Alma Easter Christmas Mysteries
Author: Alice Webb
Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
After a busy Christmas day, relax with this Christmas mystery series. They are all short stories and can be read in any order.
In The Candy Cane Killer, Alma Easter stumbles upon a man who’s been murdered with a candy cane in a butcher shop. This story had good pacing, and the descriptions and dialogue were very well written. My only issue was that it was very obvious what had happened and who the killer was, although I was wrong about their motive. Overall, I rate this story 4 out of 5 stars.
In The Dead Elf, a man falls out of a department store window in what appears to be suicide. However, Alma quickly realizes that it was a murder. Overall, the story was good, but it didn’t grab my interest, and the pacing felt a bit off. I liked it the least of the series and rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
In The Crooked Angel, Alma attends the village Christmas party with her great-nephew, Ben. At the party, they discover that an employee recently died in the house, and they decide to find out what happened. This was the best written of the series, but it also ended up being the saddest, for reasons I can’t say because they would spoil the plot. I enjoyed finding out more about Alma and Ben’s relationship, and they had many humorous interactions. This story earned 5 out of 5 stars.
In The Fallen Swann, Alma and Ben attend the Christmas party of two old friends of Alma’s, the Swanns. This story focuses less on the mystery and a lot more on Alma’s past. While the other stories had mentioned that Alma had been an actress, in this story we learn that she was a big star. The story was well written and had good pacing. I’m rating it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I liked the characters, and I enjoyed reading the series. I am giving the series an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
Merry Christmas!
Price to buy: all four cost $0
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HSB24YM?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)