there is never a bad time of year to read a Book set at that time of year ,add in Dogs especially Laddie & a beautiful cat Mona Lisa , then it makes for great Summer relaxing reading ,along with it's neighbourhood twists & turns . #FB,#Instagram,#NetGalley,#GoodReads, # Amazon.co.uk, # <img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/c566f42be23a0e25d120e78a3454e2d427c4beee" width="80" height="80" alt="50 Book Reviews" title="50 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were believable and just any story that has a dog and a calico cat is a winner. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
This is a fair and truthfully review of a book given to me from netgally. Thank you.

The third book in the series. It's holiday time in Lonesome Valley as Amanda gets ready for her first Christmas there. Business has slacked off so she's worried. Then when hemlock is eaten by several people at a fair murder is the result. A fun easy read that is enjoyable. Love the animals! Thanks #netgalley and #CampbellandRogersPress for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

In the third book in author Paula Darnell's Fine Art Mystery series, Hemlock for the Holidays, artist Amanda Trent once again discovers a dead body. In this book Amanda and her friend discover the body of a man who is about to declare bankruptcy but insisted he was about to come into a lot of money. Instead he ingested hemlock-laced carrot bars and died. Amanda works her way through clues to figure out who the murderer is. I very much enjoyed reading this mystery.

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This “cozy” murder mystery has a bit of charm and lots of flaws. It could use a BIG dose of editing (grammar, substance and style.) The dialogue was very unnatural (felt like Leave it to Beaver: “Say, Wally did you hear what mom said?”) Also, the mystery part was very thin and very predictable. Loved the parts with the animals. I give it 2 stars, and that’s generous.