Christmas Scarf Murder

Two things I did not realise when I started this book. Each of the stories is part of a whole other series, none of which I had read. The second is that there were three stories, and each works off of a prompt like in creative writing classes – That of a scarf being involved in the murder at the centre of each plot.



CHRISTMAS SCARF MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR



Although I did not know anything about the previous circumstances, when the newly married couple was called to investigate a local almost-burglary at an old age home, I went with them. The story is simple. There was a very random burglary at the old age home, and after the police are called, one of the younger volunteers is found dead with one of the stolen scarfs around his neck.



The reveal was not as much of a surprise since the work the official police (for once) put in meant that we saw all the clues as they became available. There were some undercurrents which would make more sense to people familiar with the history of the town, but overall it was not a bad standalone novella.



SCARFED DOWN by MADDIE DAY



Although I like the title, it does not accurately represent the cause of death. The scarfed-down part would better refer to the central protagonist being someone who runs an eatery. She investigates the murder initially to clear her aunt’s name and later mostly because she has done it before. There are a lot more familial threads in this story, ones that would have worked better with prior knowledge of the town and at least the main inhabitants. This does not work well as a standalone.



The mystery itself was not very intriguing, but the author’s writing style kept me entertained till the end.



DEATH BY CHRISTMAS SCARF by PEGGY EHRHART



This story had the best plot of the three. Although this is a better standalone than the previous installment, it felt a little quick in getting to the point.



I think the final story would work well for people more accustomed to reading shorter volumes. A universally disliked person is found strangled with a scarf, and that is pretty much the only clue for people to figure out who the perpetrator is.



Overall, this is a simple set of stories which can be read in a few sittings and people can either ignore the backstories or use this as an opportunity to pick up the original series’ based on how they felt about the individual authors’ writing style. I would recommend this book to fans of this genre (and an additional Christmas theme)



I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.