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5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and Complex Mysteries
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
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Gooseberry Christmas is the third Kathi Daley’s Cottage on Gooseberry Bay series. This book is a fun and clean read, with a strong emphasis on friends, family, caring, and compassion. The complex mysteries in this installment encompass the main character’s past and the current-day murder of a man. The amiable characters are well developed, and the well-plotted storyline flows smoothly. The intriguing mysteries and red herrings will keep readers engaged and guessing. I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys reading well-crafted cozies.

After Ainsley Holloway’s dad passed away, she found his diary and a photograph of a woman with two young children, and, for reasons she can’t explain, she felt a connection to the people and started doubting her past. In her search for the truth about her past, Ansley and her two Bernese Mountain Dogs, Kai and Kallie, moved from Georgia to Washington State, rented a cottage in Gooseberry Bay, began making new friends, and settling into the community. Ainsley finds herself quite taken with her new community and decides to volunteer at several of the Christmas events. Her first volunteer assignment is at a Christmas tree lot, where a local man is murdered, and one of her friends becomes the prime suspect. Ainsley and her friends work hard to solve the murder and help Ainsley delve into her past while still finding time to enjoy the Christmas season and festivities.
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Kathleen C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Gooseberry Christmas earns 5/5 Trimmed Trees...Clever and Engaging!
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2020
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Kathi Daley has added an engaging third installment to her four-book Cottage on Gooseberry Bay series building on the intriguing details into Ainsley Holloway’s mysterious past. The man she called “Dad” and who had raised her since rescuing her on Christmas Eve from a burning warehouse when she was three years old seems to have kept from her key details into her life. After his death, Ainsley found a photo with a woman and two children posed on the porch of a house; her curiosity, along with some vivid memories resurfacing, has led her to Gooseberry Bay, Washington. As Christmas nears and the little hamlet is decorating and gearing up for various annual festivities, a disturbing threat or an ominous warning from an unknown sender adds an air of peril. Undaunted Ainsley marches on with help from the owners of the house, Adam and Archie Winchester. Ainsley has become an integral part of the community, building friendships and enjoying the “is it or isn’t it” dating with Adam Winchester, so she’s eager to join in volunteering at the Christmas tree lot, but arriving early turns deadly. The man for whom she’d be working is not answering her “Hello?” It’s no wonder since Bradford, a retired real-estate broker, well-known womanizer, and heavy drinker, is found murdered! And Ainsley finds her niche once again using her private investigator skill set. Disgruntled drinking buddy? Business rivals? Woman scorned? Hidden family relations? All are intriguing avenues for the “Peninsula Gang” to explore, and their involvement is made imperative when one of their own is arrested. The murder mystery upstages her personal mystery with engaging avenues of interest, suspects, motives, and a satisfying “justice served” conclusion. For my taste, too many of the clues, alibis, informal interviews, and follow-up occur off the page, but the friends always catch up and brainstorm over the phone or gathering for a meal. Along with an engaging mystery or two making this quite a page turner, Kathi shares the holidays with her usual flair from a selling trees to decorating trees to watching trees lit up in the center of town and topped off with the Winter Ball. But it’s not done yet!
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M. BrownTop Contributor: Pets
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2020
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Gooseberry Christmas
Cottage On Gooseberry Bay, Book #3
Kathi Daley
5 Stars

Synopsis:

USA Today Bestselling author Kathi Daley brings you a heartwarming mystery series about finding answers and fostering hope while building friendships and embracing the magic of life by the sea and small town holidays.

Ainsley Holloway had come to Gooseberry Bay to find answers about her past. She’d come to find an explanation for the dreams that haunted her after the death of the cop who’d both rescued and raised her. And she’d come to identify the family she couldn’t remember but knew in her heart she’d once belonged to.

Ainsley hoped that by finding these answers, she’d also find healing. She hoped that once she’d resurrected the memories buried deep in her mind, she’d find peace.

The Cottage at Gooseberry Bay is a series about, not only finding answers, but finding hope.
It’s a series about family and friendship.
It’s a series about shared holidays, festivals, and celebrations.
It’s a series about shared heartbreak and hardship.
And it’s a series about the bond that can be forged amongst strangers when tragedy binds two or more individuals with a common goal.

In book 3 in the series, Ainsley decides to set aside her search for answers to her past and enjoy her first Gooseberry Christmas by volunteering along with the rest of the gang for the Christmas Festival on the boardwalk. Normally Ainsley didn’t bother much with Christmas and all its trappings but this year she is excited to join in as most of the locals are prone to do. Of course it does put a bit of a damper on the festivities when a body is found in the tree lot where the gang had offered to help out, but that doesn’t stop Ainsley from making the most of the season in spite of the crazy investigation she can’t help but get pulled into. (Goodreads)

Review:
The characters are well developed and well rounded. Ainsley, Parker, Jemma and Josie are smart independent women who know how to get things done. When a body is discovered in the Christmas tree lot, they know they have to try to help solve the mystery. And Ainsley has not given up on her journey to figure out who she is and why she was found in a burning building when she was a young child. She gets help with that from Adam, who is willing to do some searching on his own. There might be a romance brewing with Ainsley and Adam, we will have to wait and see.

The author is very talented in her descriptive writing, and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the beginning. The mystery of the dead body was intriguing and held my interest throughout the entire book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. I cannot wait to find out what the next book will bring.
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Top reviews from other countries

Mrs. P. J. Dore
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2020
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Very enjoyable book in the series
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