The initial reason I chose the book was for the title. I’m not entirely sure why, but I find it hilarious. This snowy, mountain set book was great to read in the middle of summer. Overall, I enjoyed the story. At times, it did feel a little too long and drawn out. The mystery had me continually guessing and I was surprised but the culprit. The Christie was very charming and definitely a high point of the book. Also what bookworm doesn’t love reading about other bookworms! Very Inception!

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery! Because it’s so close to spooky season I’ve been reading a lot of suspense and thrillers but I needed something to read in bed next to my boys while my husband is out of town that wouldn’t keep me up at night scared to close my eyes! It was a fast read for me and I thought it was fun. I’m excited for this to be a mystery series and I cannot wait for them to hit the shelves. The only reason I didn’t rate it 5 stars is because it didn’t necessarily hook me right off the bat but I still enjoyed it and will recommend.

I received an eARC from NetGalley, and I’m so glad I did!

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series about two sisters who own a bookshop in the fictional town of Last Word, Colorado. Ellie and Meg are traveling on the gondola when the gondola in front of them becomes a murder scene. They soon realize that the victim was in their bookshop earlier in the evening. They then set out to solve the identity of the victim and attempt to solve the murder.

I really wanted to love this book, but I had a very hard time getting invested in the story or the characters. There were so many people and the story seemed to jump all over the place, it was hard to keep track of all the different stories that kept getting interjected. The person responsible for the murder was predictable from the beginning and left the ending anticlimactic.

You might love this one if you like cozy mysteries! Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me.

The Christie sisters run the family bookstore in a quiet mountain village and love their quiet life. A book club seance says a man will die soon. A mysterious man appears in the store. A bookstore employee disappears and a man is murdered shattering the Christie's peace and placing them in the middle of a real life whodunnit.
Dead and Gondola is a cleverly written, action packed mystery with funny, quirky and complex characters. A real page turner that kept me guessing until the final Poirot like reveal of the murderer. I hope the Christie sisters, their Grandmother and Rosie have many more adventures in the future.

The story is set in a ski resort area, centered around two sisters, Meg and Ellie (who tells the story) working at their family-owned bookshop at the top of the ski lift. It serves as respite for those tired of the slopes who welcome a warm place to escape with a book while their friends ski the day away. Of course it is THE place for local bookworms to support their reading addiction. Ellie lives above the bookshop because she just moved back to the area while Meg lives with her teenaged daughter and grandmother in the village.

Ellie and Meg hop in a downhill gondola to return a book that a strange man had left in their bookshop after they see him lunge into the previous gondola. At the end of the ride, the ski lift operator finds that the man is indeed dead. Thus begins the sleuthing by Ellie and her sister that ends 300 pages later!

Frankly, I did not find anything "cozy" about this book. It is over 300 pages, and I found it a chore to get to the end. If the author could go through and let out the hot air of the over-flowery vocabulary and ridiculous multiple mentions of the cat and the pony, eliminate the superfluous village characters, it might qualify as "cozy" around 150-175 pages. Not enough story here for 336 pages. No description needs for 5 adjectives - one or none will do in most instances.

Not my cup of tea but some readers might enjoy it.

This was the first in the series and I believe it is going to be a great series. The sisters Elle and Meg have inherited their parents book store named The Book Chalet in Last Word, Colorado. The sisters ride the gondola up the mountain to the bookstore where they do hold book club and occasionally a séance. Gram was always falling asleep in her chair while she was knitting but she did love to bake and cook also. The sisters last name was Christie so they always had fun reading Agathie Christie books so they and their Gram and niece would go about sleuthing out possible leads on the latest murder which happened right after the man left The Book Chalet. And, the cat Agathie was awesome!
The writer did have been guessing right up until the end. Fun cozy read!

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5 stars, rounded up

What a nice & cozy read!

Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire was a step out of my comfort zone—the cozy and light-hearted mystery is not a genre I have a ton of experience in, but I'm so glad that I trusted the cuteness of the book cover and decided to give it a go. Dead and Gondola is about Ellie Christie, a woman who returned to her hometown of Last Word and moved into the loft of her family's bookshop. Then begins a murder mystery that somehow left me feeling warm and nostalgic.

The setting was amazing. The town of Last Word made me crave hot chocolate and snow and my own cat named Agatha Christie who could curl up in my lap while I read a good book. Dead and Gondola made me want to live in a loft above a bookshop and explore hometown murder mysteries. I never thought I would say that. But this novel made murder mysteries somehow less scary and more exciting and somehow comforting? If you are looking for a spooky novel, this probably isn't it. Think more of a bibliophile's version of Nancy Drew set in a ski town. The word that keeps coming back to my mind to describe this novel is cozy. This novel is just so, so cozy.

