Thanksgiving Dinner Death

Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery #2

by Leighann Dobbs

A new month, a new holiday, and Juniper Holiday is ready for stuffing to happen! This year, Juniper has invited most of Crescent Cove to her Thanksgiving feast. Even that annoying Detective Mallard and his gang of ducklings. The mansion is decorated. The table is set. The cooks (both living and ghostly) are trying new recipes. Everything is perfect until someone ends up face-down in the pecan pie. Juniper is determined to solve the case before Detective Mallard can ruin her fun with his rules, but will she manage it before the killer decides to try again, or will this Thanksgiving meal be Juniper's last supper?

Genres: Thanksgiving, Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Audiobook, Supernatural, Fantasy, Paranormal

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2022

About the author

USA Today bestselling author, Leighann Dobbs, discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year career as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.

Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.

Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.

Reviews

[Regina the Constant Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ -Audiobook

The jury is in. These are just terrible. The narrator doesn’t help either. I’ll probably finish them though, they’re short and an easy bedtime read.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful cast of characters, both living and ghost. I love the short audio and the holiday themes. This time of year, it is fun to find books that are set at the holiday season. The audio by Kasey Logan was wonderful. She had different voices for each character and the performance was great.

Happy Thanksgiving! Juniper Holiday has invited lots of people to her Holiday Feast, including her not so friendly local police detective, Desmond Mallard. Juni knows that her goddaughter is sweet on Mallard, but Juni just doesn't like him.

Unfortunately, someone has murder on the menu and Juni is both the prime suspect and the intended victim. Now she must make sure that it doesn't happen again and that means she has to solve this little problem.

[Bonita Slovinski · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is book #2 in the Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery series. All centered around holiday parties at Juniper’s house. In this story set around a Thanksgiving feast, someone dies. There are ghosts in Juniper’s home along with servants, Juniper, and her God Daughter. Juniper vows to solve the case.
I listened to this story which in the beginning, I did not know if Juniper was one of the ghosts. I feel like I wasted my Audible credit on this holiday story which did not have much depth to it for a mystery.

[Emily Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanksgiving Dinner Death by Leighann Dobbs is the second book in the Juniper Holiday Cozy Series. I love nothing more than a holiday cozy mystery and Juniper (Juni) is a fantastic hilarious character.

Juni is famous for her fabulous over the top parties. When she hosts her Thanksgiving dinner, something goes wrong (NO SPOILERS HERE) but an investigation ensues.

I love Juni and her goddaughter Tori; the characters are so much fun and of course the Detective and the conversations between Juni and the detective crack me up.

The mystery was well written, and the characters are so much fun.

I really enjoy this holiday cozy series and hope to see more!

[Cozy Reader Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Thanksgiving Dinner Death (Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery #2)" by Leighann Dobbs is a multi perspective, paranormal Thanksgiving cozy mystery. Juniper can see and interact with the ghostly residents of her home and there seems to be a plethora of other supernatural beings in her town. This one does just jump into things with the assumption that you read the first book. So, it helps for background purposes to have read the first book. Mystery wise, it's fairly standalone.

The mystery starts during Thanksgiving dinner when the detective is killed. Then brought back to live by some quick thinking on a werewolf's part with help of a warlock at the local coffee shop. The first big part of the mystery is who was the real target. That then really narrows down the suspects.

[Amber Hollowell]

This is very short. I listed to the audiobook. I didn’t like it, mainly because I did not like the main character at all. I think most of the reason for this was the way the reader of the audiobook presented her. I liked the paranormal parts but they were very minor.

Summary/spoilers:
Juniper has a large thanksgiving dinner at her home. One of the guests, a detective, is poisoned and dies. He’s brought back by a werewolf and a warlock. There is confusion about who was the intended victim. Juniper investigates and tries to solve the mystery before the officials can spoil her fun.

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay story. Lots of interchanging of Character names, which is an editorial pet peeve of mine, and the killer was obvious from the start.

[Peter Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good storyline.

This is a promising new series. Story lines are good. However my only negative is the main character. I find her to be very hard to like. She is just plain mean at times and obnoxious. I hope she softens up a bit. I really like the other characters.
There are a lot of fun directions this series can go. Lets see what happend.

