'Twas the Knife Before Christmas by Jacqueline Frost
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
This was great! I listened to the first book in this series around the holidays last year so I was excited to check out this second installment this season. Each book could be read as a stand-alone even though I think that the relationships between the characters would be best appreciated if the series is read in order. I had a great time with this one and found it to be a wonderful holiday read.
Holly is looking forward to a nice murder-free Christmas. She goes wither her friend Caroline to an event in town where a giant candy bowl is revealed. Unfortunately, this year the bowl of candy has been topped off by a body. The murder weapon near the body is one from Caroline's shop so Holly decided to do a little investigating herself.
I thought that this murder mystery was very well done. I had no idea who the culprit was until it was revealed in the story. Holly is just a wonderful character and she really does seem to have a knack for solving the crimes in Mistletoe. The town does, of course, have a sheriff who is also quite capable and happens to be interested in Holly even if he doesn't always act like it. In fact, I found that the mystery behind the sheriff's behavior to almost as interesting as the murder.
Allyson Ryan did a fantastic job with the narration of this story. I loved all of the voices that she used for the different characters. She added a lot of emotion into her reading which made everything a little more exciting. She read the book at a very nice pace and I found her voice to be very pleasant. I think I enjoyed this book a bit more because I decided to listen to the audiobook.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a very well done cozy mystery filled with wonderful characters and quite a bit of Christmas spirit. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of this fun series.
Initial Thoughts
This was so much fun! I listened to the first book in this series, Twelve Slays of Christmas, around Christmas last year and enjoyed it so I was excited to give this one a try this year. I thought that the mystery in the story was really well done and the characters were wonderful. The narrator did a fantastic job with the story which added to my enjoyment.
Book source: Library via Hoopla