Book Description
New parents Holly White and Sheriff Evan Gray are sleep deprived but incandescently happy to be celebrating their baby’s first Christmas. Their family, friends, and neighbors are spoiling the newest addition. Adding to the perfect holiday season is the recent completion of their newly built home. All that’s left to do is move in and send off those change-of-address cards. But their cup full of cheer turns sour when Holly discovers a dead body.
It all started with a sweet trip down memory lane—Candy Cane Lane and Toyland were two of Holly’s favorites as a child, and she had been looking forward to sharing them with her baby. Then she stumbled upon the body of Greysen, the animal keeper, left among the reindeer at the petting zoo.
Earlier in the day, Holly witnessed a fight between Greysen and a stranger. Stranger still, the reindeer petting zoo had originally been empty that day—no reindeer in sight until they reappeared along with a corpse.
As Holly fights to keep the Christmas spirit alive, she is Greysen’s only chance at justice—and her baby’s only chance at a happy first Christmas.
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF MURDER (Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Book #7) by Jacqueline Frost is back for a highly anticipated annual holiday visitation with Holly, her family, and friends in Mistletoe, Maine and of course the annual murder. This is a series that I recommend is read in order of publication because the lives of the characters are continually evolving and they make this series so endearing that you want to follow their lives besides also including a good cozy mystery murder.
Holly White-Gray and husband Sheriff Evan Gray are sleep deprived but looking forward to their baby, Joy’s first Christmas in their newly built home on Holly’s family’s Christmas Tree Farm. Holly has been doing her best in her attempts to stay out of other people’s intrigues, but as she is taking Joy on her first trip to a childhood amusement park, she witnesses an argument. When she and her sister-in-law return later to look for the family heirloom gloves Joy lost, they discover one of the men from the argument dead in the reindeer pen.
No matter how hard she tries, Holly “The Gumdrop Gumshoe” is once again in search of a killer even as the stakes are so much higher this year with a new baby to keep safe.
I love this cozy mystery series so much and while the amateur murder investigation is always well plotted with plenty of red herrings, it is the wonderfully endearing characters that I look forward to catching up with every year. The love of family and friends, the settings, and the time of year puts you in the mood to celebrate yourself. While a murder is investigated and solved in each book, the author is still able to instill humor and fun throughout with witty dialogue and the Reindeer Games on the tree farm.
I highly recommend this enchanting addition to the Christmas Tree Farm cozy mystery series and look forward to many more to come.
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About the Author
Jacqueline Frost is a mystery-loving pet enthusiast who hopes to make readers smile. She lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three spunky children. Jacqueline is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Sisters in Crime (SinC).
Social Media Links
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/deck-the-halls-with-boughs-of-murder-by-jacqueline-frost
