Book Review · Books

Christmas is Murder by Val McDermid [BOOK REVIEW]

Christmas is Murder by Val McDermid [BOOK REVIEW] As a whole collection of short stories, I quite enjoyed Christmas is Murder.

As a whole collection of short stories, I quite enjoyed Christmas is Murder. As I do with every book that contains multiple stories, I rate them all individually and my final rating is the average rating of them all.

Christmas is Murder by Val McDermid [BOOK REVIEW] As a whole collection of short stories, I quite enjoyed Christmas is Murder.

Pages: 246

Genre: Christmas, Short Stories, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Little, Brown Group

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

Christmas Is Murder wasn’t very Christmassy and festive as a whole, but it was very atmospheric, cold, spooky, and with a few stories indeed set during the holidays. This is the type of book you would read next to your fireplace, or Christmas tree, wrapped in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate. It has a lot of twists and will keep you entertained until the very last story. 

Huge thanks to the team at LoveReading, for sending me a copy of the collection.

Below is a breakdown of my thoughts and ratings for all the stories in Christmas Is Murder, and to end on a beautiful note, special credit to Angela Harding, who illustrated the cover. Her artistic style in “October, October” was so beautiful that as soon as I laid eyes on this cover, I could immediately guess who the creator was.

01 – Happy Holidays – ★★★★

A great introduction to Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, although in retrospective, this is the only short story featuring them. I liked the plot and the immediate mystery. The only reason it’s not a 5 star is because I felt the ending was slightly rushed. However, despite that, I loved the mystery, the part where they profiled the killer and the Christmas spirit. 

02 – A Wife in a Million – ★★★★★

What an incredible short story that managed to touch on unemployment and what it can make a person do out of frustration. Very fast pace, with an unexpected twist at the very end.

03 – A Traditional Christmas – ★★★★★

Amberley House is a place full of traditions. And when someone wants to change the status-quo, not everyone in the family will allow it. But where tradition comes into place, not all disputes are resolved in a traditional way. The story was spooky, with a twist at the end, and I really enjoyed it.

04 – The Long Black Veil – ★★★★

“Everybody here in Mariott knows where and when Kenny Sheldon died, and most of them think they know why.”

I loved the small town vibe in this story, the atmosphere was intriguing and exciting. It was beautifully crafted into two different timelines, and with a short story, that can be quite hard to achieve, but Val McDermid did it beautifully!

05 – The Girl who Killed Santa Claus – ★★★★

I found this story quite funny and wholesome. The girl knows Santa doesn’t exist, and when a burglar turns up to her house on Christmas Eve, everything escalates. One thing I didn’t expect from this collection of short stories was to make me laugh out loud, but I am so glad it did!

06 – Holmes for Christmas – ★★★★

I was pleasantly surprised to see Holmes and Watson in action, especially with a nod to my lovely Balkans. It was a story inspired by the First World War assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrillo Princip. It was an interesting read and slightly longer than the rest of the stories.

07 – Ancient and Modern – ★★★★★

Wow, this story was something else! The raw emotion and the vivid descriptions blew me away. The emotional love story between Ellie and Alan. And when Alan is killed in a traffic collision, the unfair justice system strikes and brings Ellie so much pain and not nearly enough justice. Then the ultimate plot twist happens and I am so impressed by how the author manages to piece everything together so neatly. This is my favourite short story in the collection so far, without a shadow of a doubt.

08 – The Devil’s Share – ★★★★★

Waterfalls, a barrel of whiskey and a secret lying dormant for 50 years is a hell of a good plot for a story. I enjoyed this one so much, the present and the past meeting in a very powerful way, with great characters. I quite liked the fact that George Orwell was indirectly involved in the story as well, and our character inadvertently helped him finish “1984”. A lovely story with a slightly sad ending that touched my heart.

09 – Ghost Writer – ★★★★★

Intriguing story with a paranormal element. Gavin wants to be a writer, but for the love of God, cannot think of a plot line. One day, he goes to a writing course and meets Natasha. She can’t write, but she has the best story ideas and they start working as a tandem. I won’t say what happens next to keep the suspense up and avoid any spoilers, but I liked the plot twist and the ending as well. Very spooky and completely unexpected. Also, the author has a weird fascination with people dying on bicycles, it seems. 🙂 

10 – White Nights, Black Magic – ★★★★

Very cold story, like the Russian winter nights, but full of emotion. I was invested in the long distance love story of the two doctors, and how revenge is a syringe best served cold.

