Description:
~ This is a short story of only 35 pages ~
In a department store in London, a little girl called Sophie visits Santa’s magical forest with her grandfather. As they emerge from the forest, Sophie’s grandfather reports her missing… but the little girl’s right there. Is she a ghost, a twin, an alien abductee—or is there some simpler explanation? Twenty-six-year-old amateur sleuth Emily Castles has fifteen minutes to figure out the puzzle before the police are called and Christmas is ruined.
REAL ELVES is a standalone story set in London. It first appeared in the anthology Naughty or Nice in aid of Kids Need to Read. The Emily Castles mysteries can be read in any order.
Helen Smith has created a great little cozy series with the charming Emily Castles Criminal Element.
My Take:
5 Stars!
A delightful, short holiday story about a Christmas Enchanted Forest made in a the center of a mall for adults and the little kids to walk through together, along with children getting to sit on Santa’s lap while getting a photo taken with him, to boot! As the children come out of this Forest, they get to choose a special christmas ornament or, a bauble (this is the English term for a christmas ornament as this is written by an English author). Inside of this christmas ornament/bauble is a special message for the kids and they get a present! All of this has been made for all to enjoy!
While doing a trial run before the display opens to the public, Miranda, the woman who put all of this together for a project for one of her University classes finds a little girl and her grandfather to go through this as a practice trial-run to make sure it would work without anything going wrong, and that everything was made safe for the children.
The grandfather was elated to do this with his granddaughter because he doesn’t feel he gets to see her enough. During this trial run, as the little girl and her grandfather come out of the Enchanted Forest, the grandfather says his granddaughter is missing! She can’t be! She is standing right next to him! Now there is a mystery that needs to be solved before the police are called and they arrive, and who other than Emily Castle to help solve it!
I received this ebook from the author in exchange to write a review if I wanted to, and yes, I had to as I enjoyed this book very much! It’s a wonderful holiday read, and especially if you like clean, cozy mysteries, this is sure to give you holiday enjoyment you can read in one sitting!
More of the Emily Castle series can be found in Helen Smith’s other full length novels as well! This is a nice introduction to her and her work as a Private Investigator solving cozy mysteries!
ebook: $ .99
print: $4.09
Thanks for your lovely review! Here's to a wonderful 2015, Laurie. I hope you have a good year.
ReplyDelete