I found the end reveal to be nicely surprising. Not jaw-dropping, but I found it amusing and thought to myself, "yes, this will do."

My only gripe is that I found this book to be good, but not great. I have read better. That may just be that this is the first cozy mystery that I have read since I was a kid, and it might not be the genre that vibes with me the best. But if you go for cozy mysteries, you will probably love this book. As this is supposed to be a series, I look forward to reading the next installment.

Dead and Gondola is a fun, entertaining read. Ellie Christie returns to her small hometown in a Colorado hamlet to help her sister and grandmother run the family's bookshop. The Book Chalet is a historicc bookstore known for mazes of book shelves and the charming Agatha, the bookshop's very popular cat. All is quiet and peaceful until a mysterious visitor appears looking for a woman no one knows. When the stranger is found murdered and the assistant book seller disappears, the Christie sisters must channel that famous, fictional detective and solve the murder. This was a fun read, more detail and better writing than a lot of others. Dead and Gondola is the first in a series - I look forward to more, more, more! Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read an ARC.

Dead & Gondola
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 11/1/22
Author: Ann Claire
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 336
GR: 3.82

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Bantam and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Ellie Christie recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their friendly bookshop cat, Agatha. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out. He was a mysterious stranger who visited the bookshop. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Many residents knew of him. Quite a few had reason to want him dead. Others hide secrets. The police gather suspects, but when they narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.

My Thoughts: This is the first book in a cozy mystery series, Christie Bookshop. The Christie sisters love to solve murder mysteries and this one is right up their alley for amateur sleuthing. Amateur sleuths + murder + cat + bookshop = a fabulous cozy mystery. This has an Agatha Christie flair and it was awesome. The story starts at a slower pace but does pick up about halfway through. I do love a good mystery set in a wintery town, especially when I live in Florida and right now it is 110 daily. The characters were flushed out pretty good, especially for an opening series book, well developed, have depth, are mysterious, and creatively written. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, and kept me engaged. If you love any Agatha Christie book, especially the Maple series, you will love this book. It releases in November, perfect timing for the winter holiday! Preorder today!!

Dead and Gondola (Christie Bookshop #1) by Ann Claire is a mystery dedicated to the genre. The story of murder. Who killed the mysterious man visiting the local bookshop?

A tiny Colorado has a new visitor. A man walks into the Book Chalet inquiring about a woman no one knows. He leaves his bag behind filled with notes and a novel.

The Christie sisters are on the case! Who is the strange man, who is Cece to him, and who would leave behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel?

The book club predicts a murder.

Not only that. Ms. Ridge goes missing. Someone breaks into the Book Chalet.

It seems that everyone has a motive.

Was it the poet cowboy, the missing Ms. Ridge, the famous Morgan Marin, the noisy neighbor, or numerous other suspects around town?

The mystery continues.

This novel is for lovers of mysteries, books, snow, and cats. I found the story cute. It's not a gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller. An easy read.

A bookstore in a small Colorado ski town is at the center of a murder. The sisters who own the store imagine themselves as amateur sleuths and you meet many of the townsfolk, all of whom have secrets to keep and interesting lives that unfold over the course of the following days. The characters are all charming in their own special ways, and there is a lot of classic drawing room murder mystery setups as one or another comes under suspicion. If you are a fan of bookstores or ski towns, you will appreciate the setting even more so.

Review of Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire

My thanks to Bantam Books (Penguin Random House LLC) and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This is not my usual fare. Yes, I enjoy murder mysteries. Yes, I read thrillers and who-done-its. Dead and Gondola is murder-light and thriller-light. I chose to read it for a couple of reasons. First, I am a sucker for any fiction novel that has anything to do with a bookstore, so the synopsis of this book grabbed my attention right away. Second, I had just finished reading a couple of pretty “heavy” books and was looking for something lighter. The cover graphic (by Virginia Norey) of this book gave me the impression that although this is definitely a murder mystery, it might just be the lighter fare I was looking for. It was.

The synopsis also indicates that this novel is the first of a series. This is good news. I really enjoyed reading this book. I got my dose of a bookstore setting along with a murder and missing people. Although it is a lighter read, it is a fun one. The story is well-organized and moves along at a comfortable pace. I look forward to the next book in this series. I hope we get to meet Meg’s and Ellie’s parents…the happy travelers who sound very interesting.

