Empty nester Merry Winters loves three things: Christmas, crafting and her family. To regain purpose and joy, Merry hits the road to a Christmas vendor event with her furry sidekick Ebenezer in her new mobile crafting sleigh, aka an RV. But it soon turns into the nightmare before Christmas when Merry unwraps her Scrooge of an ex-husband’s body in one of the RV’s compartments. Add to that his … missing winning lottery ticket believed to be stashed somewhere in the RV, leading the homicide detective and Merry’s stepdaughter to believe Merry is the one whodunit. With visions of prison dancing in her head, will Merry be able to solve this Christmas calamity before she’s locked away?
more
I enjoyed reading this first book in a new series. Merry Winter loves all things Christmas. She lives in Season’s Greetings, West Virginia and with her best friend Bright she has craft business that specializes in Christmas. Merry is traveling to a Christmas Craft Show in her new RV and is excited for the start of the Holiday Season. When her ex husband is found dead in the RV she is the prime suspect. Now she is trying to clear her name and still enjoy the Holidays. I enjoyed the craft background and the small town setting. The characters are fun especially Ebenezer. The mystery was OK but it was very easy to solve. There is a lot of Christmas in this book and it is the perfect read for the season. I look for word to reading the next book in the series. Enjoy
Not A Creature Was Stirring
A Merry & Bright Handcrafted Mystery, Book #1
Christina Freeburn
5 Stars
Synopsis:
Empty nester Merry Winters loves three things: Christmas, crafting and her family. To regain purpose and joy, Merry hits the road to a Christmas vendor event with her furry sidekick Ebenezer in her new mobile crafting sleigh, aka an RV.
But it soon turns into the nightmare before Christmas when Merry unwraps her Scrooge of an ex-husband’s body in one of the RV’s compartments. Add to that his missing winning lottery ticket believed to be stashed somewhere in the RV, leading the homicide detective and Merry’s stepdaughter to believe Merry is the one whodunit.
With visions of prison dancing in her head, will Merry be able to solve this Christmas calamity before she’s locked away?
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING by Christina Freeburn | A Henery Press Mystery. If you love one, you’ll probably love them all. (Goodreads)
Review:
I thought the characters were well developed and well rounded. Merry is a very positive person, even though her life started out with her being left on the steps of a church. Her adoptive parents were wonderful and she had a very happy childhood. She loves all things Christmas and all things crafting and she has combined those loves into a business plan. I was happy to meet Merry and get to spend some time with her and her friends. I I really loved Ebenezer, her pet guinea pig.
The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and creating suspense with the written word. I thought the plot was well thought out and moved at a nice pace. There were enough clues to sort through and suspects to consider and it held my interest until the very end. The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, Henery Press, and Edelweiss, which I greatly appreciate.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
With a name like Merry Winters, you just know she is going to love Christmas. She also loves crafting and her family. Merry is going through a rough time adjusting to her kids moving out on their own and a recent divorce, so she decides to throw herself into her crafts. When she gets the opportunity to purchase on RV she jumps at it because she believes it is the perfect way to take her crafts on the road, traveling to craft shows far and wide. She even buys a pet to take with her, Ebenezer, a guinea pig.
Her first trip in her new RV is to the Christmas Holiday Bazaar in Morgantown, not too far from her home in Season’s Greetings, West Virginia. When she arrives she notices an odd smell. Thinking the former owner, her ex-stepdaughter left something in one of the compartments that had now spoiled she starts to look around. But it isn’t rotting food she finds, it’s her ex-husband, very dead and stinking to high heaven. When the police arrive Merry becomes their #1 suspect. She can’t believe they actually think she killed him and hid him in the RV she is driving around. She knows she has to find the real killer or Santa will be delivering her presents to her in jail. Behind bars is not how she imagined celebrating her favorite time of year.
