The author kind of gives away the ending of the book, before the end. Not to the point were it spoils the book for me though. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. It is a fun light read. I probably finished in, about 4 hrs or so. A good cozy mystery. It is part of a series, but I have read some of the others and I don't find this to be a problem. ( )

There can be problems with the out-of-order reading of a book from a series.

Some of them can be seen in some of the problems that I had with this book.

Since this is the first book out of this series that I have read (and it isn't the first book in the series), there were times where I felt some knowledge was assumed on my part (knowledge I simply didn't have). Not that that's the author's fault: I feel she did an entirely adequate job of re-introducing her chracters for a potentially new audience.

However, since this book was one of a series and there are other books to follow, I kind of felt that there were some aspects of the story that did not entirely pan out. There is a sub-plot about a couple in this book which just never goes anywhere.

As for the author's writing style - it was decent. I won't say it was the best-written book I've ever read, but having just read a TRULY terribly written mystery novel right before I read this, I can say that she at least creates a sense of suspense and has a convincing resolution. And as a historical novel, attitudes and historical references (as well as dialogue) were pretty convincing.

While I wouldn't advise you to run out and immediately purchase a copy of this book, if (like me) you found yourself with some time to kill and a hankering for a decent holiday-themed mystery... in that case, I would recommend this book. ( )