The Weekly Pour: Home for the Homicides by Elle Cosimano & Hannah Morrissey
We know, we know - we’re a little early with this one considering we haven’t even hit Halloween yet, but anything with the word “homicide” in the title has to be read anytime of year. This New Release Tuesday, October 13th, belongs to Home for the Homicides by Elle Cosimano and Hannah Morrissey — the first book in a brand-new Holly & Mark Mystery series — and it is, somehow, both a murder mystery and the coziest thing we're shelving all month. A town literally named Christmas. A nativity scene. An icicle. You already know this is going to be a problem for our to-be-read pile.
About the Book
Special Agents Holly Frost and Mark Shepherd are sent to the impossibly picture-perfect town of Christmas to investigate a murder nobody saw coming: a tourist found stabbed beside the town nativity scene, of all places, with an ornamental icicle, of all weapons. Local police have zero experience with anything bigger than a stolen lawn display, so it's on Holly and Mark to crack the case before the town's Jingle Bell Jubilee — with the one open promotion to Major Crimes going to whoever solves it first. Complicating matters: these two have a history, courtesy of an ill-advised holiday party hookup neither of them has brought up since. Twelve days, one body, one competitive grudge, and an entire town decorated like it has something to hide. We are completely unwell about this.
Genre: Cozy Holiday Mystery / Romantic Comedy
Perfect for fans of: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano and Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey — one comp pulled from each half of this writing duo's own backlist.
This Week’s Pour
A murder by the nativity scene calls for a pour with its own star power, so we're going with the Indian Creek Star Garnet — a deep, garnet-red Bordeaux blend that's basically wearing the same color scheme as the crime scene. (Too soon? Never too soon.) The "Star" in the name doesn't hurt either, given where the body turned up.
Keeping it alcohol-free? Order the Pumpkin Spice Chai Hot Tea — because solving a holiday homicide is cold work, and someone in this town should be allowed to warm up.
However you take it: keep an eye on anyone being a little too cheerful about the Jubilee, don't trust the nativity display, and brace yourself for a rivals-to-lovers arc that's going to make this a very long twelve days for Holly and Mark — and a very good read for the rest of us.
Come Sip & Read With Us
Home for the Homicides hits our new release table today, and we fully expect our holiday mystery shelf to be the most popular corner of the shop by the weekend. Grab your copy, order your Gingerbread, and come debate whodunit with us. Tag @thebookloungeid with your prime suspect — book club, we're already eyeing this one for a December pick.
Happy Reading (and Sipping!),
The Book Lounge Crew
