Dash Away All by Christina Freeburn

Dash All Away is the third book in Christina Freeburn’s Merry and Bright Handcrafted Mystery series.

Merry Winters is back! This time she’s in Indiana, crafting for a movie set – a Christmas movie featuring her favorite actress Luna Carmichael.

Paul’s cousin Marie works for Luna and when Luna is told about Merry’s crafting business, Luna immediately hires her to design the crafts for the set. But things go awfully wrong when Marie stumbles away from a car accident and dies. Any guesses as to who came across the accident site first? Our very own Merry. People at the set aren’t who they seem to be. Someone is desperately trying to ruin the movie production. As a cherry on top is the mystery behind a baby born and abandoned 46 years ago…

I have been following this series from the start. With cozy mystery series, the readers are surely spoilt for choices. From baking to B&B owners to crafting, we cozy readers have a lot of themes to choose from. Merry Winters and her buddy Brighton own the Merry and Bright Handcraft store on Etsy. Merry and Bright have never met and yet they share a strong bond. In the previous books of this series, we have seen Bright help Merry – either with crafting or sleuthing.

In Dash Away All, we come across a new Merry – she has solved two murder mysteries so far and she’s excelled in her snooping skills. Paul wants more than friendship from Merry but she’s not very comfy with the 13-year-age-difference between the two – dating younger men isn’t something Merry wants.

Merry finds Marie dead; but the town’s sheriff seems to be hiding something. Also, Vernon, the security guard is Luna’s soon-to-be ex-husband. Nobody is who they claim to be, not even Marie. Merry soon finds out Marie was more than just an assistant to Luna. Someone threatened to expose Luna’s past.

Ebenezer, Merry’s guinea pig finds himself a role in the movie. This little guinea piggy surely knows how to claim his ‘diva moment’. Merry was adopted – she was found on the church steps on Christmas Eve. Merry wonders if Marie’s death had something to do with the abandoned baby long ago. Also, someone seems to be following the script a bit too religiously – in the script/movie, Luna’s assistant died in a car crash. Is someone trying to imitate the scenes of the movie?

The story seemed a little slow in the middle but the twist surely changed things for good. I did not see this coming. Could the abandoned baby be Merry? Oh my gosh! Most importantly, will Merry live long enough to find out the secret? Christina Freeburn is a versatile writer. I have enjoyed the first two books of this series and Dash Away All is no different. Excellent storytelling, wonderful character portrayal, a murder and mystery that keeps you guessing – Dash Away All is surely a complete cozy package!

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There’s a giveaway for this blog tour. Giveaway details are here.

Many thanks to Lori for the blog tour invite.