The Blurb
Sully Must Get Her Childhood Friend Off the Naughty List Before They’re Both Scrooged.
When Edwina “Sully” Sullivan’s life imploded, she left behind her job on the police force and her unfaithful husband to start a new life as the general manager of her hometown theater, the Cliffside Theater Company.
For five years, she focused on budgets instead of crime and kept the Cliffside running alongside its mercurial artistic director. But when her childhood friend is suspected of killing his father, no one is looking for another culprit. So, in between keeping A Christmas Carol on budget and Scrooge sober, Sully dusts off her investigative skills to find a murderer. Her two lives collide when her ex-husband arrives on the scene to play lawyer and she’s forced to confront her past in order to save her present.
A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus
Series: A Theater Cop Mystery, #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Publication Date: September 8, 2017
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Publication Date: September 8, 2017
Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0738754153
ISBN-13: 978-0738754154
e-Book File Size: 2918 KB
ISBN-10: 0738754153
ISBN-13: 978-0738754154
e-Book File Size: 2918 KB
The Review
I love the theme of A Christmas Peril, combining a cozy murder mystery with A Christmas Carol production subplot. Since there’s only 107 days until Christmas, it’s high time I begin getting in the holiday spirit by reading books with Christmas settings.
I really like the main character, Edwina “Sully” Sullivan, a retired (not by choice) cop. As they say, you can take the girl out of the police force, but you can’t take the police force out of the girl. Sully has a unique form of stress relief: “I try to plan the perfect crime, and then I figure out what would trip me up.”
Sully is currently the General Manager of the Cliffside Theatre Company, and works with the Artistic Director Dimitri Traietti. Prior to Sully’s arrival five years ago, GMs didn’t stay for very long, before being driven away by Dimitri’s tantrums, threats, and otherwise bad behavior. Sully’s police background stands her in good stead as General Manager, because Dimitri can’t scare her. Plus, what her friend and second cousin, Eric Whitehall, told Dimitri didn’t hurt: “I told him that you have a hair-trigger temper, that you can kill a man with your bare hands, and that you pack a piece.”
Sully investigates the murder of Peter Whitehall, following the request of his children - Eric, Emma, and Amelia. When she accepted, she didn’t realize she’d be working with her ex-husband Gus Knight, the new lawyer for the Whitehall family. As they work together, Sully begins to wonder about rekindling their old flame. Gus might be getting the same idea.
Meanwhile, back at the Cliffside, Sully has recruited actor Stewart Tracy as understudy, to help salvage the production of A Christmas Carol. She’s hoping that Stewart’s presence will give Patrick King (Scrooge) the motivation Patrick needs to finally learn his lines. Since Stewart is Sully’s very good friend, and former fling, Gus may have some competition should he decide to act on his idea. Things are about to get complicated in Sully’s social life, but she’s not complaining.
I enjoyed reading about all the backstage activities of Cliffside’s A Christmas Carol. I didn’t want A Christmas Peril to end, because, as Gus states, “I can’t wait to see how it turns out after all of this.” I'm anxious to find out what will happen for Sully, with Gus and Stewart. I was drawn in by the first sentence of this clever, fast-moving cozy mystery, and had to finish it the same day. I was totally surprised by whodunit. Author J. A. Hennrikus kept me guessing until the end. I am eagerly looking forward to Book Two in the Theater Cop Mystery series. This is definitely a series I will continue with.
I recommend A Christmas Peril to all fans of cozy mysteries, theatre mysteries, and Christmas mysteries. I think it will have special appeal to readers who are fans of Julianne Holmes' Clock Shop Mysteries. I really enjoyed A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus, and hereby grant it Four Kitties!
Four out of five kitties
Note: I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of A Christmas Peril.
All opinions shared are 100% my own.
All opinions shared are 100% my own.
The Author
About J. A. Hennrikus
Visit her online at www.JHAuthors.com. She blogs on Wicked Cozy Authors Blog and Live to Write/Write to Live, and on Killer Characters on the 20th of each month.
The Giveaway
J. A. Hennrikus will award a print copy of A Christmas Peril
to two random winners (US only) via rafflecopter during the tour.
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