Hello Everyone :)
I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.
If you're new around here, then welcome! I'm Kirby, and I'm so thankful you decided to stop by my little bookish corner of the internet.
If you've been here before, then welcome back! I'm so glad you're here!
If you have read my blog before, you probably remember that I'm a big fan of cozy mysteries. However, I prefer my cozies to be clean and cozy, and I'm not a fan of some of the newer ones that are stocked full of objectionable content.
One of my current fave authors within this genre is Barbara Ross, and I love her Maine Clambake series. She's included novellas from this series within a few cozy mystery novella collections, and today I'd like to share my review with you all of one of the more recent releases.
This particular release includes stories from three different authors and their corresponding series, and although while I did read all three stories, I was really only picking it up in the first place for Barbara's.
Keep reading below for my full review.
Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross:
Source: Library
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: August 31st, 2021
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Lucy Stone/Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery/Maine Clambake Mystery
Synopsis:
Small town traditions are celebrated throughout Maine during the holiday season. But when it comes to Halloween, some people are more than willing to reap a harvest of murder ...
HALLOWEEN PARTY MURDER by LESLIE MEIER
Tinker's Cove newest residents Ty and Heather Moon turn their Victorian home into a haunted house to raise funds for charity. But the Halloween fun turns to horrific fright when Heather overdoses on tainted drugs--and Ty finds himself accused of murder. Digging deep into the story, journalist Lucy Stone uncovers some sinister secrets in the Moons' past linked to a conspiracy in her hometown...
DEATH OF A HALLOWEEN PARTY MONSTER by LEE HOLLIS
Everyone attending Island Times Food and Cocktail columnist Hayley Powell's Halloween bash is dressed as their favorite movie monster from the Bride of Frankenstein and Jaws to Chucky and Pennywise the clown. But when partygoers stumble upon Boris Candy's bludgeoned costumed corpse, it falls to Hayley to discover who among her guests wanted to stop the man from clowning around permanently...
SCARED OFF by BARBARA ROSS
Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard--dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must uncover who among the uninvited guests was responsible for devising such a murderous trick...
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
I have to be honest that I only continue to pick these novella collections up for Barbara Ross' contribution. However, I always feel weird not reading the entire book, so I continue to do so even though the first two titles aren't really ones that I'm interested in. My only experiences with the Lucy Stone mysteries are from these collections, and honestly, what I've read throughout these collections has never inspired me to want to pick up one of the full length titles. I did read the first few titles in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktail Mystery series back in the day, but I lost interest in the quickly, and wasn't a fan of the content pieces being included throughout each and every title. However, I did want to give them a fair chance, but ended up coming out of this one feeling like Barbara Ross' was the strong contender, and the other two were even worse than I was expecting.
Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier was honestly kind of boring, and I hated how almost the entire story was about drugs and politics, neither of which I cared to read about. The mystery was also almost laughably easy to put together, and I ended up rating this one two out of five stars.
Death of a Halloween Party Monster by Lee Hollis was even worse than I was prepared for, and I had pretty low expectations already. Most of the mystery was completely implausible, and I found it hard to believe that a woman who has been involved in as many murder mysteries as Hayley has could have possibly made the dumb mistakes she makes in this one. The humor and whatnot were overdone, and not even remotely entertaining, and once again, the mystery was so easily solvable it was downright ridiculous. I rated this one a one out of five stars rating, and it was definitely the worst in the collection.
Scared Off by Barbara Ross however was fantastic, and I was impressed with how well put together her mystery was, especially within the novella word count. The mystery kept me guessing, the plot was engaging, and the characters continued to be some of my favorites ever from a cozy mystery series. This one felt a lot more atmospheric than the other two titles did, and I enjoyed the fact that it also hints at a possible plot point that could be continued in future books. I rated this one four out of five stars, and I'm thankful it was just as good, if not better, than I was expecting.
However, the collection as a whole will not be one I will be recommending, as for me personally, Scared Off was the only title worth reading. I give this overall collection a rating of......
2.5/5
and in the future, I'm not sure if I'd bother to read the other stories or just skip straight through to Barbara Ross'.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
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