Detective John Hooper, William Monk's right-hand man at the Thames River Police, is blissfully happy in his new marriage to Celia, the cousin of a victim in one of the river police's recent murder cases

Celia wants the same happiness for her good friend Clementine, who's just announced her engagement to Seth Marlowe, a member of her church.

Christmas is nearing, and this should be extra cause for celebration, but when Marlowe begins receiving threatening letters about his first wife's death, it becomes clear that he is far from the devout man Clementine thought he was. In his rage, Marlowe accuses Celia of sending the letters, claiming she wants to ruin his engagement to Clementine.

In his rage, Marlowe accuses Celia of sending the letters, claiming she wants to ruin his engagement to Clementine. At a loss as to how to defend herself, Celia enlists Hooper to investigate the letters' claims, and what he finds makes her desperate to show Clementine the truth about her soon-to-be husband.

But Celia herself has not always been truthful, especially not during the murder trial following her cousin's death.

How can she be believed now, when she lied on the stand?

Especially when Marlowe knows that she did, and could use it against her. This Yuletide season finds love and faith put to the test--and Celia's and Clementine's lives on the line.

Thank you, Goodreads and Random House Book Club for a chance to read A Christmas Resolution!

“{She is a beautiful woman, in her own way. She has a brightness about her, a light within, you will see a change in him, you will have to forgive the darkness and the pain in him, before it has been healed. We can most of do afterward.”}

This was a nice Christmas romance mystery book. It is definitely fast read! The book also holds a lesson I think everyone needs to be reminded of from time to time. Forgive yourself and others and the hardest one is to forgive those that you don’t really like in the first place. I really did enjoy this book. It was hard to put down once i got started! Hopefully it will do the same for you! Happy reading everyone!

This Christmas novella centers around forgiveness and honesty. If I am being honest I didn't like it that much. I am glad it was a novella instead of a novel. The story became very redundant.

Audiobook: this was a lovely Christmas story. A lot about the meaning of Christmas and forgiveness. A mystery and a nice ending. Just what I look for in Anne Perry’s Christmas tales.

A Christmas Resolution by Anne Perry
Enjoying this read because it's about a woman who sticks up for her best friend Clementine who is marrying a man she really doesn't know and has no idea what he's all about.
Seth Marlowe corners Celia and tells her to stay away from his wife to be or he will divulge her lies on the witness stand.
She hurries to visit the vicar and he knows that she lied but for a really good reason.
She hopes her spouse doesn't also find out....so she informs him of the trouble. John takes it upon himself along with some police and they follow the clues and find a person who has reliable first hand knowledge of what really happened.
Religion is involved along with forgiveness.
Quite different than anything I've read before, how it all comes down and why. Everything comes out at the end, what a great mystery story especially for the upcoming holidays.
I received this review copy from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
#AChristmasResolution #NetGalley

I didn't know this was a novella when I started reading it. I'm not usually a fan of short stories so I can't hold it against Anne Perry and will still give her William Monk series another try, but A Christmas Resolution did not change my opinion about short stories. There just isn't enough book to really develop any characters or spin a complex or interesting story. I feel like you can read the summary of this book and really have all the information you would get if you actually read the story. I suppose it's one of those 'cozy' reads if that interests you. But even the Christmas aspect of it didn't feel very tangible to me.

Basically the whole story is: Celia's friend Clementine is engaged to a man with a hard past that may or may not be dangerous. Her husband who is a policeman tries to find out while Celia worries about her friend and struggles with whether or not she is being judgmental and denying them both a chance at happiness. That's it. The results of the investigation aren't super surprising- which is fine, I read plenty of mysteries that I can figure out- but there just wasn't enough pages to really do anything with it in my opinion.

I am also confused by the title of it- A Christmas Resolution. After reading it, I am not entirely sure what the resolution was and who was making it. They talk a lot about forgiveness so maybe they decide to forgive more?

Another thing to keep in mind- it's set in a time period where men and women's roles were not what they are today. So it'll probably make you cringe, but we can at least recognize how far we've come from that at least.

So the positives: it's a feel-good story, it portrays a healthy marriage between Celia and Hooper, it has a message of forgiveness, it's a quick read (a pro since I didn't like it that much)
The negatives: to me, it was boring and lacked depth

I'm guessing if the cover of this book appeals to you and looks like something you would like, then you probably would like it. I just prefer longer, more complex or hard-hitting books. If I was going to read a cozy Christmas mystery then I would have preferred to have the Christmas part more tangible and descriptive... like a Hallmark Christmas movie.

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**