Name: A Christmas Carol Murder
ISBN: 9781496720498

Heather Redmond

Witnessing the fatal defenestration of neighbor Jacob Harley while caroling in 1835 London, young Charles Dickens and his fiancâee, Kate, disagree about the case's chief suspect, Emmanuel Screws, an unpleasant counting-house codger with a rather colorful imagination.

A Christmas Carol Murder

The latest novel from Heather Redmond's acclaimed mystery series finds young Charles Dickens suspecting a miser of pushing his partner out a window, but his fiancée Kate Hogarth takes a more charitable view of the old man's innocence . . . London, December 1835: Charles and Kate are out with friends and family for a chilly night of caroling and good cheer. But their blood truly runs cold when their singing is interrupted by a body plummeting from an upper window of a house. They soon learn the dead man at their feet, his neck strangely wrapped in chains, is Jacob Harley, the business partner of the resident of the house, an unpleasant codger who owns a counting house, one Emmanuel Screws. Ever the journalist, Charles dedicates himself to discovering who's behind the diabolical defenestration. But before he can investigate further, Harley's corpse is stolen. Following that, Charles is visited in his quarters by what appears to be Harley's ghost--or is it merely Charles's overwrought imagination? He continues to suspect Emmanuel, the same penurious penny pincher who denied his father a loan years ago, but Kate insists the old man is too weak to heave a body out a window. Their mutual affection and admiration can accommodate a difference of opinion, but matters are complicated by the unexpected arrival of an infant orphan. Charles must find the child a home while solving a murder, to ensure that the next one in chains is the guilty party . . .

Cheri McElroy

This is a story based on some biographical information about Charles Dickens, as well a lot of fiction. It’s a murder mystery involving Dickens and his fiancé, Kate Hogarth. You will recognize many characters from the original story by Dickens.

There were flaws, including repetition a d pacing issues, but somehow I really enjoyed it because of my nostalgia for A Christmas Carol.

Thank you to
 @Netgalley for the Advanced Copy.

A Christmas Carol Murder

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