Thank you Random House Publishing Group/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of Dead and Gondola in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: November 1, 2022
Summary:
When a mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, the Christie sisters and their cat Agatha call on all they’ve learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist in this new series debut.
Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter. She’s recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their friendly bookshop cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible by ski gondola and a twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge with cozy fireside seats and panoramic views. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintery whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out.
He was a mysterious stranger who visited the bookshop. At the time, his only blunders were disrupting a book club and leaving behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel, written under a pseudonym. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Many residents knew of him. Quite a few had reason to want him dead. Others hide secrets. The police gather suspects, but when they narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.
Although the only Agatha in their family tree is their cat, Ellie and Meg know a lot about mysteries, and they’re not about to let the situation snowball out of control. The Christie sisters must summon their inner Miss Marples and trek through a blizzard of clues before the killer turns the page to their final chapter.
My thoughts:
It’s not too often that I read cozy mysteries anymore, but this was one that I just could not resist. I have developed quite a passion for anything to do with Agatha Christie and I have to say this was quite a fun little mystery and I look forward to seeing how this series progresses!
There is so much going for this series. First, it is set in a bookshop – what’s not to love?!? And then there are all the Agatha Christie references. I may not have read all her books, but even I could appreciate many of them and found this to be just a delightful, fun cozy that kept me engaged from start to finish. The grandmother was a hoot and I found that any scene with her in it had me in stitches. The pace moves quite briskly, keeping you on your toes and I felt guessing all the way through. The author does a great job using the Colorado mountain town to her advantage, especially the gondola and the storm…I could feel the cold and felt that this was a unique way to frame a murder.
As far as first books in a series go, I felt that this properly gave us a good foundation for what is to be a fun series. I enjoyed getting to know the Christie sisters, though I did feel that we got to know Ellie a little better than we did Meg, but perhaps that was done on purpose and in the next book we will get to know Meg more? Again, because I haven’t read all of Agatha Christie’s books I could not tell you if this particular mystery was based on one of her books or not, but I did love all the biographical details about Agatha herself that were peppered throughout the story – some I already knew, such as the surfing information, and some I did not know.
I will definitely be quite eager to get my hands on the next book in this series when it comes out and I do hope that in the meantime I am able to read more of Agatha Christie’s books. I had signed up to participate in the #ReadChristie2022 and failed miserably, but I am going to try again in 2023.
