Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tortie Shorties: Wrapping Up the Christmas Season


Sadly, Christmas is over and with it go all of the wonderfully festive holiday stories that have been the purr-fect accompaniment to a mug of peppermint hot chocolate. Today we wanted to tell you about the last few that we've been curled up with. There's still time to enjoy them...it is still technically the holiday season, after all!



From the publisher: Polly Parrett finds herself in the midst of another murder mystery. This time it involves two little girls, a wicked stepmother, and a missing father. Oh, and Christmas is almost here. 

It all begins with a mysterious gift box that’s left on Polly’s doorstep. Along the way she encounters problems with her pet-sitting customers and her arch nemesis, Britney Harris, who has her eye on Polly’s boyfriend Tyler. 

An Open House is planned at Welcome Home, the residential home Polly and her mom have created to provide a safe haven for homeless military veterans and their pets. It’s all go in Polly’s world, but with a killer on the loose and two children in need of her help, she’ll do anything she can to keep everyone safe.

Tortie Shorties: Pet-sitter Polly returns home from her rounds to find a kitten wearing a gold chain in a box at her front door. She takes the little one to her handicapped mother who runs a halfway house for homeless veterans and her pets, where a resident has found the two young step-daughters of a murdered woman sleeping in the barn. Their father is in the military and they think they're responsible for the death. Polly, boyfriend Tyler, the vets and a very special Christmas Kitten join forces to find the real killer. A charming novella set in Maine with loads of holiday fun.



From the publisher: 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…

Tortie Shorties: If Rudolph, New York were a real place I would have my bags packed faster than Santa can say "Ho Ho Ho". Things go wrong for our heroine, Merry Wilkinson, right from the start when the tractor pulling her float in the Santa Claus parade is sabotaged. Then she finds Nigel Pearce, a journalist from World Journey magazine who is writing a puff piece on Christmas Town, dead in the park. He's been poisoned by a specially decorated gingerbread cookie of Charles Dickens, made by Merry's best friend Vicky, who becomes the lead suspect. With the town's reputation in danger of being destroyed, Merry has no choice but to find the nasty Scrooge. The descriptions of Rudolph's shops just ooze Christmas cheer, and the characters are instantly delightful, from Merry's former mayor father Noel to her St. Bernard puppy to the two men vying for her attention to quirky shop owner Betty. I look forward to my next visit to Rudolph, perhaps to celebrate Christmas in July!



From the publisher: In this new short story from Tasha Alexander, Lady Emily -- called "Victorian London's most colorful and delightfully eccentric sleuth"* -- and her dashing husband Colin are spending a few days in London, doing some last-minute Christmas shopping and making the most of the time alone, when they find themselves in the middle of an unexpected mystery. The couple is just getting cozy, not at all bothered by the storm outside. But when Lady Emily looks out the window to see a woman standing in the blowing snow, without a coat, an eerie feeling falls over her, and she rushes out to help, only to find that the woman has disappeared. Colin is convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her, but Emily is haunted by the woman's image. Clearly, there is something spooky afoot, and she is determined to get to the bottom of it...

Complete with the vivid descriptions and period detail Lady Emily fans have come to expect from this series, That Silent Night is a delicious morsel of a mystery, with an irresistible ghost story at its heart.

Tortie Shorties: There's nothing much better than a Christmas ghost story, which is probably why I am so obsessed with A Christmas Carol! This short story made me feel as though I were living in Victorian London during the era of Charles Dickens and I loved every moment. Just who is the mysterious lady that Emily sees outside her window, and how is she tied to Emily and Colin's newlywed neighbors? I will definitely be adding the full-length Lady Emily novels to my reading list!

12 comments:

AngelSmokey, Butterfly, Peekaboo! said...

I wanted to let you know that I've enjoyed all your recent posts with holiday selections. Just so that you can see the power of your suggestions, I was blessed this year with a little bit of money that wasn't expected. I used part of this Money for to sponsor all 15 cats at Purrfect Pals and gave the sponsorships out to my coworkers as Christmas gifts. I also will sponsor the 3 senior citizens at Tabbys Place for a year, and sent some food to Blind Cat Rescue from their Amazon wish list. I'm just telling you this so you know that your blog impacted some kitties during the holidays. Thank you. And now I'm going to your latest post about cozy mystery Christmas books. I see some that I like. Thank you. Angel Smokey and Mom

Anonymous said...

These all sound like great reads - even after Christmas!!

Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal said...

Sounds like grreat reads !

XOXO

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Melissa. I have one, of these, need to check out the other two.

Random Felines said...

mom loves it when she finds new books here to add to her reading list

pilch92 said...

The Christmas Kitten looks good- and the cover is soo cute :) I love to watch A Christmas Carol ( the Patrick Stewart one) - I feel like I am living in Victorian England when I do that- my hubby and I watched it 2 times in a row one night before Christmas.

Marsha said...

I read the Christmas Kitten and it is a great read!
Our 6 month old kitten passed away on Saturday. Remembering the posts on here from Truffels has helped me. Thanks.

The Adventures of The Bell Fur Zoo said...

Oooo the Christmas Kitten sounds nice!

xoxo,
Matilda

Anonymous said...

Happy Holidays to you! I plan to get over here more in the new year. Now that I have a good PC and a good laptop. Your Mudpie looks so much like our Angel Tootsie. She was a tiny rescue about 7 years old when we found her and took her in. We had her for about 8 years. She was all about Bill, a real Daddy's Girl.

meowmeowmans said...

These sound like great books, Melissa and Mudpie, especially The Christmas Kitten!

Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard said...

I enjoyed That Silent Night, too; and Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen sounds like fun!

Nancy said...

These all look terrific!