Book info

• Title Ryan's Christmas
• Author L. J. Ross
• Year 2019
• Genre Mystery

After a busy year fighting crime, DCI Ryan and his team of murder detectives are enjoying a festive season of goodwill, mulled wine and, in the case of DS Phillips, a stottie cake or two―that is, until a freak snowstorm forces their car off the main road and into the remote heart of Northumberland. Their Christmas spirit is soon tested when they’re forced to find shelter inside England’s most haunted castle, where they’re the uninvited guests at a ‘Candlelit Ghost Hunt’. It’s all fun and games―until one of the guests is murdered. It seems no mortal hand could have committed the crime, so Ryan and Co. must face the spectres living inside the castle walls to uncover the grisly truth, before another ghost joins their number...

Thoughts

I didn’t necessarily want to read this one quite so in advance of Christmas, but it’s when it became available so I went with it. It’s a nice book - obviously enjoyable with the characters we love, but also because it has that Agatha Christie feel. The setup feels a bit contrived, how our detective friends end up in this big house over Christmas, and then there’s a murder, but you go with it because you want to get stuck into the mystery of it. I liked the twists and turns and that Ryan figured it all out in the end. And ooh, personal developments at the end, so moving on in the series is a must!

Rating: 4 / 5