The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club was a series recommended by a friend and since I love a series that involves the same characters, I thought I would give it a try. By no means was this book a straightforward, solvable mystery. 

Set in a retirement community in England, the Thursday Murder Club is comprised of residents who get together to try to solve mysteries that have stumped the local police. While working on murder that involved a stabbing, the community is thrown into a situation where a couple of murders are committed that are directly related to their retirement home. Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Bernard, Ron, and Joyce work with detective Chris Hudson and Donna De Freitas to solve the murder of Tony Curran, the construction foreman for Ian Ventham, a real estate developer who is in the process of buying the retirement community and its adjacent cemetery. From that situation, other murders are committed, new identities are discovered, and a surprising confession from an unsuspicious character are paraded before the reader. 

Joyce recaps daily events in the the investigation as she writes in her diary. Some may consider this as a repetition of the the actual narration, but it is a good way to maker sure one hasn't missed something because there is a lot that could be overlooked. 

True to English mysteries, this isn't a book for those who want an easy solve. There are no less than 4 plots that with twists and turns all come together at the denouement. I hope to read the next in the series when there is a break in my required book club and P & AL books!
 

26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy

It is always nice to have a bit of a short book for our book club in December. This year's choice was a bit of a Hallmark novella. We chose it because of its setting in Pittsburgh. 

At the heart of the story is the process of decorating the windows for Christmas at Hanover's Department Store in 1942 at the height of World War II. It seems that it represents the Kaufmann's store with other references to Gimbel's and Horne's. Joy also mentions the clock, which all Yinzers know is located at Kaufmann's. Kaufmann's also had 26 windows that were on display.

When the primary decorator suddenly quits the team of decorators is thrown into quite a tailspin with only hours left to complete the windows before the Christmas parade and the unveiling of the windows. It becomes the primary task of Stella West and her support team, principally, Hector. As one can imagine, according to Hallmark protocol, there is a bit of a romantic tension between the two. Of course, enter a third party to the story to make the reader wonder whom Stella will choose. When every conceivable thing goes wrong in the process, including electrical failures and wallpaper fiascos, it becomes a race against time to completing the task. 

Joy's story was a warm and predictable one that was a quick read amidst Christmas preparations. As a native Yinzer, I did pick up on a couple of minor errors in the writing. There was no Heinz Hall in 1942 where The Nutcracker would be performed. Also, there was no sales tax on clothing. A nice quiet Christmas read.