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Death at the Village Christmas Fair by Debbie Young #Review #CotswoldCuriosityShopMysteriesBook3 #PublicationDay

  I am delighted to feature this cozy crime novel, Death at the Village Christmas Fair  by Debbie Young . It is published today by Boldwood Books on August 16th.   It’s been a busy year for Alice Carroll, with her Curiosity Shop opening for business, and not one but two murders shaking things up in her quaint Cotswold village. She’s looking forward to her first countryside Christmas, complete with traditional Christmas Fair and Santa Run. But her hopes for innocent festive fun are thwarted when one of the Santa Runners steals something from her mum's knitting stall. His festive outfit makes him hard to spot, until he's found fatally injured outside the village hall with the stolen item. Despite what the police say, Alice suspects there's more to his murder than meets the eye. She's determined to solve the mystery - including why, once more, a stranger thought something from her Curiosity Shop was worth killing for. With the help of her charming neighbour Rob...

The Lottery Win by Rosie Green #Review #LittleDuckPondCafe

 

I am delighted that it is time for another visit to the Little Duck Pond Cafe for another novella by Rosie Green. The Lottery Win is number 28 in the series which is amazing!

 
Krystle has always yearned to live a different kind of life, so when she hits the jackpot, quite literally, she's over the moon. At last she'll get the chance to live in a gorgeous house, drive the car of her dreams and maybe even track down that elusive soulmate at last! It all sounds perfect – but can reality ever live up to your dreams?


 My Thoughts

I found Krystle to be quite an interesting central character in this volume, and I was quite surprised that I had to struggle really hard to warm to her until quite far into the story. As she made one infuriating decision after another, my patience with her was really stretched! However, as I hoped, she went through quite a bit of growing up and I am sure, looked back at her choices through different eyes.

    You are also kept guessing about some of the other characters and kept in the dark about their motivations. It showed up quite clearly how difficult sudden wealth can be for people, due to other people's reactions and suddenly, Krystle struggled to know who was genuine and who wasn't. With the nearby setting of Sunnybrook and some of the familiar characters who make an appearance, this is a lovely addition to the series and fits in well with its predecessors.

 

In short: money, money, money



About the Author

Rosie’s series of Little Duck Pond Café novellas is centred around life in a country village cafe. ‘The Cheesecake Challenge’ is out now. Look out for ‘A Kiss under the Stars’, out in August 2023.

 

You can read my review of more of this series here:

 
You can follow Rosie here:   Twitter
 
Book link: Amazon UK
 
 

Thanks to Rosie Green and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the event.  



 

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