Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year’s (Mrs. Claus #5) by Liz Ireland #bookreview #mystery

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Title: Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year’s

Author:  Liz Ireland

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: Sept 24, 2024

Page Count:   304

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

It’s beginning to look a lot like New Year’s in this creative and witty mystery featuring a unique heroine who’s married to the real-life Santa Claus and living in the North Pole. Santaland is scrambling to keep its secrets hidden from a trio of unexpected guests, but before the New Year’s Eve ball drops, the countdown is on for April Claus to catch a killer…

April Claus is looking forward to relaxing with her hubby, Nick (aka THE Santa Claus), in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. But just after Santa departs for his deliveries, an elf pulls into Santaland with three people he found lost in the frozen wilderness. The survivors of a scientific expedition are injured, but their presence endangers the future of Santaland. So, while the strangers recuperate at the infirmary, April convinces Christmastown to pull off its grandest, most impossible, most magical feat yet . . . pretend to be normal!

Posing as a touristy, albeit Christmas-centric, arctic town, the elves cover their ears, snowmen take a vow of silence, and the reindeer keep their hooves on the ground. But as New Year’s Eve draws closer, hiding their true selves becomes harder to do, especially when one of the uninvited guests dies under highly suspicious circumstances. With a murderer in their midst, April sets out to find the uncorked culprit before any auld acquaintances should be forgot . . . or worse.

Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year’s by Liz Ireland is the fifth book in the cozy Mrs. Claus series. As with most cozy mystery series each book in the Mrs. Claus series features it’s own mystery that will be fully solved with that book so they can each be read as a standalone or in any order if choosing to do so. There will be some character development that carries over from book to book though for those that follow the series from the beginning.

April Claus was just a regular woman living in the United States when she met Nick, the man she just knew she’d be spending the rest of her life with. What April didn’t know or suspect at the time was that the wonderful Nick she was going to marry was none other than THE Santa Claus. After marrying Nick April found herself moving to Christmastown in Santaland at the North Pole and living among elves with Christmas celebrated year round.

After spending a few years in Christmastown at the North Pole with the elves and celebrating all things Christmas April had decided to start teaching all of Christmastown about the other holidays. April’s plans this year was to spend a week relaxing with Nick before celebrating New Year’s but things of course don’t go as planned. Just as Santa is off on his deliveries for Christmas a group of human strangers are rescued and brought to Christmastown so now April has to get the entire town to appear “normal” while pretending to be a remote Canadian town but when one member of the lost group dies April knows it was no accident and must find another murderer.

The cozy Mrs. Claus mystery series is one that I have followed from the very beginning and always enjoy coming back to. Being a fan of the more over the top quirky Cozies the Mrs. Claus series fits right into my reading pile with all things Christmas surrounding our ametuer slueth lead. Such a fun series to bring the elves and snowmen and reindeer etc all to life while chasing down an intriguing mystery. Definitely one I’d like to come back to again in the future if I can.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Liz Ireland, author of the Mrs. Claus cozy mystery series, has written over forty works of romance, women’s fiction, and mystery. She also publishes under the names Elizabeth Bass and Liz Freeland. Originally from the United States, she now lives on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia.