Stalking Around The Christmas Tree by Jacqueline Frost
I know it’s a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but with all the new holiday mysteries coming out this year, I wanted to get the ball rolling!
I’d be hard pressed to find a better book to kick off the holiday mystery season than Jacqueline Frost’s “over the top” seasonal cozy mystery: Stalking Around the Christmas Tree.
Reindeer Games Inn and Tree Farm are nestled in Mistletoe Maine. In this stellar cozy, everything screams Christmas (and that’s a good thing)! Holly White is the innkeeper of this fun-loving and creative family business. It’s just about a week before Christmas, and Holly is busy juggling her duties not only as an innkeeper, but helping out on the tree farm.
And there’s also a huge Christmas Eve wedding planned – and the icing on the wedding cake? It’s Holly finally marrying Sheriff Evan Gray! Christmas is always busy for Holly and her family this time of year – but the marital event sure has kicked things up a few notches.
Even the town is busier than usual. The local mayor has brought in a prominent ballet company to perform the Nutcracker, bringing in even more tourists for the holidays.
Everything is busy, but going as planned – until the day of the Christmas parade. When one of the ballerina’s is discovered murdered inside a snow globe on one of the parade floats, Mistletoe is turned upside down – and that’s the last thing Holly and Sheriff Gray need right before their wedding!
Sheriff Gray is hot on the case – and Holly, being the amateur sleuth that she is, is doing her own poking around to get this solved before their big day. They both suspect the culprit is part of the ballet company – but with no leads, no motives and a whole lot of suspects, time is running out. If Gray doesn’t make an arrest soon, the ballet company will be leaving town for their next gig – and someone will have gotten away with cold blooded murder!
I love everything about this mystery and the series. The characters are home-spun and original. The plot is solid with plenty of suspects for the reader to hone in on.
The setting makes this cozy mystery and the series extra magical. As an example: Holly’s mom runs the Hearth Cafe at the Christmas tree farm. It’s a life-size gingerbread house featuring home-made cookies, cakes and coffee. The inside features red and white striped candy cane booths with hand carved chocolate bar tables – oh please, take me there!
This feel-good mystery truly is all things sugar and spice and Christmasy nice! Stalking Around the Christmas Tree is filled with: characters guaranteed to warm your heart, plenty of holiday romance and a holiday mystery just begging to be solved.
This is the 4th installment of Jacqueline Frost’s Christmas Tree Farm Mysteries published by Crooked Lane Books. Whether you read it now or hold on to it until the holidays, be prepared to be immediately launched into the Christmas spirit!
A copy of this book and cover photo were provided by Crooked Lane Books.