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kitkat175's review
1.0
This book was boring even the audiobook was boring and I could not get through it. This book was not my cup of tea. Honestly I felt like this book was dragging on and on. It just was not a great read for me. This book I felt like it fell very flat for me. If I could give it a 0 I would it was a bad book and I just could not read it. This book has barley any review which isn't very good. I don't know what else to say about this book, other then that I did not like it.
sarahthereadingaddict's review
4.0
I really enjoyed the connections to the classic 'A Christmas Carol'.
The characters names were a brilliant nod to the classic.
It was an unusual book for me because I love Christmas and all that it entails but I usually read chick lit or women's fiction Christmas books, but this was the excitement of Christmas mixed with murders and it was really interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The story line was good, discovering who did the murders and all the other bits Charles Dickens was going through. I felt sorry for Charles in parts because noone was believing in about certain situations and he was just trying to do his best.
I thought the book club questions at the end were a great idea.
The characters names were a brilliant nod to the classic.
It was an unusual book for me because I love Christmas and all that it entails but I usually read chick lit or women's fiction Christmas books, but this was the excitement of Christmas mixed with murders and it was really interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The story line was good, discovering who did the murders and all the other bits Charles Dickens was going through. I felt sorry for Charles in parts because noone was believing in about certain situations and he was just trying to do his best.
I thought the book club questions at the end were a great idea.
colorfulleo92's review
4.0
I haven't read the rest of the series and jumped right in the third not knowing it was a series. Just saw the title and thought it was a perfect follow up to the original "A Christmas carol". It didn't matter much that I skipped the first two, it stood very well on its own. A good and engaging story that was very fresh and fun kind of Christmas kind of novels. Been quite the much romance Christmas books this year
katreader's review
4.0
A CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER by Heather Redmond
The Third Dickens of a Crime Mystery
An evening of Christmas caroling turns tragic when Charles Dickens and his friends witness a man plummet to his death from a second story window. While Kate doesn't believe the old man physically capable, Charles is convinced that the disagreeable homeowner is a murderer. Charles is keeping busy trying to work on his book, find a good home for an orphaned baby, and help a growing mudlark, but when the body of the dead man disappears, the situation has the very makings of a novel!
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens is a tale of redemption, and so it is with A CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER by Heather Redmond. In this case, the redemption portion is a secondary story to the murder. Charles, falsely accused, is nonetheless faced with losing his fiance, his job, and his very livelihood and place in society. His future is in peril due to a misunderstanding and the commission of a good deed, causing him to look to redeem himself while trying to solve a murder.
That's not the only similarity you'll find to the classic Christmas story. It was one thing when Mr. Jacob Harley falls to his death wrapped in chains, but when the cranky Emmanuel Screws came on scene I had to giggle. Of course there's a baby Timothy and a Mr. Cratchit too! Charles is also visited by three specters...or at least three mysterious figures during dressed like phantoms.
The third Dickens of a Crime novel is an atmospheric Victorian mystery that highlights the differing mindsets, foibles, and dangers of this bygone time. I enjoy seeing Charles Dickens struggling to find his place in the world and witnessing what could have been his inspiration.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER is a complex mystery that haunts a young Charles Dickens at Christmastime. Grab a cup of mulled wine and settle in for a delightfully literary holiday treat.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through NetGalley, in the hopes I would review it.
The Third Dickens of a Crime Mystery
An evening of Christmas caroling turns tragic when Charles Dickens and his friends witness a man plummet to his death from a second story window. While Kate doesn't believe the old man physically capable, Charles is convinced that the disagreeable homeowner is a murderer. Charles is keeping busy trying to work on his book, find a good home for an orphaned baby, and help a growing mudlark, but when the body of the dead man disappears, the situation has the very makings of a novel!
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens is a tale of redemption, and so it is with A CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER by Heather Redmond. In this case, the redemption portion is a secondary story to the murder. Charles, falsely accused, is nonetheless faced with losing his fiance, his job, and his very livelihood and place in society. His future is in peril due to a misunderstanding and the commission of a good deed, causing him to look to redeem himself while trying to solve a murder.
That's not the only similarity you'll find to the classic Christmas story. It was one thing when Mr. Jacob Harley falls to his death wrapped in chains, but when the cranky Emmanuel Screws came on scene I had to giggle. Of course there's a baby Timothy and a Mr. Cratchit too! Charles is also visited by three specters...or at least three mysterious figures during dressed like phantoms.
