Stalking Around the Christmas tree by Jacqueline Frost
Published: October 17, 2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Author: Website
Info: Goodreads
For inn keeper Holly White, Christmas time in Mistletoe, Maine, is the ultimate holiday gift. Business at the Reindeer Games Inn is booming, her wedding to Sheriff Evan Gray is nearly here, and the annual parade is about to begin. The town is lucky to have another gift this year with the state’s ballet company staying for several performances of The Nutcracker. But disaster strikes when Tiffany, the lead ballerina, shows up dead on a float during the parade, the Rat King’s mask nearby. Holly will have to spruce up her sleuthing skills if she wants to catch the killer before Christmas—and her wedding day.
Immediately, Holly discovers that Tiffany had more than a few secrets. She finds out that the star of the show had a super fan that no one knows anything about. And the show’s understudy slips some other intriguing information Holly’s way: not only was Tiffany secretly seeing someone romantically, but there seems to be more than one rat in this company. When Holly discovers a secret passage leading to Tiffany’s dressing room, with footprints leading out; she wonders if this is evidence of a secret lover—or a stalking killer.
With an impending snowstorm and the ballet company on the way out of town, Holly must act quickly if she wants to find the person responsible for this terrible murder. Will she be able to save Christmas—or will her investigation turn cold like the weather? (goodreads.com)
Uuuuuggghhhh I can read these books forever. Although I do have to say STALKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE is probably my least favorite of the series (we’re talking likje 4.5 out of 5 instead of the whole 5). I just didn’t think Holly’s involvement in the plot was as immediate or necessary this time around as I did in the other books. But plot-wise, character-wise, story-wise, I loved the rest of it.
Seeing as how I just watched a holiday rom-com on Netflix on a recent flight, I can solidly say that I have an appreciation for holiday stories like this, but there’s a limit. I think the Christmas Tree Farm Mysteries books are sweet, but not too sweet. Lots of kitschy goings-on (Theodore and his annual calendar, for instance, or that none of the main characters really fight more than a barely-there squabble), lots of Christmas cheer, but I think that murder mystery takes the sweetness down a peg. It makes the book not so sickeningly sweet. That rom-com I watched? While I enjoyed myself, it was too sweet for me. Very idealistic to an extreme. Not for me. This series is idealistic with a cold cup of water to the face.
I love how everything played out in the story and I loved the dual “solve a murder and have a wedding” timeline going on here. I love how Frost really twisted those clues into the writing and how I had no idea who it was until the reveal. Not a complaint to be had anywhere in there.
The only more critical comments I would say to what I said at the beginning, Holly didn’t feel as necessary to the mystery solving this time around. The threats didn’t feel as threatening because she didn’t seem as much of a busy body in this book. Also, the note at the end, I would have expected that from book one or two Holly, but not book four Holly. She should have known better by now, and as result I felt that part was pretty contrived. It still worked, we got our bang of an ending and everything wrapped up nicely, and without a black eye to show for it (or a makeup-covered one, anyway)!
So still totally enjoyable and I really, really hope there will be more books coming in this series. I just felt Holly’s involvement and that climax could have been a smidge tighter.
4.5