I loved this story. Merry Winters has had a wonderful life after a precarious start. She has a huge heart and believes the best in everyone which at times can be her downfall. We do share a love of crafting and I miss doing the crafts I love. That is why I enjoy cozy mysteries like this one. I can live vicariously through the characters.
I don’t share her love of guinea pigs though. Ebenezer runs free through her house and does add some humorous moments. My guinea pig experience was not good. Our older children each had one and soon their care fell to me and cleaning their cages daily is an experience I would love to forget. They did enjoy their playtime, inside and out, but that was limited. I was glad their time with us was short.
Fittingly set in the holiday season, complete with a blizzard was great. Made me feel right at home as similar weather was happening here in Wisconsin as I was reading. I could relate to Merry’s worries about driving the RV on snowy slippery roads and her concern that the RV may not be the best choice for cold weather without some major renovations.
The mystery was fast paced with several surprising twists including unexpected suspects. The author has crafted a unique mystery and I really enjoyed the way she told this story. I was engaged the entire way and captivated by the way everything came together in the end.
Great characters, (I loved their names), an excellent plot, and a fun setting gave me everything I look for in a quality cozy mystery. I am excited to see where Ms. Freeburn takes us in book two.
Merry is hoping to turn her Christmas crafting business into a full-time job, and as part of that plan, she’s purchased a motorhome from her ex-step-daughter. The hope is she can use it as a mobile crafting studio and a place to show her stuff at some of the more popular craft shows. She’s trying it out at the Christmas Holiday Bazaar, one of her favorite events of the year. However, when she’s unloading her products, she finds the dead body of her ex-husband in one of the storage compartments. How did his dead body get into the RV?
With as much as I love Christmas, this book was a lot of fun. We got lots of talk about everything Christmas, even comparing characters to famous fictional Christmas characters. I did feel the book needed another polish to flesh a few things out, and I found Merry’s concern for her ex-husband’s family a little hard to believe considering how short her marriage had been. On the other hand, I loved the majority of the characters, and Merry’s relationships with her own kids was fabulous. The plot was good with many twists and turns. I figured out a couple of things early, but I was left guessing about the rest of it until the end.
This book is the beginning of a new series that has so much potential!
All Merry wants is to create decorations to brighten the lives of others, spread some holiday cheer, and take care of her children. Family is precious to her.
From an across the street neighbor who hates everything and keeps his eye on all, to a young man with some differently enabled emotions and processes who only wants to see the good in people and situations, to men who marry for all the wrong reasons and the women who love them, plus an RV that offers so many possibilities but ends up being the gift from Hades at the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…well, maybe not so wonderful for some people.
The story frays at a few points only to be woven back into something more complicated and satisfying.
There are a lot of parallels in this story and much back and forth. Was the man who died really evil or did he just make the worst choices? Even if people want the best for us, can they ever be depended on one hundred per cent?
EVERYONE has secrets and impulses they can not resist.
This is a story about new possibilities and old insecurities, some relationships and choices revisited, some regret.
Who killed Samuel and left him in an RV that his daughter sold to her stepmother?
What else may be tucked away in the RV of doom? Who is determined to find it and why?
There is more going on here than can be seen at first look.
The characters are complicated and have “interesting“ relationships. I look forward to seeing where this adventure takes us.
This book is poorly edited. It was fun to read, but I felt like there were gaps where the plot didn’t work, there were errors in grammar and missing words.
I am always drawn to Christmas stories. This one was very good and I couldn’t put it down. Surprisingly I didn’t guess the ending and had no idea of “who done it” until the end, which was great, totally took me by surprise. If you like a good mystery you’ll like this one.
Just couldn’t get into it
A fun first book in a series. Merry is a Christmas lover and crafter. When she buys an RV from her former step-daughter and takes it to a craft show, the last thing she expects is to find the dead body of her ex-husband. Now she’s on the hunt for the real killer to clear her name. I look forward to reading more of this series!
