A Wonderful Christmas Crime: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery
Innkeeper Holly White has a lot to be joyful about this season, until an attempted robbery throws the town into suspicion in the sixth installment of the Christmas Tree Farm mysteries from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.
As Christmas descends on Mistletoe, Maine, Holly White has an extra gift for the season: a new baby on the way. Her husband, Sheriff Evan Gray, has been worried about her elevated blood pressure, and Holly has agreed to take this year easy. Being idle has never been one of Holly’s gifts, so when Evan surprises her with tickets to the town-wide dinner, she and her many cravings thank him. But when a thief tries and fails to steal an antique ornament from the dinner’s holiday display, it’s clear that someone is on the naughty list.
The thief manages to escape, but after dinner, Holly spots their lifeless body. It’s clear that someone in town was keen to kill them. Evan is less than jolly to find his wife at the scene of yet another holiday homicide and asks her to promise that she’ll leave the investigating to the police. But Holly has never been one to turn down a challenge and has to get creative with the help of a few of her friends in order to find this killer.
Will she and her friends be able to stop the killer and uncover the motive behind the attempted robbery, or will the killer strike again and paint the town a bloody red?
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Community Reviews
I am now caught up with Holly and her motley crew of family and friends in Mistletoe, ME, the Christmas themed town that has a history of having a murder every Christmas, for now the sixth year in a row. The host and fans of the podcast, Dead and Berried, have now nicknamed Holly the Gumdrop Gumshoe because Holly always inserts herself into the investigation and the center of the murder and mayhem every year.
However, this year, Holly has promised to stay out of the investigation because Evan is worried about Holly and their baby getting injured, as has been the case in the past because Holly never keeps her promises of staying out of the murder and mayhem. Furthermore, she intentionally engages in subterfuge in order to do exactly what she wants and breaking her promises to her family and friends. Oh well, this is just the way that Holly is, and it wouldn’t be a story without Holly doing her thing.
Most of the story revolves around investigating the murder of a woman who had earlier in the night tried to steal a valuable ornament from Alice, one of the participants of the progressive dinner event. Additionally, Holly believes that the murderer is leaving threatening messages to her in the daily newspaper crossword puzzle. Holly zeroes in on one particular person who was at the restaurant the night the murdered victim tried to steal the ornament. There is also another storyline of inflatable Santa’s being stolen from residents’ front yards.
By the halfway point, Evan discovers that Holly has been doing her own investigation into this person (of course she has Evan) and now the threats are getting more frightening. Evan is forced to assign babysitters to Holly because not only can she no longer be trusted to keep her promises, but she also can’t be trusted to stay out of trouble and keep herself and their baby from being targeted by a murderer. It’s deep into the second half that the storylines come to a conclusion, with one storyline ending being a real tear-jerker.
The continuing character of Holly and the rest of the Mistletoe cast was well done. Love Cookie! She is one of my fave characters. The pacing was steady and the storyline interesting. The writing was on par with the series. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.9 that I will be rounding up to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks #AWonderfulChristmasCrime
However, this year, Holly has promised to stay out of the investigation because Evan is worried about Holly and their baby getting injured, as has been the case in the past because Holly never keeps her promises of staying out of the murder and mayhem. Furthermore, she intentionally engages in subterfuge in order to do exactly what she wants and breaking her promises to her family and friends. Oh well, this is just the way that Holly is, and it wouldn’t be a story without Holly doing her thing.
Most of the story revolves around investigating the murder of a woman who had earlier in the night tried to steal a valuable ornament from Alice, one of the participants of the progressive dinner event. Additionally, Holly believes that the murderer is leaving threatening messages to her in the daily newspaper crossword puzzle. Holly zeroes in on one particular person who was at the restaurant the night the murdered victim tried to steal the ornament. There is also another storyline of inflatable Santa’s being stolen from residents’ front yards.
By the halfway point, Evan discovers that Holly has been doing her own investigation into this person (of course she has Evan) and now the threats are getting more frightening. Evan is forced to assign babysitters to Holly because not only can she no longer be trusted to keep her promises, but she also can’t be trusted to stay out of trouble and keep herself and their baby from being targeted by a murderer. It’s deep into the second half that the storylines come to a conclusion, with one storyline ending being a real tear-jerker.
The continuing character of Holly and the rest of the Mistletoe cast was well done. Love Cookie! She is one of my fave characters. The pacing was steady and the storyline interesting. The writing was on par with the series. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.9 that I will be rounding up to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks #AWonderfulChristmasCrime
