Amazon Editorial Review

Tis the season to be jolly, but in Moosetookalook, Maine, Christmas cheer is in short supply due to a snowless winter that's keeping skiers and shoppers at a distance. Fortunately, Liss MacCrimmon of the Scottish Emporium has a plan. . .

Liss's brainstorm focuses on Tiny Teddies, the new "hot" toy of the season. Every store across the country is out of stock--except a few wee establishments in good ol' Moosetookalook. It's easy enough to drum up approval for the idea of luring consumers to town and keeping them there with a stockingful of New England holiday charm. Liss's real challenge lies in contending with bickering businesspeople and--once America learns of Moosetookalook's Tiny Teddy cache--doggedly determined shopaholics.

The first sign of something amiss occurs when the last Tiny Teddy is summarily executed: shot through the heart in the display window of greedy toy store owner Gavin Thorne. But the Teddy's demise is just a precursor to the eerily similar murder of Gavin himself...

The two men in Liss's life want her far from the case, but she can't help feeling guilty for starting the fur frenzy that seems to have led to Gavin's death. Besides, how can she ignore the lengthy list of suspects, not the least of whom include Gavin's vindictive ex-wife, an unscrupulous selectman, a ski shop owner with an axe to grind, and a rabid toy collector packing heat in her purse..?

Now, with the Twelve (or, in Scots terms, the Daft) Days of Christmas rapidly approaching, Liss has a plate full of things worse than haggis to contend with, starting with a stockroom packed with poultry (don't ask), and ending with a killer who'd like to see Liss's goose well and fully cooked...

A fun Christmas mystery.

Enjoy!

A fun cozy mystery with a slightly Christmas theme.

Releasing at our Bookcrossing party.

Read over Christmas. Releasing at the Meetup tonight.

It was pretty good, although the quirky characters tend to take over. Liss seems to operate in a fog where her emotions are concerned and the author is going to have to move her into a relationship sooner rather than later.
Liss is a pretty good business person, although turning the twelve days of Christmas into shopping days until... is just mildly offensive. It was the teddies that attracted people not the pageant. The author handled it pretty well and I enjoyed the difficulties with the poultry. The colly birds were black birds, though, not calling or talking ones but the problems would have been worse if she'd had to deal with crows or ravens. The descriptions of the hotel were great although those pipers would have destroyed the eardrums.
Oh, yes, the mystery, the murder. A teddy bear was shot - right in the heart - but the owner of the toy store got it, too. That's frivolous, but so was the introduction of an unpleasant character into the town only to be killed.
I'll save this for a holiday time release unless someone wants it before then.

Coouldn't resist reading this again. Well, when I saw it on the shelf I had forgotten I'd read it before.

Quirky cozy. Bears are involved; special ones. And the Canadian border and snow, etc. Still a fun read after all this time :-)

Releasing at the Lower Mainland Bookcrossing Meetup tonight.

This is our monthly meetup so why not join us for coffee or whatever. We're always glad to see new people and hear about what they're reading. We'll be here till about 8:30 and any books not chosen to take home will be left on the reading bench at the back wall.