Ho-Ho Homicide [Mass Market Paperback]

Corinne Holt Sawyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1996

"ANOTHER DELICIOUS STORY . . . A FUN BOOK TO READ."
--Chattanooga Times
When Birdy Benton turns up dead under the Camden-sur-Mer Christmas tree, members of the posh California retirement community are shocked by this unexpected holiday event. Despite their sadness, resident sleuths Angela and Caledonia see it as a golden opportunity to help their old friend Lieutenant Martinez investigate.
How could poor Birdy have been murdered in plain view of the lobby receptionist? Did someone really steal her jewelry? Is the dead woman's pompous nephew as well-off as he appears? Fortified with Camden's superb cuisine and many sips of sherry, the doughty ladies forge fearlessly ahead, throwing themselves into dire peril to learn the strange truth of Birdy's sad demise. And an even stranger final twist makes it quite a Christmas. . . .
"Once again, Sawyer writes with a knowing eye of the foibles and frailties of retirement home characters. . . . She catches the ebb and flow of life with humor and poignancy."
--The State (Columbia, SC)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

'Tis the season to be sleuthing for Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate (last seen in Murder Has No Calories), the amateur gumshoes of the Southern California luxury retirement home of Camden-sur-Mer, when the body of a resident is discovered under the lobby tree. The pair are thrilled when Lieutenant Martinez asks them to compile short descriptions of the residents on the dead woman's side of the building. While Martinez thinks he's keeping them busy and out of his hair, Angela and Cal decide that they've been deputized and proceed to question their fellow residents, most of whom, they learn, didn't think too highly of Birdy Benton. They also get involved with the dead woman's family and discover that the relatives are squabbling over Birdy's possessions. But, based on preliminary evidence, Martinez thinks the death will be declared accidental. Loath to give up their investigation, however, Angela and Cal pursue leads until they track down the killer. Sawyer's humorous yet sympathetic look at retirement-home life and her lovable sleuths keep the reader's interest, despite the story's very thin plot.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rambunctious Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate, the delightful seniors from retirement-home heaven, unofficially investigate the murder of one of their compatriots at Camden-sur-Mer. When a body turns up under the Christmas tree, Lieutenant. Martinez takes the case?but not without some unwanted help. Looks good; from the author of Murder Has No Calories (LJ 10/1/94).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; 1st Ballantine Books Ed edition (September 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449224090
• ISBN-13: 978-0449224090
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Christmas in California, November 2, 2010

By 

janebbooks (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ho-Ho Homicide (Mass Market Paperback)

HO-HO HOMICIDE by Corinne Holt Sawyer was a favorite book to display in Christmas mysteries in my used bookstore, mainly mysteries, in a small South Carolina town.
I had met Corinne at a Sisters-In-Crime meeting in Greenville, SC in the late 1990's. At the time she had just retired from near-by Clemson University as Director of Special Projects. By the time I had collected enough of her books for signature, she had moved to California to be near her sister at Carlsbad-by-the-Sea (the retirement home that became Camden-sur-Mer in her senior sleuth cozy mysteries). We corresponded and she graciously signed a big box of books shipping them back and forth between coasts.

Sawyer wrote eight senior sleuth mysteries about Angela Benbow and Caldedonia Wingate, both widows of admirals. Ho-Ho Homicide is not the best in the series. It does concern a murder: the body is found under the Christmas tree. But it is interesting for where the setting really is---southern California! Here's some excerpts from the beginning paragraphs:

December had arrived in Southern California. Santa, swathed in red and sweating in his phony beard, appeared in front of every supermarket ringing his bell for contributions to the bucket which swung gently in warm breezes beneath drilled rows of royal palms. Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce, the light(s)...(of) main street were adorned with outsized red ribbons, flocked to look like velvet... the display windows of downtown shops..began to feature plastic evergreen, mounds of artificial snow, and drifts of cotton batting.
And the old luxury hotel, Camden-sur-Mer---now converted to a retirement home---had joined the spirit of the season with cutouts of snowflakes pasted to all the windows...a lobby decorated with unrelenting red and green. There were wreaths or swags of fake pine. Set up beyond the grand piano and filling the lobby...there was a giant tree---a real one---laded with ornaments and brilliant with colored lights. And in case the residents with failing short-term memory should forget what the season was, their ears were filled morning and evening with Christmas carols...

Ho-Ho Homicide (and a couple other senior sleuth titles) will make a great gift for your favorite great aunt or other elderly female relative who reads. It's an intelligent and rather witty Christmas mystery. No snow, no cold freezes, just fake stuff! But that's still a Christmas setting in Florida and California.