Review of HOWLOWEEN MURDER by Laurien Berenson

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HOWLOWEEN MURDER by Laurien Berenson is the 26th novel in the Melanie Travis series. It will be published on August 25th, 2020 by Kensington.

Melanie Travis—along with the rest of the faculty and the students—is preparing for the annual Halloween party at Howard Academy. Everyone is anticipating gorging themselves silly on the delicious marshmallow treats made by the headmaster’s assistant, Harriet. But, when one of Harriet’s neighbors drops over dead after eating one of her marshmallow treats, the goodies are off the table. With Harriet as the detective’s only suspect, Melanie steps up to prove that her coworker is no killer.

This is the first Melanie Travis novel I have read, so I really can’t compare it to any of Laurien Berenson’s other novels. Overall, I was not overly impressed. Due do the length, HOWLOWEEN MURDER is more of a novella. The murder investigation dominates the novel (as it should), but there was not much of a subplot. There was only one real suspect (Harriet), and I found the identity of the killer blatantly obvious. It also seemed very strange to me that Melanie has been working with Harriet for all these years and has no idea what her last name is. Just seemed very unrealistic.

Thanks to NetGalley ad the publisher for the ARC.