Sully Must Get Her Childhood Friend Off the Naughty List Before They’re Both Scrooged When Edwina “Sully” Sullivan’s life imploded, she left behind her job on the police force and her unfaithful husband to start a new life as the general manager of her hometown theater, the Cliffside Theater Company. For five years, she focused on budgets instead of crime and kept the Cliffside running alongside … running alongside its mercurial artistic director. But when her childhood friend is suspected of killing his father, no one is looking for another culprit. So, in between keeping A Christmas Carol on budget and Scrooge sober, Sully dusts off her investigative skills to find a murderer. Her two lives collide when her ex-husband arrives on the scene to play lawyer and she’s forced to confront her past in order to save her present.
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I really enjoyed reading this book. Sully, an ex cop, returned home to take care of her dying father. After he died she stayed and began working for the local theater. This book is more of a traditional mystery than a cozy. The murder has taken place before the book begins. The head of a local wealthy family has been murdered. The two families were close at one time and Sully’s childhood friend is suspected of the murder. The family enlists Sully to try and clear him. Sully’s ex husband is now a family lawyer which further complicates her personal life. I liked the characters and the theater setting. The author does a very good job with the community theater background. The mystery was good and there were lots of suspects and twists and turns. Even though the book takes place during Christmas it can be read at any time of the year. I am looking for word to reading the next book in the series. Enjoy
J.A. Hennrikus’ debut Theater Cop Mystery, A Christmas Peril, kept me guessing right up until the very end as to the identity of the murderer. Fast paced, with lots of characters and plenty of room for further stories to be told in the series, it was a pleasure to read. A+
I had a hard time getting into the story. There was a lot of people involved with the murder being related to family and business. It felt too business for me and less of a cozy than I would have like. I also was hoping for more Christmas. It only had bits and pieces of Christmas mostly related to the play they’re working on. This was still a good story just not one of my favorites.
Retired cop turned theater manager Edwina “Sully” Sullivan should be focusing on her theater’s production of A Christmas Carol. After all, the name star they’ve brought in can’t remember his lines, and actors are leaving in frustration. But what has captured her attention is the murder of Peter Whitehall. He’s not only the wealthiest man in town, but also a distant relative and the father of her friend Eric. Thanks to his security system, the police know someone in the family is the killer. Despite her intentions, Sully gets drawn into the puzzle. Can she figure out what happened?
This is a wonderful start to a new series. With my love of A Christmas Carol and live theater, I was looking forward to it, and it didn’t disappoint at all. The mystery is a modern-day twist on the isolated house mystery, and it is strong, with some surprises before we reach the logical end. Sully is already a wonderfully developed main character. There are some strong supporting characters here, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest grow as the series progresses.
A Christmas Peril by J.A. Hennrikus is the first story in A Theater Cop Mystery series. Edwina “Sully” Sullivan has been the general manager of the Cliffside Theater Company in Trevorton, Massachusetts for the last five years since leaving the force (and her ex-husband). Sully is busy with preparations for their annual performance of A Christmas Carol, but she is taking time out to attend the funeral of Peter Whitehall. Peter’s son, Eric is a friend and Sully is tending the event for him. When Eric ends up arrested for Peter’s murder, Sully puts her detecting skills to work finding the real killer. Sully has her hands full with keeping the budget on track for A Christmas Carol, replacing an actor, dealing with Patrick King who cannot remember his lines and has a drinking problem (along with a huge ego), and finding Peter’s killer.
When I started reading A Christmas Peril, I went back to check that this was the first book. I felt like I was plopped down in the middle of a series. The book is very confusing in the beginning. It felt like the book was written out of order (with the beginning in the middle and the middle at the beginning). The pace of the story is a little too slow for my liking and it felt dated (like it was written for a different time-period). The book lacked flow and smooth transitions. Many of the same details are repeated frequently (after I while I could recite them by rote). Sully became fixated on murder (obsessed). Too much of the book is focused on conjecture and hearsay (Sully going over the same details). I solved the crime at Peter’s funeral (it should not be that easy). There are a couple of possible love interests for Sully in the story. I could have done with less “flirting” and a more interesting/engaging mystery. At the end of the story, there are dangling threads (it felt unfinished) and it was convoluted. The Christmas aspect was very light (almost non-existent). A Christmas Peril would have benefited from more editing/rewriting.
Sully, a retired police officer has moved back home and become the general manager at the local theater company. Having had issues with her previous job and divorcing her husband she was looking for a change and she seems to have found peace with where she has landed. When a prominent member of the community is murdered the mans son asks Sully if she would look into what happened, it doesn’t hurt that she is also a distant relative and has an investigative background. She agrees but when things start to turn sour with this years showing of A Christmas Carol she doesn’t know how much help she can give. Things change when she learns that her ex-husband is a lawyer for the family and he wants to work with her in finding out the truth. Sully begins to realize that she still has feelings for her ex but also one of the actors from the company who pops in and out of her life. With all these changes messing with her emotions and the play not going the way she planned will Sully be able to help figure out who the murderer is? I liked how the author wrote the main character and look forward to seeing where she takes her in the future. I also can’t wait to see what other showings will be happening at the theater while Sully helps solve the mystery in upcoming books.
I received an ARC of this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.