Rockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Delaney's due date is right around Christmas day and with her on bed rest at Meg and Michael's house, the usual holiday celebrations are being kept low-key. That's probably best with Meg's Grandmother holding a True Crime conference at the inn. Everything is going fine until a dead body is found in Meg's backyard. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2024; Macmillan Audio; 9781250354228
audio (8h 57m), ebook, print; cozy mystery

I discovered this series two years ago when I was looking for Christmas cozy mysteries and picked up Dashing Through the Snowbirds. While I've kept up with the new books as they've come out, I haven't gone back and read the older titles (yet!). So if you are new to the series and worried about starting with Rockin's Around the Chickadee which is book 36, don't be. These can easily be read as stand-alone novels.

I love listening to this series. I've read one or two, but I always enjoy more the ones that I get the audiobooks for. Bernadette Dunne does a great job with all the characters. I've listened to a few other books that Dunne has narrated but she must be really good at coming up with unique voices as I didn't realize she had read the others.

It might be because they are keeping the holidays low-key, but it isn't the focus of the story. There is no holiday magic where the curmudgeon has a life-altering experience and becomes joyous and generous or the unlucky-in-love girl finds her soul mate under the mistletoe. But it does make a nice background setting for the story.

I did like the comment about holiday decorating. I'm paraphrasing as I don't remember how it was stated but it was something along the lines of Christmas decorations should look like joy vomited all over the place. It's a great comment and though I don't always have the time and energy, when I do I tend to "over decorate" but now I'm just going to think that I'm vomiting joy everywhere.

If you read my review of the last book Between a Flock and a Hard Place, then you know I had a small complaint about how late in the novel the murder occurred. That isn't the case in this book. It happens early on and while some of the conference is mentioned the story stays focused on the case. 

There is a new character that we meet because of the true-crime conference that I hope we get to see again. I really liked Ezekiel. I'm not sure we will get to see him again as often these background characters only appear once. But he got a job locally so maybe he will make an appearance from time to time in future novels. As having been falsely accused and imprisoned, I think his character brings a different perspective to the cast of characters.

Whether you don't care for the Hallmark-worthy holiday stories or need a break from the overly sweet Christmas romance novels, you should add this book to your Christmas reading list.

Buy Rockin' Around the Chickadee at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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