GoodReads Monday

This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. It is now being hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. To participate, choose a random book from your GoodReads TBR and show it off. Which sounds easy enough until you have to decide how to choose that book! I think I will use a different way each week, like picking a color or number of pages. I will let you know each week how I chose the book and then something interesting about it, like how it ended up on the list or why I want to read it. Got it? Okay let’s get started.

Happy Monday to you all! I am super excited about this week’s pick as it is by an author whose previous books I just adored. I had no idea he had another one coming out this year, but I can’t wait to read it. I stumbled across it the other day when I decided to look to see if he had any other books I hadn’t read yet. There are a couple of backlist books that I will have to get my hands on at some point, but I am really looking forward to reading this next one in the meantime.

Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

Publication Date: October 24, 2024

Summary from Goodreads:

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.

After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?

This is a long novella, at around 190 pages, but that is ok with me. I think I might wait till closer to christmas to pick this one up. It will be a fun holiday read!

Until next time…