A Wee Christmas Homicide (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Kaitlyn Dunnett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries | Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Tis the season to be jolly, but in Moosetookalook, Maine, Christmas cheer is in short supply due to a snowless winter that's keeping skiers and shoppers at a distance. Fortunately, Liss MacCrimmon of the Scottish Emporium has a plan. . .

Liss's brainstorm focuses on Tiny Teddies, the new "hot" toy of the season. Every store across the country is out of stock--except a few wee establishments in good ol' Moosetookalook. It's easy enough to drum up approval for the idea of luring consumers to town and keeping them there with a stockingful of New England holiday charm. Liss's real challenge lies in contending with bickering businesspeople and--once America learns of Moosetookalook's Tiny Teddy cache--doggedly determined shopaholics.

The first sign of something amiss occurs when the last Tiny Teddy is summarily executed: shot through the heart in the display window of greedy toy store owner Gavin Thorne. But the Teddy's demise is just a precursor to the eerily similar murder of Gavin himself...

The two men in Liss's life want her far from the case, but she can't help feeling guilty for starting the fur frenzy that seems to have led to Gavin's death. Besides, how can she ignore the lengthy list of suspects, not the least of whom include Gavin's vindictive ex-wife, an unscrupulous selectman, a ski shop owner with an axe to grind, and a rabid toy collector packing heat in her purse..?

Now, with the Twelve (or, in Scots terms, the Daft) Days of Christmas rapidly approaching, Liss has a plate full of things worse than haggis to contend with, starting with a stockroom packed with poultry (don't ask), and ending with a killer who'd like to see Liss's goose well and fully cooked...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using Tiny Teddies, highly collectible bears, to launch a Twelve Days of Christmas marketing ploy should be a totally benign means of attracting customers for the business owners of Moosetookalook, Maine, but Liss MacCrimmon's brainchild brings in a frenzy of bear hunters—and a crazed killer—in Dunnett's lively, clean-as-a-whistle third cozy to feature the co-owner of the Scottish Emporium (after 2008's Scone Cold Dead). When the supply of Tiny Teddies wanes, Liss is approached with an offer of a new batch of these impossible-to-acquire fur balls. Knowing to steer clear of anything illegally transported from Canada, Liss declines, apparently unlike Gavin Thorne, proprietor of the Toy Box. Thorne's demise soon follows an unknown assailant's shooting an overpriced bear to stuffings. Dunnett (the pseudonym of Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of the Lady Susanna Appleton historical series) stirs smugglers, lovers and thieves into a healthy helping of foul play. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758216475
• ISBN-13: 978-0758216472
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #774,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Christmas Mystery in a Small Maine Town, February 1, 2011

By 

L. M Young (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Wee Christmas Homicide (Paperback)

This is the third in Dunnett's series of Scottish mysteries, set in the small town of Moosetookalook (don't you love that name?), Maine? Liss MacCrimmon, a former professional Scots dancer whose career was ended by a knee injury, now runs her aunt's Scottish Emporium. When a lack of snow before Christmas ruins the local businesses, Liss devises an idea to run a 12 Days of Christmas promotion involving "Tiny Teddies," a hot new toy out of stock in most of the Northeast, except in Moosetookalook. The promotion works, but with people fighting over the collectible toys, a more bizarre crime occurs: a Tiny Teddy in the window of a local toy store is shot--then followed by the shooting death of the acerbic, avaricious toy store owner.

I hadn't read the other books in the series, but it seemed pretty easy to catch up with the plots surrounding Liss, the two men vying for Liss' affection, Liss' aunt, the deputy sheriff, and the other regular residents and places of Moosetookalook. The mystery was fairly perplexing, and I liked the Maine setting, but the characters didn't particularly grab me enough to purchase the other two books. YMMV!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cannot Recommend, October 31, 2011

By 

Terracotta Dove (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Wee Christmas Homicide (Liss MacCrimmon Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

This was my first Dunnett - and probably my last.

The writing was OK. I thought the author did a credible job of hinting about previous books without giving anything away to those who will be reading them afterwards. (That would not be me).

However, the murder / mystery side of the story was boring. I couldn't rouse any enthusiasm for it at all. And the romance side was beyond ridiculous. SPOILER ALERT: At the end, the heroine was apprehensive that maybe one or both of her prospective suitors was going to pop the question for Christmas. Except that she had less interaction with both of these gentlemen than almost any other characters in the book. These people barely talk to each other. Marriage didn't appear remotely feasible, much less imminent.

Actually, I didn't like the heroine at all. You always have the problem with cozies establishing a sound reason why the amateur is involved in solving the case at all. Here, there was NONE. SPOILER ALERT: In one scene, she breaks into someone's house to find a "clue" because his actions are suspicious for no reason that I could discern. She muses to herself that she is squeamish about looking through his things, but someone who may be a murderer, or just a smuggler, isn't deserving of "fair treatment." WTF? How is this shop keeper, with no personal investment in this investigation, the judge of who deserves anything? And of course, in this case, fair treatment just means the right not to have your house broken into and searched.

The only character in the book I found interesting was the best friend, who WAS a cop with a reason to be involved in the investigation. I also liked that she was realistically struggling with changes in her romantic relationship, which WAS an actual relationship. Because of this character, I might be willing to try the author again in another series. But I won't go looking for it.

19 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment!, October 20, 2009

By 

M. Francis (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Wee Christmas Homicide (Liss Maccrimmon Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

I had enjoyed the previous two books in this series, so I was looking forward to this one. I love books set around Christmas, small town or big city, doesn't matter. I downloaded it to my Kindle and curled up for a pleasant evening.

The first half of the book was fine. I got a chuckle when Liss talked about how she hated books where the author creates a heroine who is "TSTL" - Too Stupid To Live. Then what happens? Ms Dunnett has Liss do something so incredibly stupid I just stopped. Up to that point, Liss had been reasonably bright, and when she did do something a little silly, she'd acknowledge it and go on. But this was so absolutely moronic, it effectively ended the series for me. Too bad, because I did like the books up until then.