Synopsis
Welcome to Candy Cane Hollow, where every day feels like Christmas!
Holly Wood (yes, that’s her real name) is driving home for Christmas and not feeling too happy about the empty house waiting for her.
When her car skids into a snow bank, she’s rescued by a sweet old lady who promises her name is Mrs Claus.
Holly is taken to Candy Cane Hollow to recover, and finds herself in a genuine winter wonderland.
As Christmas Day approaches, the grouchy medical receptionist appears to have been poisoned by a mince pie.
And to Holly’s surprise, Mrs Claus is the prime suspect.
With Mrs Claus under suspicion, Holly vows to return the woman’s generosity by clearing her name.
Maybe it will impress Mrs Claus’ dimpled dish of a son, too?
Review
Thanks to Tantor Media and Netgalley for the audio arc!
This is a cozy fantasy/romance where the impossible is not so far out of reach. When Holly’s car skids into a snowbank, she receives aid from the one and only Mrs. Claus. Yes, the real one. She may not realize that at the time it happens, but she is soon brought to Candy Cane Hollow—a place not too from London, and one she is sure she’s never heard about—to see the doctor and recover. The doctor’s receptionist—who is quite rude to Holly as an outsider—is mysteriously found poisoned. And worse, the only suspect is Mrs. Claus herself! Holly stays to do some amateur sleuthing when Mrs. Claus’ (of course) handsome son Nick asks her to stay.
Not my typical genre, I usually only read cozy or romantic type things during the holiday season. Especially if Christmas is actually part of the plot. This one caught my eye because it made me think of the Christmas Tree Farm Mystery series that I have quite enjoyed so far. However this one is a bit more modest, with its cleanliness actually being mentioned in its blurb. One of the draws to the books by Frost, at least for me, who doesn’t dabble in the genre too often, is the fact that there’s a bit of darkness to them. Actual danger and stakes, some bloodier murder too…
By no means does that mean I disliked this story! It’s cozy and filled with hot cocoa and some thought out investigating. I enjoyed that because the town itself is filled with cheer and the magic of Christmas, the police force doesn’t really know how to handle being seriously needed. They aren’t used to crime, nor are they sure how to approach the town’s idolized figures, the Clauses. To take them down a peg, off their pedestal, seems wrong, but what if Mrs. Claus is actually guilty? In a magical little town such as this it’s hard to imagine anyone is capable of murder.
The thing that kept it more on the fine and just silly side for me is the fact that without any grittiness or darkness, everything is always just super tied up into a little bow. While we knew to never actually suspect Mrs. Claus, and there were a few red herrings, I found the reveal to be rather obvious. Certainly not bad for a quick holiday read or a fan of cozy though.
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