A Christmas delight, ’Twas the Knife Before Christmas will charm the stockings off readers of Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier.
It’s out of the cupcake tin, into the fire for Holly White’s best friend, Caroline. Can Holly clear Caroline’s name in time to go caroling?
When a body turns up in a larger-than-life candy bowl filled with peppermints on the town square, Holly White is horrified to learn her best friend Caroline is the main suspect. Everyone in town, including Mistletoe, Maine’s sheriff, saw Caroline fighting with the victim on the night of his death. Worse, a custom kitchen knife, engraved with Caroline's initials was found with him.
Now, just ten days before Christmas, Holly’s up to her jingle bells in holiday shenanigans and in desperate need of a miracle. Juggling extra shifts at her family’s Christmas tree farm and making enough gingerbread jewelry to satisfy the crowd is already more than she can handle―and now she has to find time to clear her best friend of murder. Add in her budding relationship with the sheriff, and a personal stalker dressed as Santa Claus, and Holly’s ready to fly south until springtime.
But her Sherpa-lined mittens come off when Caroline is taken into custody. Can Holly wrap up the case in time for Christmas...even after she gains the true killer’s attention? Find out in ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas, Jacqueline Frost’s second pine-scented Christmas Tree Farm mystery.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite love this one as much as I did the first book in the series. The mystery aspect was well done. I still really enjoy that setting and the overall festive feeling. It has a great cast of characters. Holly is still a very likable heroine.
However, the whole Ethan and Holly "romance" was just odd. At the end of the last book they kissed, and it seemed like they were headed towards Coupeville, then at the beginning of this book, you find out that after that kiss they have barely said two words to each other for the entire year. Halfway through you find out the reason why (and it was kind of a weak excuse in my opinion), then things seem to be more on track (we even get a kiss AGAIN), and then at the end Ethan basically tells her the next year is going to be the same as the previous one. He will be gone a lot so they won't see each other much. He won't be able to talk to her about it. At this point, I would rather see Holly get with Ray since they seem to have WAY more chemistry together as friends than her and Ethan.
Last, I said this in my last review, but this book would have been a bit more special if the author had included some of the recipes for the things mentioned in the book. All in all, it was an OK read, and I enjoyed it enough to pick up the next book in the series.
