The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Christmas Mourning, by Margaret Maron
Book 68 of 50 Book Challenge, Book 7 of Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge
My favorite regular customer at the Used Book Store checked this out of the library. When she returned it the next week, she said that she barely put it down, so I checked it out at the next opportunity.
Among the many reviews I have read on Christmas books, there seems to be a theme – if the book is part of a regular series, it is much less likely to be enjoyed by the average reader looking for holiday reads. They are mostly books that only true fans love.
I was pleasantly surprised with this one – book 16 in a series about a county judge married to a cop in a rural town with some mysteries to solve.
High school girl runs off the road and is killed in a single car accident that looks more and more suspicious every day. Then a pair of local hellraisers turn up dead – shot on their front porch. Set in small town North Carolina..and now cue the Christmas music.
The clues were dropped, the reveal was reasonable, the characters were likable enough and it was an easy read. So when I returned it, I checked out the first in the series.
The Next Dark Age 
I read the first in this series, but not any of the others. I do have one of the newest ones on my list for the beginning of next year.