Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off (Beacon Bakeshop #2) by Darci Hannah #bookreview #mystery

Title: Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off

Author: Darci Hannah

Publisher:  Kensington Cozies

Publication Date: September 28, 2021

Page Count:  222

My rating: 5 stars

About the book:

Tucked away inside an old lighthouse in Beacon Harbor, Michigan, bakeshop café owner Lindsey Bakewellis ready to make her first Christmas in town shine bright. But her merry plans crumble fast when murder appears under the mistletoe . . .

With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever—winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Unfortunately, striving for a picture-perfect December in Beacon Harbor is a lot like biting into stale shortbread. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition . . .

Self-appointed Christmas know-it-all Felicity Stewart is determined to take the top spot in the bake‑off, and she’s not afraid to dump a little coal in everyone’s stocking to do it. Just as the competition heats up, everything falls apart when the judge is found dead—and covered in crumbs from Lindsey’s signature cookie!

Solving a murder was never on Lindsey’s wish list. But with her reputation on the line during the happiest time of the year, she’ll need to bring her best talents to the table in order to sift out the true Christmas Cookie culprit.

Includes Delicious Recipes!

Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off by Darci Hannah is the second book in the  cozy Beacon Bakeshop series. As with most cozy series each book in the Beacon Bakeshop series will have it’s own fully solved mystery so readers can read each as a standalone or in any order. However, there is some character development that will carry over from book to book for those that read the series from the beginning.

Lindsey Bakeswell has that “safe” career that she thought she should have and a boyfriend that she thought may have been the one. When Lindsey’s relationship crumbles when she catches her celebrity chef boyfriend with another woman she decides to ditch the safe career and follow her dreams of owning her own bakeshop. Lindsey packed up and moved to her childhood vacation destination of Beacon Harbor, Michigan where she bought the old lighthouse intending to convert it into a bakery and home for herself and her dog, Wellington.

Now Lindsey is spending her first Christmas in her new home in Beacon Harbor and business is booming with the holiday orders coming in. Already swamped with orders and short on staff Lindsey gets a visit from Felicity Stewart who runs a Christmas shop year round in town and feels she knows it all when it comes to the holiday. Felicity has organized a Christmas cookie bake off that of course she thinks she’ll win so Lindsey plans to enter a perfect Christmas creation.  However, just as the contest is in full swing a judge is found murdered so Lindsey of course does everything she can to catch another killer.

Darci Hannah is an author that I’m very familiar with now having read another series by her and the first two books of the Beacon Bakeshop series and I’ve enjoyed them all. Just the right mix of quirky humor and fun along with an interesting mystery this second book seemed even more fun that the first. I usually reserve my praise for a twisty story for thrillers but this cozy had a lot of twists that kept me on my toes until the very end. With such lovely characters and a charming setting thrown into the mix I’ll be sure to return to the Beacon Bakeshop series for book three!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

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