Sisters Meg and Ellie Christie (not kin to Agatha), are delightful and well-drawn. They are similar enough to be believable sisters but different enough to be their own people and interesting characters. I loved the inclusion of Meg’s and Ellie’s grandmother and Meg’s daughter. These two additions are great fun and make the book multigenerational in a very functional way…no family drama here, thank goodness.

If you are looking for a light-hearted mystery (think Janet Evanovich), I think you might enjoy this debut novel in this series. My star rating…

4 stars

This book was cute and fun and exactly the type of book I normally shy away one. However, the premise and cover drew me in and although not amazing, was better than expected. This was a cozy mystery by the fire on a cold night sort of book. It was easy to read and the characters were quirky and fun. I am glad I read this because it has opened me up to this cozy mystery genre. Looking forward to the sequel.

I thought "Dead and Gondola" encompassed everything a cozy mystery should be: fun, quirky characters, a potential romance, and a curious murder. At the start of the book, I was a little concerned, as everyone seemed to love everyone, and there was no conflict to be found. However, as characters disappeared, died, and revealed their secrets, the story heated up, and the pace quickened.
I thought Ann Claire did an exceptionally good job of creating characters whose behavior made sense, so their decisions were aligned with who they seemed to be. All in all, this was a fun, cozy mystery, and I will definitely be back for more of this series.

#DeadAndGondola #NetGalley
Exceptional. 5 ⭐
Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter. She’s recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their beloved cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible by ski gondola and a twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintry whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out. The victim was a mysterious stranger who’d visited the bookshop. At the time, his only blunders had been disrupting a book club and leaving behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel, written under a pseudonym. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Motives and secrets swirl like the snow, but when the police narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.
I really loved this book from the bottom of my heart. It's aN exceptional one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Bantam for giving me an advance copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book!

Dead and Gondola was cute, but not very special. The Christie sisters run a bookstore that specializes in mysteries in a ski town in Colorado. During a book club meeting, a strange man appears in their shop, and then is mysteriously murdered, just as their friend and employee vanishes. I enjoyed the few little things that were mentioned to bring the sisters' characters to life, but just found them sort of dull. I did find the mystery intriguing and was not able to figure it out, so that is what kept me reading until the end.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dead and Gondola is the first book within the Christie Bookshop series. At first, things felt a bit chaotic because we were getting to know everyone. I felt like the introductions were being a bit rushed because I had to reread the first couple of chapters a couple of times. Sure, I still got confused with who was who from time to time but they were still entertaining.

The town itself seemed cozy and filled with nice people. That is until we have a mystery to solve. Along the way, we get thrown some nice twists that I totally didn't see coming. Then when the big reveals came towards the end, well, my brain felt like it was melting. Of course, that's when all the clues clicked into place, and I understood everything.

In the end, the mystery was fun throughout. I can totally see myself jumping into the sequel.

A fun, well written cozy mystery set in Last Word, Colorado at a gorgeous bookshop in the mountains. I found the characters and the setting really enjoyable, and the mystery was satisfying. I would love to read another installment in this series.

Talk about new favorite cozy! A bookstore on a mountain and the only way you can get to it is by a gondola? Sign me up. Then the MCs realize they might have witnessed a murder on said gondola? Double sign me up. This one was so cute and fun and kept you guessing at every turn, I'm excited to read more in this series!

Review of Uncorrected eBook File

Ellie Christie and her older sister, Meg, run the Book Chalet in their tiny Colorado hometown. Ellie has only recently returned to Last Word and is enjoying running the bookshop with her sister.

One morning, a mysterious gentleman slips into the Book Chalet and interrupts the meeting of the Chalet’s book club, Mountains of Mystery. He slipped out as mysteriously as he’d appeared, leaving behind a signed first edition of Mary Westmacott’s “Absent in the Spring.” Katherine Ridge, the sisters’ faithful bookshop assistant vanishes, adding to the mysteries floating around the little Colorado ski town.

When the stranger dies, everyone in town is shocked when they learn his identity. But who is the murderer? And what happened to Ms. Ridge?

=========

This first-in-a-series cozy mystery, with its requisite cat [Agatha] and quirky characters, is a charming nod to Agatha Christie. Delightful characters populate Last Word, Colorado and a strong sense of place keeps the story well-anchored. There’s literally a town full of suspects, an abundance of red herrings, and a plot that twists its way into an unexpected ending.

There’s a fair amount of humor woven throughout the mystery, a subtle thread of tension running throughout the telling of the tale, and an unexpected climax to keep those pages turning. Readers who enjoy mysteries and/or cozies will find much to appreciate here.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley
#DeadandGondola #NetGalley