Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
A Little Yuletide Murder
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Jessica Fletcher
, Donald Bain
Class/Genre: Mystery Cozy Woman Main Character
Series: Murder She Wrote # 10
Signet, Oct 1998, $5.99, 304 pp.
For the past twelve years, the residents of Cabot Cove, Maine celebrate Christmas with a festival that started with a few carolers. Over the years, the gala event has evolved into a week long happening filled with tourists and guests, who want to partake in "America's most traditional Christmas celebration". Resident Jessica Fletcher is especially looking forward to her hometown's holiday celebration after spending the last few seasons away from home.
However, Jessica's idyll time is abruptly over when her neighbor Rory Brent, who always plays Santa Claus, is found murdered. With one noted exception, the immediate suspect in everyone's mind is Maine's year round Scrooge, Jake Walther, a lunatic with a temper, who was known to loathe the victim. However, there is one person who thinks that maybe the wrong individual has been falsely accused of murder. Jake is in luck for that person is Jessica, who begins to seek the underlying reason that Santa was killed.
The tenth novel in the ever popular "Murder She Wrote" series, A LITTLE YULETIDE MURDER, is a well written New England cozy in which readers know exactly what they are going to get since there are no surprise twists. It is sort of like going to McDonalds where the customer knows what the burger will taste like regardless of location. Still, the charm of this novel and its predecessors is that the characters and story lines remain true to the TV series. Though several TV movies are expected over the next couple of years, fans of Ms. Fletcher will find the novels are a superb replacement for the canceled weekly show.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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