A fun and cute murder mystery! Never read one of those before but I enjoyed it a lot, definitely going to read more in the series.
The story is a simple caper, really: An outsider to the magical Christmas town of Candy Cane Hollow, Holly Wood (yes, like that), happens in just as the local doctor’s receptionist gets poisoned. As she is the main character, we know she didn’t do it, but it then becomes her purpose in town to track down the real killer; her benefactor Mrs. Claus (yes, like that) has become the prime suspect and Holly makes it her job to clear the name of the kindly woman.
With a plentiful cast of Christmas-y characters and a cozy aesthetic, Holly does figure out the mystery (no spoilers) and gets to enjoy a merry Christmas with Santa and his family.
I’m new to the “cozy mystery” genre, being recommended this book (inadvertently) by one of my favorite YouTubers, Peter Monn. Despite my unfamiliarity, I did enjoy this quite a lot. There are some criticisms one could levy at the short novel, but it was a fun and cute romp and everything ends happily for almost everyone (except the poor murder victim’s family, I suppose).
I liked the characters a lot and I’m definitely going to read the rest of the series, if I can find it.