Audiobook Review – Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost

Posted November 23, 2018 by Carole in Audiobook, Book Reviews, HoHoHoRAT2018 / 36 Comments

Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost
Narrated by Allyson Ryan
Series: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #1
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Date Read: November 13, 2018
Length:  8 hours 16 minutes
Source: Library via Hoopla
★★★★☆

Filled with holiday charm and perfect for fans of Leslie Meier, Jacqueline Frost’s charming series debut Twelve Slays of Christmas is set at a Christmas tree farm when the jolliest time of the year turns deadly.

When Holly White’s fiancé cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime – exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society, Margaret Fenwick, is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly’s family tree farm.

When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly’s father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn’t help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father and is determined to exonerate him.

The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn’t watch out, she’ll end up on Santa’s naughty list.

My Review

I had a fantastic time with this cozy!  I had heard some really good things about this book so when I noticed that my library had a copy of the audio available, I decided to give it a try.  I was not disappointed.  Once I started listening to this book, I didn’t want to put it down.

Holly White has moved back home after her fiance decided to break things off just before the wedding.  It works out that she is home just in time to help out during the busiest time of her at her parents’ Christmas tree farm.   When someone is murdered at the farm, things change quickly and everyone is a suspect.  In order to get the farm open again, Holly decided to look into the murder herself and things get even more interesting.

I loved the characters in this book.  Holly really felt real to me.  She was smart and well-adjusted.  I loved that she had a great relationship with her parents.  Her parents were wonderful and I thought the way they wanted to protect Holly felt very authentic.  Sheriff Evan Grey was great.  I really appreciated the fact that he was a capable officer.  He was calm and seemed to be able to handle just about anything.  I really liked the relationship that developed between Holly and Evan over the course of the story.

I liked the fact that the mystery kept me guessing until the very end.  There were quite a few possible suspects and a whole lot of people in town that had some kind of motive for the murder.  There were several characters that I didn’t completely trust.  As new developments were discovered, I found myself trying to piece everything together but I couldn’t figure out exactly what happened in this story until the big reveal was made.

This was the first time that I have listened to Allyson Ryan and I thought she did a wonderful job with this book.  I found the voices that she used for the characters really added to the story.  I thought that she did a great job of expressing the characters’ emotions through her reading.  I thought she had a very pleasant voice that was easy to listen to for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others.  I thought that this was a very well done cozy mystery and would be the perfect choice for the holiday season.  I am looking forward to reading more in this series very soon.

The Series
Book #1 – Twelve Slays of Christmas
Book #2 – ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas
About the Author

Jacqueline Frost is a mystery-loving pet enthusiast who hopes to make readers smile. She lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three spunky children. Jacqueline is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Sisters in Crime (SinC).

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36 responses to “Audiobook Review – Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost”

  16. Barb

    Yay! Glad you liked it. It really is a perfect Christmas read. And the second one is just as good. I'd love to visit the town. It and its residents sound like such fun.