Merry Wilkinson has returned to her hometown of Rudolph,
New York and opened a gift shop with uniquely crafted
gifts and decorations. She is excited about the annual
Christmas parade. Merry grew up in an unusual family.
Her father, Noel, has been the town Santa for years. Her
mother is a former opera star who teaches singing to
local children.
Someone sabotages Merry's float, disqualifying her from
the best of parade voting. A reporter from a prestigious
magazine in Britain is in town interviewing all the town
businesses with the promise of a nice article supporting
the town's celebrations. After a party held in his
honor, Merry is stunned to stumble across the
reporter's body in the park. The investigation will put
a crimp in the holiday celebrations.
When the death is labeled suspicious, Merry's friend
Vicky's shop,
the
bake shop that catered the party, is closed for a couple of
days
during their biggest
business opportunity of the year.
As small acts of sabotage are perpetrated during the next
few days, Merry and Russ, a local reporter start trying
to discover who would want to destroy the town's
reputation and businesses.
Ms. Delany has started a
promising new series with REST YE MURDERED GENTLEMEN, the
first in
A Year-Round Christmas Mysteries.
Merry is a local who made it in New York, but has
returned to her home to start a new life. Her
familiarity with the locals and the small town give her
some unique insights into what might be going on. She
seems to be developing a relationship with one of her
artists, but Russ, the reporter helping her investigate, is
doing his
best to interfere. Merry is torn between what she wants
and what she
needs to accomplish.
I really enjoyed the characters in
REST YE MURDERED GENTLEMEN. The Rudolph and the animosity
between
another
small town figure into the idea of who might
have done this, but even Merry is surprised when the
killer is exposed. The villain came as a complete
surprise to me since I purposely try not to figure out
the identity of the killer.
In Rudolph, New York, it’s
Christmastime all year long. But this December, while the
snow-lined streets seem merry and bright, a murder is about
to ruin everyone’s holiday cheer…
As the owner of
Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, Merry Wilkinson knows how to
decorate homes for the holidays. That’s why she thinks her
float in the semi-annual Santa Claus parade is a shoe-in for
best in show. But when the tractor pulling Merry’s float is
sabotaged, she has to face facts: there’s a Scrooge in
Christmas Town.
Merry isn’t ready to point fingers,
especially with a journalist in town writing a puff piece
about Rudolph’s Christmas spirit. But when she stumbles upon
the reporter’s body on a late night dog walk—and police
suspect he was poisoned by a gingerbread cookie crafted by
her best friend, Vicky—Merry will have to put down the
jingle bells and figure out who’s really been grinching
about town, before Vicky ends up on Santa’s naughty list…
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