Enjoyable as most of the China Bayles mysteries are, but I don't much care for Wittig's new habit of moving to other points of view to tell the story. Seems disruptive and a little like maybe she's gone as far as she can with China and is wanting to move on to a new character. Mostly in this book I greatly objected to her portrayal of dissociative identity disorder, which she portrays in a very one-dimensional and cliched way: a little more research in order there. . . . First off let me say that I have not read any of this series and that I do realize this is the 18th. I picked it up because it had a Christmas theme. As you can see by the 2 stars I didn't think much of this book. I can't go into detail without spoilers so all I will say was nothing much happened in the mail plot but lots seemed to happen in the secondary characters lives. Too bad it would only mean something to followers of the series. I was bored enough with what was going on that I kept stopping to read another more interesting book (3 in all). The one thing I liked and have seen that other reviewers didn't was the asides that China would do to introduce characters and places to new readers. It was really helpful and was one of the more graceful info dumps that I have seen, something I wish more series authors would do. Would I read another in this series? Probably not. All in all this book left me cold and I'm sorry about that. I go into every book hoping to find a new favorite. Maybe I will try one of the Beatrix Potter books. I've heard lots of good things about those.
love this book as much as the others. some great herb/spice ideas and recipes in this one, too!
—Dawnonkeke
Quite satisfyingly, this entry in the series is based in the charming setting of Pecan Springs.
—Georgina
I'm not sure I'm enjoying the POV of McQuaid. I'd rather the whole book be told by China.
—Murrough
Awesome! Can't wait to try out some of the recipes at the end. :)
—romyy
Love the China Bayles series!
—blueblondechick
