**I received a complimentary copy for consideration. All thoughts are my own.
Erin is one smart cookie, but can she keep the holiday spirit―and herself―alive till Christmas?
In Jewel Bay, all is merry and bright. At Murphy's Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily has turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin.
When Merrily goes missing and her boss discovers he's been robbed, fingers point to Merrily―until she's found dead, a string of lights around her neck. The clues and danger snowball from there. Can Erin nab the killer―and keep herself in one piece―in time for a special Christmas Eve?
Includes delicious recipes!
Leslie Budewitz is passionate about food, great mysteries, and her native Montana, the setting for her national-bestselling Food Lovers Village Mysteries. The first, Death al Dente, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. She also writes the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle's Pike Place Market. A practicing lawyer, Leslie is the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime, Leslie loves to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paint―not necessarily in that order. She lives with her husband, Don Beans, a doctor of natural medicine and musician, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.
Visit her online at www.LeslieBudewitz.com, where you can find maps of the village and surrounding area, recipes, and more.
This is the fifth book in the Food Lovers' Village Mystery series, and I must admit I had not read one of them before picking this one up. Still, with a name like As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles I couldn't help but add it to my TBR right away... after all, the only thing I enjoy even more than a good cozy mystery is Christmas!
I could definitely tell right from the start that this was part of the series and I'd missed a few books. I don't mean this to say that I couldn't keep up, or was confused in any way... but it definitely gave off the impression that this was not their first introduction. I do wonder if perhaps I might have enjoyed the story a bit more had I had more backstory on the relationships and such, but overall, I didn't find it impacted my enjoyment or understanding of this particular story too much. It was a fun story perfectly blending my love of the holidays with my love of cozt mysteries... with all the charm of both. If you love cozy mysteries and are looking for a holiday read to add to your list, this is certainly worth checking out!
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