This is book #6 of the much beloved Year-Round Christmas Mystery series. All of us Vicki Delany fans had mourned the fact that this series was not renewed by the publisher of the previous 5 mysteries, and were overjoyed to learn that the series was continued by a new publisher. I am sure this book is going to be a bestseller!
It was delightful to catch up with long-time friends Merry Wilkinson and the cast of colorful and quirky characters who live in Rudolph, New York, a town where Christmas lives year-round. You can’t get any more “cozy” than that. Of course, there is a murder, and it is up to Merry to find out whodunnit.
As in the previous mysteries, Vicki Delany transports the reader into the heart of the town, and you get involved right away in the happenings. The characters and their behaviors are described with such ingenuity that you almost feel them right beside you, and you read on thinking that you are participating in all the activities. Vicki has that gift of immersing the reader in her story, and we “live” the plot until it sadly has to end. I did not guess who the murderer turns out to be, but this is typical of Vicki’s mysteries…it is almost impossible to guess correctly, but it is so much fun trying to guess who the culprit is, and why!
This was a very quick and joyous read for me, and I now have to wait until another mystery is published. Fortunately, Vicki writes about 4 books a year, and has 4 other exceptionally brilliant cozy mystery series. Now that I have finished this book, I will be reading the next Tea By The Sea mystery and reviewing it.

Thank you, Net Galley and Crooked Lane, for allowing me to read and review this book. I highly recommend it, and suggest you read all of her 50 books!

I tried to get into this book but unfortunately was unable too, I’m sure many other will. That is the beauty of books and readers. Thank you for allowing me the advanced copy :)

HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS is the sixth book in A Year-Long Christmas Mystery series, written by Vicki Delany. Merry Wilkinson owns the Mrs. Claus’s Treasures china shop in Rudolph, New York. After helping her friend cater a December picnic celebrating the Rudolph Community Players and their musical production of A Christmas Carol, Merry discovers a female theater member dead in her shop. Who is the victim? How did she die?

What a fun Christmas Cozy. The array of characters at the picnic is interesting, and Merry’s hunt for the killer reaches a satisfying conclusion. I agree that it is enjoyable to read a Christmas mystery any time of year. Thank you, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read and review the e-arc of HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS.

I was so excited to see Vicki Delany's charming Year Round Christmas cozy series return after a few years off. This 6th book in the series certainly did not disappoint. Love this series and its characters.

Set once again in Rudolph, NY, a year-round Christmas town. Once again, Christmas store owner Merry Wilkinson, daughter of a retired famous opera singer mother and the town's Santa Claus father. is involved in sleuthing. This time, a member of the community dramatic society's cast of A Christmas Carol is murdered right in Merry's shop.

I adore this delightful town and the recurring characters. Always feels like a visit with old friends.

Very highly recommended for cozy fans!!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the chance to read this book. It was really nice to be able to catch up with Merry and all our friends in Rudolph. I was a fan of this series and was sad when we were told it would be ending. That it has been revived is wonderful, especially for anyone who enjoys Christmas! The latest has an interesting mystery surrounding the town's production of a Christmas Carol, amateur theater or not the drama is major, maybe a tad bit over the top, but all in all an interesting mystery with plenty of suspects and holiday cheer!

I know it is still quite a time until Christmas but I love a good Christmas themed book and this one didn't disappoint. This is number 6 in the series but I must say that even though I have not read them all the ones I have are great reads and I don't feel as if I have missed out on anything but not reading some of the other books in the series.

Christmas shops, Christmas theatre and of course a murder. It wouldn't by a cosy mystery without one. I love the name of the town (Rudoplh, New York) and of course you can't have a better name than Merry and she is a great character, doing the nosy investigation that any good cop will find annoying.

This book has everything you want from a good cosy and I found it most enjoyable and now having read a couple from this series I really do need to go find the whole series and start from the first.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful cosy mystery.

“Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas” is the nicely done sixth book in Vicki Delaney’s Year-Round cozy mystery series. I love the setting of Rudolph, New York, where Christmas happens all year round and the characters – Merry (who owns Mrs. Claus’s Treasures), her father Noel who looks like Santa (and seemingly has Santa’s magical gifts), her mother Aline (who has the role of Diva down pat), Jackie (even if she can be annoying at times), and the rest of the characters. This book actually takes place at Christmas and while the idea of putting on A Christmas Carol is not a new one, Delaney makes it seem fresh. The mystery is a good one with plenty of suspects – I figured out who the killer was about the same time Merry did which is exactly what I’m looking for in a cozy mystery!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

I could not get into this book. It was just not for me. The writing was fine but the story did not pull me in at all.

A friend encouraged me to go ahead and sign up for NetGalley since I'm doing this blog, and I too received an advanced PDF in exchange for my review. I picked this at random because I enjoy mysteries and romances set at Christmas and I needed something jolly. I'd never read any of Ms. Delaney's books before, though, checking my Kindle library, I have other books by her in my TBR pile, but haven't gotten to them. (It's very easy for books to get lost in the digital TBR pile.)

I'm glad I picked this up as it is an absolute delight. It can be a little daunting to jump into a series in progress, but that wasn't the case here. Without too much, "As you might remember from our previous cases," the characters and locale were laid out, and the scene set. I don't know how Merry Wilkinson came back to Rudolph, NY (though there are hints), or how she met Alan, her boyfriend, but it didn't impact my enjoyment.

I've done amateur theatrics in my time, so it was fun watching the carrying on involved with getting a production mounted. (I was even in the chorus of a musical version of A Christmas Carol once.) I recognized the types, but they didn't stray into caricatures. Most are sketched with a light hand, but enough that you get the sense of people rather than cardboard cutouts. The story moved along briskly, with my reading happening across three sessions, each with longer than I would have liked breaks between. Yet, when I came back to the book, I was able to slide easily back into the story with little trouble.

What's funny is that the murder almost proved a red herring. I immediately had several folks I suspected, but not the killer themselves. Yes, a certain niggling feeling began as the story went along, but it wasn't until a second incident that I began to seriously wonder. When the killer is revealed, my reaction was more "It all makes sense," than either "Oh, I knew it was them" or "Really? Them? Are you serious?" Also, yay for the murder happening about a third of the way into the book, so we had plenty of investigation time.

Merry's a good amateur sleuth, too. She doubts herself from time to time, decides at one point that she should leave this to the police, and when she realizes the killer's identity, her first thought is to call the detective. Hooray for not throwing herself needlessly into danger and proving almost too stupid to live. There is, by the way, a character who borders on that, but given they're somewhat self-absorbed and it causes issues, I can live with it.

The book is very much something to snuggled up with when you need to relax and lose yourself for a few hours. There's a warm feeling to the writing which makes me want to visit Merry and her town again. Perhaps this isn't a book going on my Desert Island Reads shelf, but it is one I can see myself dipping into again. What's more, I'm going to find those other books by Vicki Delaney already lurking in my library.

Love reading this series and author. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend her and her books. I would suggest reading the books in order

Release Date: September 19, 2023

📖📖📖

Merry Wilkinson is excited about Rudolph’s big Christmas play, a Christmas carol. Her opera diva (which I learned is spelled Aline, not Eileen like I thought from the audio books) mother is even making an appearance. When one of the cast members is killed in Merrys shop, she sets out again to clear her families name and find a killer. But will the Christmas Carol become more like the man who came to dinner before Merry is through?

This is the sixth book in the #christmasyearround mystery series. I just finished reading all the other books in the series and I have been living in this world. That being said, last book Jackie was younger than Merry….now in this book she is two years older? I know it’s a dumb detail but to me the details are what make the world real. One more point…WHY ISNT MATTIE ON THE COVER?!? I did enjoy this book and I really liked the ride as we went with Merry, Vicki, and Alan. Overall this is a great series and a fun Christmas in July read!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

#haveyourselfadeadlylittlechristmas #vickidelany #christmasyearroundmystery #berkleypublishing #cozymystery #bookreview #bookstagram #booklover #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #booktok #bookrecommendations #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookblogger #igreads #goodreads #bookclub #bookreviews #bookbloggersofinstagram

I have read this series from the beginning and have enjoyed. I was glad to see another book come out. Some of it is a bit too cutesy with the names. When there is a dead body found in Merry's store, she becomes involved in the mystery. She doesn't really investigate so much as happen across a lot of gossip. That gossip does eventually lead her to figure out the culprit. It was a surprise and it was a reasonable explanation. It was a nice read for a weekend.

