Murder by Death

We really need a "meh" emoticon. 

The Bark Before Christmas wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  It didn't feel Christmassy, the plot was oddly non-existent for much of the book, and the ending was rushed.  I never did figure out just what the hell was going on with those people; it was weird.

All of which makes the book sound like it cruised past 'meh' and straight into bad, but the characters - if you've read the previous 17 books and you're invested - were enough to keep it interesting.  Melanie is back to work at the preparatory school she worked at in the beginning of the series and the environment was ripe with possibilities.  But i just sort of felt like the author's heart wasn't quite into it.  

I won't say no to the next one, but I'm not rushing out to buy it either.