Review: Eight Maids A-Meddlin’ by Ada Bell

Eight Maids A-Meddlin’ (Shady Grove Pyschic Mystery #7.5)
by Ada Bell

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
Aly is looking forward to a quiet Christmas back home with her parents. She’ll attend the annual Holly Jolly Jamboree, watch her mother perform The Twelve Days of Christmas, and reconnect with the festival’s director, her mom’s best friend Lottie. The jubilee quickly goes from jolly to melancholy when Aly and Mom arrive at the fairground to find Lottie dead.

Everyone loved Lottie, so how could this have happened? The police barely investigate before concluding that the death was a suicide, but Aly and her mom are certain the scene was staged. The entire cast of the skit takes it upon themselves to find out the truth and bring the killer to justice. With the festival about to begin, they’ve got less than twenty-four hours to solve the murder before the killer disappears into the crowd forever.

This standalone Shady Grove Psychic Mystery novella takes place one year after the events of Mystic Persons. It is the eighth book in The Twelve Days of Christmas Cozy Mysteries series.

My Review

I received a free copy through BookSirens and voluntarily reviewed it.

Eight Maids A-Meddlin’ is a novella set in the Shady Grove series by Ada Bell. I like this series and was excited to read this holiday novella. The story takes place while Aly is visiting her parents, so not in the same setting as usual. This was a fun way to mix things up if you know the series and I think this makes it easier for those new to the series to pick it up, I think the book struck a good balance there to appeal to both groups. For me it was fun to read more about Aly and see her handle a murder mystery in a new place.

Eight Maids A-Meddlin’ starts off at a good pace, Aly and her mom are meeting up with Lottie, but then find she’s dead. The mystery starts right away and I was invested figuring out who had done it. The mystery was really well done and I didn’t feel the shorter length hampered it at all. There are plenty of suspects, some red herrings and some suspects that get ruled out before the end of the story. There are quite some twists and turns and I couldn’t decide who I thought had done it. The reveal was well done and it made sense why this person committed the crime. I did think the mystery was a bit sad at times with the victim being a friend of Aly’s mom and Aly knowing her as well.

I liked how Aly uses her powers to collect clues. That’s one of my favorite parts of this series, how much the paranormal aspect is part of the mystery. Aly uses her psychic powers to help her solve the mystery and one of the vital clues is acquired that way. The story had a Christmas theme as the characters involved in the mystery were all working on organizing a Christmas festival and most of the book takes place on the festival grounds.

To summarize: I enjoyed reading this Christmas themed paranormal cozy mystery novella. I like this series and enjoyed reading about Aly as she visits her parents and gets involved in another mystery. The mystery was a good one that kept me guessing till the end. There are some great twists and turns as well as plenty of suspects. I liked the reveal and how it all made sense. I liked reading about Aly and how her powers are an important part of how she solves the mystery. This story has a Christmas theme as most of the book takes place on the festival grounds for a Christmas festival.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.