The third Dickens of a Crime novel is an atmospheric Victorian mystery that highlights the differing mindsets, foibles, and dangers of this bygone time. I enjoy seeing Charles Dickens struggling to find his place in the world and witnessing what could have been his inspiration.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER is a complex mystery that haunts a young Charles Dickens at Christmastime. Grab a cup of mulled wine and settle in for a delightfully literary holiday treat.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through NetGalley, in the hopes I would review it.
jennie_cole's review
3.0
A Christmas Carol Murder is the third in a series of Dickens's re-imaginings with Charles Dickens as the main character. As you can guess this is a retelling of his classic A Christmas Carol. It comes with all the classic characters including a "ghost".
A few days before Christmas Dickens is sent to a nearby town to cover a deadly fire and is mistaken for the father of a bastard baby Timothy. Dickens enlists his friends to help care for the boy because he cannot let his fiance know about the baby until he finds the real father. As they are out caroling one night a body falls from the house they are caroling at. Something does not seem right so Dickens begins to investigate.
It was definitely an interesting re-imagining in the fact that they are normally just putting the base story in a different environment but this one thought about it as if what is an event in Dickens life that would become A Christmas Carol. You could see this being the basis for a story he writes years later.I think this made me like the book more than I would have if it had just been a retelling.
A few days before Christmas Dickens is sent to a nearby town to cover a deadly fire and is mistaken for the father of a bastard baby Timothy. Dickens enlists his friends to help care for the boy because he cannot let his fiance know about the baby until he finds the real father. As they are out caroling one night a body falls from the house they are caroling at. Something does not seem right so Dickens begins to investigate.
It was definitely an interesting re-imagining in the fact that they are normally just putting the base story in a different environment but this one thought about it as if what is an event in Dickens life that would become A Christmas Carol. You could see this being the basis for a story he writes years later.I think this made me like the book more than I would have if it had just been a retelling.
bonniereads777's review
4.0
This is the third book in the A Dickens of a Crime mystery series. It is 1835, and a young Charles Dickens is working as a journalist for a paper belonging to his fiancée’s father. While covering a devastating fire, he is approached by a young girl who says her sister is dead, and that Dickens is the father of her sister’s baby. She hands him the baby and departs, leaving him to try and find the real father. He also decides to hide this shocking turn of events from his fiancée, Catherine “Kate” Hogarth. At the same time, a death has occurred at the house of the miserly Mr. Screws. His partner, Mr. Harley, has plummeted from a window, chained at the neck. Was he murdered, or was this a suicide?
A Dickens of a Crime is a fascinating cozy mystery series that takes events and characters from the novels of Charles Dickens and uses them differently. While this is the third book, it can be read as a standalone novel. In this third installment, A Christmas Carol is retold as a murder mystery. The reader will take delight in finding the many references to the classic Christmas novella, re-imagined, and with names slightly changed. The mysteries are well-thought-out, and there are plenty of twists and turns. What I enjoyed most was the fact that the characters created by Dickens interacted with Dickens himself, and with people from his actual life. It becomes a fusion of both mystery and biography of the early life of this great writer. Recommended for fans of murder mysteries, classic literature, and Charles Dickens.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Historical Novels Review magazine. My opinions are my own.
A Dickens of a Crime is a fascinating cozy mystery series that takes events and characters from the novels of Charles Dickens and uses them differently. While this is the third book, it can be read as a standalone novel. In this third installment, A Christmas Carol is retold as a murder mystery. The reader will take delight in finding the many references to the classic Christmas novella, re-imagined, and with names slightly changed. The mysteries are well-thought-out, and there are plenty of twists and turns. What I enjoyed most was the fact that the characters created by Dickens interacted with Dickens himself, and with people from his actual life. It becomes a fusion of both mystery and biography of the early life of this great writer. Recommended for fans of murder mysteries, classic literature, and Charles Dickens.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Historical Novels Review magazine. My opinions are my own.
kennaly's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
fiction_gryphon's review
3.0
3.5 stars… interesting plot, but the pacing was quite drawn out at points. The baby Timmy storyline felt incongruous with what was going on with the mystery and kept pulling me away from the main story. Overall, a fun reimagining of Dickens as an amateur sleuth, I just wish it had a little more pizazz!