Vicki Delany’s Year-Round Christmas Mystery series is back in the sixth installment, and it’s certainly beginning to look like Christmas. Merry Wilkinson just wants to prepare her shop, Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, for the hopefully mass of shoppers while supporting the town’s amateur theater performers in their production of A Christmas Carol. Unfortunately, her mother is in the cast, and Merry learns all about the tensions and rivalries that threaten to quit.
Everything seems to have imploded when one of the group is discovered dead in Merry’s shop. Now Merry is determined to find out who and why in order to save her mother, her shop assistant Jackie, as well as herself from being suspects.
I was so excited to return to Rudolph and all the characters. While this is the sixth book in the series, you could start here without being lost or confused or even be given spoilers of the previous novels. The atmosphere is always welcoming and so quaint. The characters are well liked and many are adorable, especially Matterhorn the Saint Bernard.
Sometimes I do feel annoyed with the personality of Merry. For example, she allows a little too much leeway with her shop assistant Jackie. Merry’s character is such a sweetheart, but I sometimes wonder if that is going too far. Another example is how she lets her best friend Vicky push her towards suspicions when Merry feels it's not relevant or accurate. It feels more like Vicky is the detective and Merry is the sidekick. It might be interesting to have one of the series from Vicky’s POV.
Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.
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