[Jewel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was cringey and actually kind of painful to read. I felt I had to read it because I actually paid money for it. If I'd gotten it from the library it would have landed squarely in the DNF pile. So much of it was trying to be cute and funny and I didn't find any of it anything other than annoying. I'm clearly not the intended reader of these books. However, I'd be super surprised if anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries actually liked this one.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to get into

This book was hard to get into. The main character wasn't likeable to me and I didn't understand the role the ghosts played in the story. The solution to the mystery was good, but I wish there was more character development.

[Lisa Able · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was awful. Maybe it would have helped if I'd read book one, but I found the plot to be non-existent & the main character was not relatable or likeable at all.

[Deanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to see a new series fro. Leigh and Dobbs. I normally love her. However, this one left me with more questions and misunderstandings. Its about a woman Juniper Holiday, who is called by many nicknames, and her god daughter Tori, with too many nicknames. The story jumped right in to Thanksgiving dinner and someone dying from drinking their tea. The issue I have is there was no backstory. Apparently she is eccentric and lives in a mansion somewhere and the house has ghosts. Who the ghosts are I have no clue or their purpose. Again one of the characters is a werewolf and one is a witch. But how, what, why and how they pertain to the story I have no idea. Juniper also seems to have an issue with the police detective that I'm assuming was explained in the first book that I haven't read. So assume you need to read these in order to hopefully understand some things. The book would have been a lot more interesting I knew the backstory of the characters and wasn't left to try and figure it out. The reason I mention all the nicknames is because I couldn't tell if they were new characters or just nicknames. Overall disappointed but a cute, very quick read.

[Brig · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of this short, cozy mystery (Thanksgiving, ghosts, and murder) I felt at first was an interesting one. However, the contents of this book didn’t live up to the fun and interesting descriptions given on Amazon. Who, if anyone, was the proofreader? 🤦‍♀️ This book was full of; multiple misspellings, basic grammatical errors, and more. I didn’t like how the author gave silly nicknames to everyone, and not 1 nickname per person but countless ones. It was difficult at times to figure out these nonsensical names, such as who “Waddle-butt” was. The main character also had 50+ different nicknames which was completely distracting, unnecessary, and didn’t add anything positive to the book’s plot or character development. I am assuming the author was trying to give them all a “cute” persona, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t care less about any of the flat characters whom were as boring as a dry, and empty popsicle stick on a hot summer’s day! I finished this book because I spent good money on it. 1 star ⭐️

[Margaret Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short mystery is book 2 in a holiday series. I thought I needed to give another one a try. It hit my kindle on the day it was released. Still not sure about it. Clearly our sleuth has a "interesting" relationship with the investigating officer. And visa versa. They bandy back and forth. His last name is Mallard. I wonder just how many duck jokes one can make about a name. The plot itself is set at Juniper Holiday's home for a large Thanksgiving dinner. Juniper Holiday loves entertaining with over-the-top parties in her mansion--with a full staff, including somer resident ghosts, Who in this case was the intended victim? Who committed the crime. Read it and figure it out. I will try one more.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me! I probably would have rated it a two but I don't usually read cozy mysteries so it's hard to tell if this story was boring in general...or if it was boring compared to my usual suspense/thrillers books. Plus, the extra star is for the holiday season because you don't read many books set at Thanksgiving.
NOTE: I listened to this book on audio, and while I thought the narrator had a nice voice overall, I really didn't like the voice she used for the MC. The tone for Juniper was whiny and annoying (to me anyway).
2nd NOTE: I don't think the ghost characters added anything to the story at all. Maybe it becomes important as the series goes on, but I'm not choosing to find out. I don't like paranormal elements--even if these ghosts were not scary at all. Lol

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

main character is kind of like a solo witch but know about there covens. she goes to coffee shop and is gave a ring for protection from some lady she doesnt know. she has a bigger dinner and invites alot of people. during dinner ring fall off and the sheriff drinks it and dies. he and a wolf run off with him and bring him back with a potion. everybody arrest her thinking the sheriff is dead while he's at the hospital getting better. they realize that this was an attempt murder on her and start investigating all the people who were invited to the party. finds out it was a mistake and that her neighbor who always calls the cops on her for loud music was actually the target by her help because she left them large money when she passes away.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanksgiving Dinner Death by Leighann Dobbs is the second book in the Juniper Holiday Cozy Series. Juniper is well known for her outlandish parties. She throws one for Thanksgiving and has included the local detective to the guest list. Things go wrong and another investigation ensues.

