Book 104, 2022

[chez_jae]

A Holly, Jolly Murder by Joan Hess

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I had, like, half a chapter left in my work book so I brought it home to finish. It was A Holly, Jolly Murder by Joan Hess, and it's part of her "Claire Malloy" series featuring Claire, a divorced mother of a teen daughter and a bookseller.

Claire is looking forward to the holidays, if only in anticipation of selling more books at her small book store near the campus of Farberville's college. With her boyfriend, Lieutenant Peter Rosen, out of town, however, Claire is looking at a blue Christmas. When Peter accuses her of being predictable, Claire decides to do something spontaneous. What could be more spontaneous than accepting the invitation of a Druid to attend the Winter Solstice ceremony in a sacred grove? It's not what Claire expected at all, and no one else seems to have expected their leader to be found shot dead in his home. Claire is content to let the police handle things, but various members of the grove continue to call her for one reason or another, drawing Claire further and further into the murder investigation. In the meantime, her teenage daughter, Caron, is embroiled in her own drama involving a stint as a reindeer and a lawsuit, and Claire begins to suspect that Peter is seeing more of his ex-wife than she is comfortable with. If she can make it through the holidays alive, she'll count that as a win.

The story was entertaining for the most part. I enjoyed Claire's witty observations and wry comments, and Caron was a hoot. She could have her own series. What didn't impress me was how easily Claire allowed this group of strangers to drag her deeper and deeper into their drama. At what point does she simply refuse to participate in the reindeer games? Good grief. Characterizations were done well, but the resolution was convoluted enough that I can't fathom how Claire figured things out.

Favorite lines:
♦ "We can still run twenty to twenty-five kids through the chute every hour. Maybe more, if she'd let us use cattle prods."
♦ "No one ever forgets where the hatchet is buried."
♦ "Under all that fur and felt and excessive facial hair may well be a muscular bimboy who'll fill my stocking on Christmas Eve."
♦ A major distraction was needed. In that I had no background in economics, balancing the federal budget was out of the question.
♦ "You can stand under the mistletoe and kiss your ass goodbye."

Waffling on a score here. It was at times entertaining, yet at others, vastly annoying. Eh, I'll embrace the Christmas spirit and give this a four.