Mad as the Dickens

Boston residents Laura Fleming and her husband, Richard, are in Laura's North Carolina hometown for Christmas after Laura's cousin Vasti invited Richard to direct her production of A Christmas Carol. New mother Vasti got a late start on the play, and Richard is pressed for time to get the actors into shape. His biggest problem is that likeable Seth Murdstone is all wrong as Scrooge. It's soon apparent that at least one person doesn't like Seth Murdstone at all when someone murders him during a rehearsal break. While Richard keeps the show going, vacationing police chief Junior Norton talks the 5-months pregnant Laura “Laurie Anne” into helping her with an unofficial investigation of the murder. Chief Norton doubts that Mark Pope, show more the deputy in charge of the investigation, will find the real killer. Meanwhile, a practical joker seems to be trying to sabotage the show with increasingly dangerous pranks. Are the prankster and the murderer the same person?

The series has a weak premise for Laura's involvement in murder investigations. It's improbable that a law enforcement officer, even on vacation, would ask a civilian to lead a murder investigation. At least Laura isn't one of the “too stupid to live” variety of amateur sleuths. The Christmas Carol production firmly anchors the book in the Christmas season. It's an average cozy, but it gets an extra half star for the Christmas shopping scene that was so funny that it had me laughing out loud. show less

Laura and her husband Richard have traveled from their home in Boston to Byerly, North Carolina so can Richard can direct a production of "A Christmas Carol" for Vasti, one of Laura's relations. When Scrooge turns up dead, Laura and the local police chief, a woman named "Junior," know that it is murder, but since Junior is on vacation, she turns the investigation over to her deputy after securing the scene. Someone is playing practical jokes on the play as well, but after the murder investigation is underway, the mischief seems to intensify. I might have enjoyed the characters in a different story, but this one just had some issues with the plausibility of the plot. Add that with what for me was a pretty obvious resolution to the case, show more and it's a pretty mediocre read. I probably won't be picking up others in the series anytime soon although I am somewhat curious as to whether the author does a better job with her stories in non-Christmas installments of the series. show less