The Christmas Tree Murders

I picked this up in December because of the title, and I really wish I hadn't because I wanted something Christmasy. Murder, yes, but Christmas murder. This was not that. It wasn't bad, I actually enjoyed the writing style. I felt the message was a tad heavy-handed but not the worst by far. Overall it was okay but kind of forgettable in the grand scheme of what I read in December because of what types of books I was reading... meaning fully set at, on, and around, about Christmas books.

I really liked the cover and hoped for a Christmas cozy.

Don't feel it really lived up to that.

There's a few sleuthas in the gang to help find a missing maid and figure out who's killing women in their circle and dumping them under Christmas trees. I don't even remember how many they are, maybe four or five? Fewer sleuth would have made this feel less watered down and we could focus on getting to know people, and there's also multiple POVs which water it down some more.

And then we have the mystery part that is, not great. I've read it in other cozies and it's how a character is presented and you just know who the killer is without any puzzling needed.

Dialog started out really poor, gets better. Some interesting character but not a lot of room for them.

If this had been an early draft I would have been excited to see the final draft but it feels unfinished and rushed.