The Hope Street Community Theater is staging It’s a Wonderful Life as a fundraiser, and Cooper and the Bible study group are all taking part. They’ve also managed to land the help of a famous Broadway director who’s trying to clean up his image after a scandal, and he travels to Richmond along with his star actress and staff. But the director’s entourage epitomize the worst of theater personalities, with petty grievances and jealousies stirring up more drama off the stage than on. And when the assistant director is found murdered in her hotel suite, the list of possible suspects is longer than a red carpet.
I found Methods of Malice to be easy to read. The characters are realistic and relatable. Grammy Lee is a hoot. I like that she speaks her mind (in other words she is outspoken and opiniated). I liked that all the members of the Bible study were participating in the play. Some of them would have preferred to work behind the scenes (okay, most of them), but they put aside their awkwardness and fears for a good cause. The mystery was fun to solve. The victim was not well-liked (she had an attitude problem) so there are several suspects. There are some plot twists along the way that keeps things entertaining. Cooper Lee and the Bible study group asks questions and uncover clues. The reveal nicely wraps up the whodunit. Your mouth will be watering from the tasty treats whipped up by Cooper’s mother, Maggie and Cooper’s beau, Jon Eason (there are recipes at the end of the book).
I truly enjoyed how the story ended. It is heartwarming. There are changes in store for a couple of the
characters. The last meeting of the
year for the Sunshine Bible study group touched on some good points. I like the idea of a gratitude journal. My favorite lesson was, “Guarding our hearts
and letting the things of God in and not the world.” The members of the Bible study are good
friends. I like how they are there for
each other. Methods of Malice is the
seventh A Hope Street Church Mystery and it can be read as a standalone. The author provides the necessary background
information on the characters. Methods of Malice is a charming Christian cozy with an important play, a dead assistant
director, concerning calamities, Bible study sleuths, and a killer
Christmas.
Kris
The
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, 
, and 
. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.
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