Welcome Back Booklovers!
I'm back with a quickie review of an anthology I recently read. Anthologies are a good way to discover different authors. I usually don't go in with high expectations anymore though because I know especially if it's a mixture of authors that some stories will be hit and miss. And such was the case for Festive Mayhem where there were stories I enjoyed and stories I barely go through despite them being short. This collection is different because it includes mysteries by authors of color in a collection unlike one I've seen before. While these stories are set around the holidays most aren't heavily rooted in the holidays so if Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't your thing then you don't have to worry about being inundated with mentions. I'm not going to harp on the stories I didn't enjoy and instead focus on my favorite stories from this collection.
I had heard of most of these authors going into this collection so I had specific ones I was looking forward to reading. My favorite stories were The New Year's Hex by Carolyn Marie Wilkins, What Lies Inside by Kia Dennis, The Holiday Murder Mélange by Myra Jolivet, and These Holiday Blues by Jennifer J. Chow. Two are cozy mysteries, one is chilling mystery, and one is cold mystery.
Carolyn Marie Wilkins takes you back in time to the 1920s with her historical cozy about a psychic conjure woman. Myra Jolivet's is set during Thanksgiving time with the heroine who runs a private detective agency striving to impress her Creole mother and cook the perfect dinner. Kia Dennis gives us a chilling tale about a professor whose obsession with love goes too far. And Jennifer J. Chow provides a very tragic tale about loss when a woman decides to reconnect with an ex.
All in all I think this is a good anthology to discover some new to you writers and maybe explore some types of mysteries you don't usually read. Since a few of these characters are featured in full length series I recommend checking out the other works of the authors whos stories you end up enjoying.
Enjoyed the review. Yeah, I think I was spoiled for anthologies because the first ones I read were so good. Even if I didn't like a story, I felt like it had an interesting angle or message. I'm realizing now that quality can vary a lot in an anthology.
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