With the wintery temperatures and even the slight dusting of snow we had recently, it’s the best time to get stuck indoors with this Christmassy read. A Right Cozy Christmas Crime is a wonderful collection of short stories, ranging from the death of a caroller to a sweet treasure hunt.

Wendy H. Jones, the organiser, has done another fabulous job in bringing together a wonderful bunch of authors from all over the world to make a book that’s varied and enjoyable. Wendy is one of the most encouraging people I know, and even though she’s had a horrendous year, A Right Cozy Christmas Crime shows her back on track, lifting people up through stories. It’s a real
gift, not just to write, but to share that with other writers and to lift people up, and I for one am grateful for the books published by Scott and Lawson Publishing.

A Right Cozy Christmas Crime has thirteen stories, and each one is very different, making it a real treat. The stories start with a tiny introduction or blurb, setting the scene and making you look forward to reading the story. Each story left me disappointed that there wasn’t more, or another chapter or even another few pages!

A Right Cozy Christmas Crime is a wonderful introduction to the different authors. I’ll just list them for you here, as each one has done a great job in bringing some Christmas cheer. Wendy H. Jones, Linda Mather, Sue Cook, Melicity Pope, Marti M. Mcnair, Sheena MacLeod, Pauline Tait, Gulia Fancelli Clifford, Dianne Ascroft, Gillian Duff, Stella Oni, Alex Greyson and Sophy Smythe. Some of the authors were familiar to me, but most of them were not, so it was a great Christmas treat to read their stories. One was set in Lagos, for example, one in Italy, a few in Scotland, one in Gloucestershire, not too far from me.

Sometimes it’s hard to get stuck into a good long story, especially in December, so A Right Cozy Christmas Crime is perfect, as each story will not take up too long, but is long enough to make you feel part of it, and to picture the people and the setting. The book avoids boring you with endless details to set the scene, but doesn’t leave you wondering about the people either, to me, each story has struck the right balance, making it a pleasure to read.

It’s hard to say which story was my favourite, as A Right Cozy Christmas Crime is such a great collection. I love a good crime story, and some had more forensics or police procedure, which I enjoy, but the treasure hunt one was sweet as well. Some were tragic, like the Lagos one, but justice was served, and as the characters were great, again, it’s the kind of story that makes you wish for an entire book! I also feel like I would like to read the book a few times, having read all the stories, it would be fun to read it again, to get to know the authors a little more, and to get into A Right Cozy Christmas Crime as winter is making the evenings shorter, and you want a good yarn!

I highly recommend this collection, and I’m thrilled to be part of the Book Tour organised by Reading Between the Lines. I was under no pressure or obligation to write a favourable review