Title: Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery #8)
Author: Lois Winston
Published on: 1st October 2019
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Anastasia Pollack comes home to see her house decked in Christmas Lights – thanks to her half-brother-in-law Ira Pollack. Meanwhile, Anastasia’s monster-in-law, oops, I meant mother-in-law is up to her communist tricks. The old lady is certainly a pain in the backside! Anastasia and her photojournalist boyfriend (and possible spy) Zack drive to Ira’s house to return the lights. But as they reach the place, they see there are a huge foot and vehicular traffic. Ira’s house is not just decked with lights, there are loud music, dancing whatnots and a Santa’s sleigh that goes around the house.
A man punches Ira in the face and threatens him. Anastasia knows it is not a good time to return the decorations so she decides to drop by the next morning. When she drops by the next morning, she sees a dead body in the sleigh. Ira is now a prime suspect in the murder and he begs Anastasia to help him out. But Anastasia has promised her sons that she will keep her nose out of police matters.
Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide is the eighth book in this series but can be read as a standalone. I absolutely loved the story! Be it the characters or the suspense or the humor, Winston’s done an excellent job in keeping her readers hooked onto the story.
The Pollack family is ‘quite famous’… and weird. Anastasia’s husband was a fraud – she did not know it until a year or so ago. Her mama’s… well, her mama’s called Flora Sudberry Periwinkle Ramirez Scoffield Goldberg O’Keefe Tuttenauer. Anybody who’s married for six times in a row would have such a long name, wouldn’t they? 😉 Flora is now in search of husband no 7!
Zack is a photojournalist. But Anastasia has her doubts. He might very well be a spy for the CIA or any of the three-letter organizations. Ira, the half-brother-in-law is also her mum’s ex-husband’s son-in-law. Ira’s three kids – Issac, Harmony and Melody are from a different planet… Harmony and Melody are identical twins and Anastasia doesn’t know who is who. (as in the case in most of the identical twins… so I am told.)
Wherever the Pollack family goes, trouble follows. When Anastasia finds a dead body in Ira’s lawn, she wants to investigate. But after last time’s drama that almost led to Anastasia being killed, her sons Alex and Nick made her promise that she will not investigate any more murders. Well, once you get a taste of amateur sleuthing, it is difficult not to poke and prod around…
The mystery, suspense and the character portrayals are simply superb. The action-y movie-ish style ending was totally worth it! Anastasia has some surprises in store for her – after all, it’s Christmas. 😉 Sshh, it’s a secret. The humorous bits made the story entertaining. I recommend this book to all the mystery lovers.
Take a murder mystery, add some light-hearted humor and weird characters, sprinkle some snow and what you get is Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide – a perfect Christmas Cozy read.
There’s a giveaway for this tour. If you like to win an e-copy of Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide then click here for details.
Many thanks to Lori for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.
The Book Decoder 
Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I’m so glad you enjoyed reading about Anastasia, her adventures, and her family.
You’re most welcome, lois. Absolutely loved the book. 😃😃