Here's what I've been reading this week...

Joan Hess

A Holly, Jolly Murder is a fun holiday read. Hess’ heroine, Claire Malloy, helps the local police solve a murder, while her teenage daughter has adventures of her own. This is not quite the traditional holiday story, but the mystery has lots of twists and turns. It’s a good book to curl up with next to the fireplace.

I liked Joan Hess’ Damsels in Distress. It’s another in her Claire Malloy series. This one is set in a Renaissance fair in her little town of Faberville, and the mystery has enough twists to keep the reader interested until the end. Her series is fun, and she always has interesting characters in each adventure.

Rhys Bowen

I usually don’t like mysteries that contain historical characters, but I was enchanted by Rhys Bowen’s The Last Illusion (from her Molly Murphy series). With mysteries that contain real people, you already have an idea of what happened to the historical figures, and if they didn’t commit a murder, then they’re not in the novel’s pool of legitimate suspects for any length of time. It narrows the cast of characters in the whodunit.

This novel, set in New York in the early 1900s, features PI Molly Murphy, a recent Irish immigrant and has a wide cast of possible guilty folks. Bowen's setting is the middle of New York’s theatrical world and features illusionists Harry and Bess Houdini. I recently read a biography on the famed illusionist and debunker of spiritualist tricks. Bowen sticks closely to the historical facts. This one was hard to put down. I liked the characters and the intrigue.

I’ve enjoyed two of her novels from different series. I’m glad that my sister-in-law recommended them! (Thanks, Vicky!)