The Magician's Angel

This is a good Christmas romance and I'm glad I read it, although I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I usually enjoy this author's work. The angel's role in this story is much subtler than in [b:Summerfield's Angel 41718433 Summerfield's Angel (The Christmas Angel, #2) Kim Fielding https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1541504561s/41718433.jpg 65075360]; this book doesn't really seem like fantasy. But this one is also about a pair of men who are an unlikely couple, this time for personal reasons, rather than due to social class. Christopher is a Vaudeville magician who has spent his whole life on the road, while Edward is a small-town accountant for whom the theater only brings back sad memories. I liked them both a lot and it was easy to see why they were drawn to each other. There's only a light touch of the “fated love” idea I was expecting from this series, but their romance works really well without it. Christopher is very charming and charismatic, and I like the way the author describes his stage presence. He's as openly gay as it was possible to be in 1910, which is pretty great; there are background lgbt+ characters as well. His inner struggle is also intriguing in this story, as he wrestles with his doubts about whether he's on the right path in life. But while Christopher's growth over the course of the story was believable to me, something was slightly lacking with Edward. I can't really pinpoint the moment when he felt at home in the theater again, but it was stated in the end that he did. But maybe I just missed it. Either way, I can overlook it, because I did believe in their feelings for each other. The happy ending that they find together is very satisfying and seems fairly realistic to me for the time and place. There is a light theme of chosen family, which this author always writes so well, and it fits right in with the theater setting.This was a cool idea for a holiday series, and I'd love to see more multi-author collections of this kind in m/m romance.

Of course I didn't read the synopsis before reading the book (I do that quite often), I just saw the collection and thought why not reading the books during the holiday's month, so when the story took a murder-mystery turn I was surprised and delighted. I like mystery books a lot, and having that paired with a blooming love story... What else could one want?

So far so good, I liked the main characters, they were pretty great, compatible, definitely on the same wavelength and that was all good. Where I feel the story lacked is regarding the angel. In the first two books (Christmas Angel by Eli Easton and Summerfield's Angel by Kim Fielding) the angel was quite a presence and even here I was expecting at some point for the beautiful winged lady to at least utter a few words, but there was nothing apart from some smiles and a frown. It didn't feel quite as magical. However, I did like the mention of how Christopher came in the possession of the wooden figure, that was a nice touch.

While the romance bit of the story flew quite nicely with instant attraction developing into feelings of affection, the mystery was not as thrilling as I would have liked it to be. It was on point, though, so I declare myself mildly satisfied. I kind of hope the deputy got some sort of reprimand at least for incompetence. There was no mention of police investigating around the theatre, the hotel or anywhere else. Overall, the third instalment of the series was pretty good, nice quick read, just fit to indulge on a December evening.