11 – Heartburn – ★★★

Short and sweet, and a very evil story. It took me a moment at the end and then I gasped. What a reveal, and how cleverly executed (pun intended). I enjoyed this one, but it was slightly too short, and a bit underwhelming, except for the very end.

12 – Four Calling Birds – ★★★★

Lovely story about the harsh reality miners were facing during the reign of the Iron Lady. A story about four ladies working as Bingo callers and the change of management that creates all sorts of chaos. Despite this chaos, I saw a son, whose love for his parents and justice is so strong, he is willing to do everything to make things right again.

About The Author:

Christmas is Murder by Val McDermid [BOOK REVIEW] As a whole collection of short stories, I quite enjoyed Christmas is Murder.

Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

Website: https://www.valmcdermid.com/

Social Media:
| WishlistKo-fi | FacebookTwitterGoodreadsInstagramPinterest |

Book Review · Books

Whisky For Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney [BOOK REVIEW]

Whisky For Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney [BOOK REVIEW]

Whisky For Breakfast is a very honest and unusual collection of 35 short stories. Every story features characters that don’t quite fit the world’s mould in today’s society. In a time when we are used to reading about the perfect characters, Whisky For Breakfast offers us characters with the perfect flaws.

About The Book:

Whisky For Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney [BOOK REVIEW]


Pages: 165

Format I read it in: Paperback

Publisher: Bridge House

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

★★

Synopsis:

The thirty-five stories in Mooney’s debut are dominated by a cast of characters who colour outside of society’s lines. They are hustlers, prostitutes, addicts, gangsters, killers, thieves, beasts. They are the dangerous, the lost, the lonely, the sick, the suicidal, the broken-hearted. Men and women, defeated by life. Their depravity is real, yet the writing in this uncompromising collection of transgressive fiction, always carefully crafted, evokes the sense that their humanity is not yet lost. In Whisky for Breakfast, nothing is off limits.

My Thoughts:

A very honest and unusual collection of 35 short stories. Every story features characters that don’t quite fit the world’s mould in today’s society. In a time when we are used to reading about the perfect characters, Whisky For Breakfast offers us characters with the perfect flaws.

Firstly, not all of the stories were to my taste. The rating is made by me giving each story a rating from 1 to 5 and the calculating the average score. Each story is different, but they all showed a lot of emotion. Because of the amazing writing, I could almost feel what a character was feeling.

Some of the stories were too explicit or too disturbing for my taste.

For instance “Where Crocodiles Sleep” and “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” were an examples of this. However, there were far more stories that I really enjoyed. “Drown Your Sorrows” was short, sweet, sinister and straight to the point. And “Nine Tenths of the Law” really intrigued me and grabbed my attention. Furthermore, I loved how the story was gamified in “See No Evil”. I remember counting more somethings (trying not to reveal anything) than the characters mentioned and feeling very smug about it, until the answer was shared later on. Funny enough, I quite enjoyed being proven wrong, and that doesn’t happen often. 🙂 Another story that really stood out for me was “Mr. Harrison”, because of its spookiness.

To conclude, I am very glad I read this book and still can’t believe it took me so long. Funnily enough, shorter books tend to scare me more than big books. Whisky For Breakfast is a mix of stories, all set to provide a different, more sinister side to character we’re not so used to seeing. Be ready to get out of your comfort zone and leave your judgements on the side, and you’re in for a treat!

About The Author:

Whisky For Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney [BOOK REVIEW]

Christopher P. Mooney was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1978. At various times in his life he has been a paperboy, a supermarket cashier, a shelf stacker, a barman, a cinema usher, a carpet fitter’s labourer, a foreign-language assistant and a teacher.

He currently lives and writes in someone else’s small flat near London and his debut collection of short transgressive fiction, Whisky for Breakfast, is available now from Bridge House Publishing.

Website | Twitter

Social Media:
| WishlistKo-fi | FacebookTwitterGoodreadsInstagramPinterest |