I found the book well written with interesting characters. Juni is the fun loving 60ish woman and Tori, her god daughter is the calm reasonable one; nice role reversal. I am looking forward to the next installment.

I was given an advanced readers’ copy and am not required to leave a positive review.

[Martina Dewey · Rating 3 out of 5]

odd

These books are odd. Yes paranormal cozy’s, but often a little dizzily propelled forward. I’m sticking it out through the Christmas book in this series and then I think I’m moving on.
I think these would not be a good starter book set for families that like to read cozies together depending on the age of your children , because the ghosts of the murdered stick around at the Holiday mansion. I found it funny that Juniper’s staff stuck around . Some kids it might might scare.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second Attempted Holiday Murder

Juniper is having a Thanksgiving dinner for most of Cresent Cove, even Detective Mallard (even though she acts like she dislikes him) & his deputies are there!! Everything is perfect till someone ends up in the pecan pie. Now Juniper has to figure out who is trying to kill her before they try again. However, she has to do it without Mallard getting in her way or knowing what she’s up to! Of course she figures it out, with some help from others & is ready to move on to Christmas!! Good read!!

[T.J. Puritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the second book on her holiday series that I listened to on audio. A few of my complaints of the first novel were handled here, specifically the need for some backstory and world building. As a reader though I’m still craving more in both areas.
The main character is quite annoying and the story doesn’t do much to let us get into her background. I’m not sure if I will continue listening to these. That will depend on whether or not I can get other more interesting titles from the library apps.

[moxieBK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanksgiving Dinner Dinner (Juniper Holiday Mystery Series #2) — Leighann Dobbs/Narrator: Kasey Logan (20 chapters) November 16, 2024

Another holiday party, another Juniper mystery….and this one comes too close to home when Detective Quackers…er, I mean Mallard faceplants into the dinner table after drinking a cup intended for Junie. Or was it?

It seems like the detective owes his life to her when he miraculously recovers. And now they are uneasily working together to solve the whodunit.

Five stars.

[Janice E. Ryberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanksgiving Dinner Death (Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery Book 2)

Well, Thanksgiving is only two days away, so this has been perfect timing. The characters are colorful and the mystery is light hearted in spite of the use of poison used to kill the detective. Juniper is a kick and her goddaughter Tori sounds like a sweetie. Of course I love the pets (both cats and dog). I love these holiday books!!

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juniper Holiday is hosting another gala for Thanksgiving.
All the guests are seated and dining.
Everything is good until one of the guests suddenly collapses into their dessert plate.

Thanksgiving Dinner Death is the second book in the Juniper Holiday series.
It is a stand alone book that is a clean read and has fun characters and a nice whodunit.

[Vita Lindquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

I read the first book in the series for Halloween, so I wanted to read the next one around Thanksgiving. They are very easy reads & lighthearted cozy mysteries. Not the best mysteries I’ve read, but again probably going to finish the series as they are easy reads & all interconnected - or at least the characters stories continue from book to book.

[Noell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.
Quirky paranormal murder mystery that's short and sweet. Though trying to figure out Junipers age is a bit much, as she jokes about pushing 40 and plastic surgery only to be labeled as a grandmotherly age who is spry. While enjoyable, I feel as though the author is missing a trick somehow.

[Anne Brooker-grogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Perfect Thanksgiving Read!

We did a low-key Thanksgiving this year, and my reward was an evening of reading! A great story, a happy ending for almost everyone, and some good laughs throughout! I highly recommend this book!

Now, onward to Christmas!

[SIDNI A RUNQUIST · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting storyline

This story had all the needed properties but added a different twist. It had a climax at the beginning. Then the author spent some time developing the characters which led to a surprise ending.

[Sheila Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. This is the second installment in the Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery Series. The story was well-written, well-paced, and entertaining. This one was better than the first. Worth the time to read. I'm hoping my library obtains other books written by this author.

[Louisa Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a cute story.

I’m enjoying the progression in the stories in this series. Juniper and Duckman are having a growing respect for each other, though they each can’t show it yet.