The sixth book in the Year Round Christmas mystery series is another excellent cozy! Merry Wilkinson is the owner of Mrs. Clauses Treasures in Rudolph otherwise known as Christmas town. When a local theater decides to put on a musical of A Christmas Carol the cast and crew are at each other's throat. When one is found murdered after a shopping trip to Merry s store it's up to Merry to cast out the killer! Fun characters. Solid mystery. Flows smoothly. Thanks#netgalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Merry Wilkinson owns Mrs. Claus's Treasures located in Rudolph, New York, also known as Christmas town.
The Rudolph Community Theatre Players are doing a musical version of A Christmas Carol, featuring her mother, Aline Steiner, a retired opera singer. Disagreements between Desmond Kerslate, the director and Catherine Renshaw, the artistic director are sowing discord among the players. Unfortunately since Catherine is subsidizing the cost of the show, her opinions generally win out. When one of the players is murdered in Merry's shop, Merry wonders if the woman's feelings about her role and the play were the reason. Or could it be a case of mistaken identity where the wrong woman was killed? Is the murder the result of the competition between Rudolph and a neighboring town?
#HaveYourselfaDeadlyLittleChristmas #NetGalley

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

Really well thought-out book with amazing characters and excellent setting. Love the cover

How wonderful to be able to make a return trip to Rudolph, NY! Thanks to the publisher for allowing this fun series to continue. All the familiar characters are here: protagonist Merry, Jackie her flighty employee and of course, Merry's eccentric parents, Noel and Aline. The mystery takes place during the holiday season (despite the setting, not all books take place around Christmas) and involves an amateur theater production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Many viable suspects make this an engaging mystery written with humor and heart. Visit Rudolph...you won't regret it!

Another delightful addition to a cozy mystery series by Delaney.

'Tis the Christmas season and the town of Rudolph is preparing for Christmas events - with the play being the most important. Personalities clash and an actor winds up dead.
Now the hunt is on to keep the citizens of Rudolph safe and restore the Christmas merriment.

I am a fan of Vicki Delany and was so happy to be able to read this ARC for my honest review thanks to NetGally. I have not read any other books in this series and I had no issue understanding the characters and their connections to Merry which made it very easy to slip in to this story. I liked Merry and I enjoyed all the characters in her main circle. However, this mystery seemed a little weak. I didn’t feel like there was a ton of investigation by Merry and the motive seemed a little weak to me behind the murder. I believe that he would hav killed, I just feel like there were others in his life he would have killed first for that reason. Also, Jackie, oh dear. She reminded me a lot of Louise Jane in another of the authors series, and that character doesn’t bother me but Jackie seemed quite a bit more ignorant of those around her and I agree with the Merry’s part timer, Jackie would be hard to work with. I have added this series to my TBR so that I can read the other adventures of Merry and team.

Thank you NetGalley, Vicki Delany and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me this opportunity to read , “Have yourself a deadly little Christmas” due to be published September 19th 2023.
This is the 6th book in Year round Christmas mystery series. Started out a tad bit slow for me but then bam it picked up quickly and I read it in less than two hours.The writing and characters were really well developed.
This story took place in Rudolph, New York America’s Christmas town. Merry was the owner of Mrs. Clauses treasures and her mother was a former opera singer. During the production of A Christmas Carol arguments are on the rise, and someone ends up dead. Who’s the culprit? Will they solve the mystery before it ruins the play?

Christmas town themed cozy
Ms. Delaney’s Christmas themed small town has a variety of eclectic characters. The theater group includes an opera diva, the main character’s mother with whom she maintains a sometimes strained relationship. Merry has a tight group of good friends that help her whenever she needs it, and boy does she need a hand in figuring out why a woman was killed in her shop. It is an enjoyable cozy anytime.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC to peruse gratis and offer my opinion in the same.