Not a Creature Was Stirring by Christina Freeburn is a fun ditty about a crafter who primarily earns her living by traveling to craft shows. She has just purchased a motor home for just this pursuit and plans to remodel it to accommodate her crafting. Sadly, before that can happen she returns to the trailer to discover a body-dead; well actually it takes some looking before she finds it. She can’t let that alone, for many reasons, and so has to investigate.
Merry is an entertaining character and the mystery was a good one. She is not a young woman, nor is she an old one. She has good friends and partners in her work of long-standing. She has a newly acquired pet, a guinea pig named Ebenezer. Merry loves Christmas and everything about it, especially the crafts. She does not hesitate to investigate when things are not going as they should. She is a thoroughly likeable character. There are many special people in the story, not the least of which is Merry’s young friend, Abraham who is not stupid but does best when he knows what is going to happen. Merry’s family makes appearances and of course, so do the local police. It is all a big mess until suddenly isn’t. Not a Creature was stirring is an engaging read: one not to be missed. I highly recommend it.
I received a free ARC of Not Creature Was Stirring in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Fun read.
NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING by Christine Freeburn
The First Merry and Bright Handcrafted Mystery
Merry Winters has splurged on a new item for her Christmas crafting business-a used RV. It’s perfect to transport her and all her crafting wares to various vendor events-and she got it for a steal from her step-daughter. The perfect deal turns into a nightmare when she discovers her recently divorced second husband stuffed into a storage compartment. The detective in charge is certain Merry’s the murderer and her sales are plummeting as her step-daughter has arrived and is telling everyone that Merry killed her dad. Merry’s adult children are doing what they can to protect and support her, including getting their dad, her first ex-husband, to be her attorney. But will that be enough to make Christmas merry again?
NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING looks at what it is to be an empty nester as well as the changing relationships as everyone ages. Merry Winters has a big heart, which gets her into a lot of trouble. While her adult children seem to be well adjusted, pleasant people, her step-daughter is an emotional mess, and a constant conflict waiting to happen. Yet Merry goes above and beyond to protect her, regardless of the damage the girl intends to cause. In fact, most of the characters aren’t entirely likable.
An intriguing mystery and themes of Christmas and crafting make NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING a fun holiday read.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through Edelweiss, in the hopes I would review it.
Not a Creature Was Stirring is a great start to a new series from Christina Freeburn. I enjoyed everything about this book. The characters were all quite interesting and well written. This book introduces lots of characters I expect we will see in the subsequent books in the series. Ebenezer, Merry’s guinea pig and travel companion almost steals the show! The interesting plot has many twists. I did not guess who the murderer was which is wonderful. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to the next ones in the series.
A good good good good good Christmassy cozy
I love Christmas and I love crafting. So this started out really well for me. And: I loved this book from start to finish!!! The pages turned themselves.
Marrying Samuel was not one of Merry’s best decisions. Divorcing him was. Now there’s a fantastic weekend at the Christmas craft fair ahead of her. When she smells something stinky in her new-to-her RV, she just blames it on her guinea pig. But things spin out of control faster than she can cut decals. And she’s the number one suspect…
I loved the cozy part of the book: a likeable-but-stubborn-and-independent main character, nice setting with the Christmas theme and the crafting, cute guinea pig. I loved the mystery part of the book: suspenseful, clever, suspenseful, scary at times, suspenseful 😉 A book full of cheerfulness and love and … murder. It was very well written! This is what a cozy should be like!
The only tiny minor little thing: I don’t like it when too many names in one book are … well … frankly, just a bit weird. Merry, Bright, Grace, Holly… Individually, they are fine names, not unlikely, but paired together: that just doesn’t happen IRL. And her son who’s a police officer, named Scotland?! Luckily his last name isn’t Yard…
But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the book immensely. Because it was a good good good mystery. The kind you just don’t want to put down. The kind that leaves you in a daze after finishing. The kind that makes you want to buy all the other available books by this author, now, pronto, stat.