In The Heart of Windy Pines

In The Heart of Windy Pines

by Holly Tierney-Bedford

2 out of 5

Synopsis
From the author of Kindle Unlimited All-Star winner Sweet Hollow Women comes a new novella featuring characters from Murder at Mistletoe Manor, Carnage at the Christmas Party, and The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club!

Klarinda Snow is the innkeeper of Mistletoe Manor in beautiful, remote, Windy Pines, Idaho, where she brings her unique brand of hospitality to the tiny mountain town.

When she finds her inn unexpectedly fully booked on a snowy Tuesday night in November, it brings back memories of a tragedy years before. Before she knows what hit her, she and her trusty team of employees (Myrtle, Pierre, and her new night manager, Josephine), have found themselves back at the task of solving another mystery at Mistletoe Manor!

While this book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novella, if you plan to read the books in the Windy Pines Mystery series or The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club, it's highly recommended you read those first, as this book contains spoilers that could affect your ability to enjoy them.



Review
A winter blizzard brings an assortment of guests to Mistletoe Manor, but ends with murder.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This isn't the first book set in Windy Pines. It sort of works as a stand-alone, but I wish I'd read the other books to understand the cast of characters.

This follows Klarinda, as her inn becomes unexpectedly full, and the scene of a murder.
Neil is trying to run away from his past, and blindly find his path again, when he ends up stranded at a small-town inn.

Klarinda is busy trying to keep her business afloat, as her passion for running the inn is all that keeps it together, with the refurbishing and growing list of broken bits and bobs. Throw in an unexpected expense of brand-new Christmas decorations and it's all more stress than it's worth.
The appearance of a handsome older gentleman finally makes Klarinda step back and socialise, thinking about herself for once.
Only, this gentleman might be involved in murder, and might still be married.

This was a fluffy, cozy mystery, set in a small town where everybody knows each other. They come together to help each other; and there's plenty of fun to be had with snowball fights and a barbershop quartet.

The murder isn't a huge mystery, you kinda know who the... I want to say villain - in most books they are cast as a villain - in this one they are a douchebag, but it's almost as if the author is way of classing anyone as a "bad guy". You have murder, and high-stakes cons, but no "bad guys".

The cast is rather large and the narrative flits between several people without great distinction. There isn't any great depth to these characters, even though some of them are teased as having big, exciting stories, which turns into flat nothingness.

I didn't think the writing was very strong, and the narrative wasn't always easy to follow.
Overall, this wasn't for me, and I am in no rush to read the rest of the series.

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