’Twas the Knife Before Christmas: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery

It’s December in the pseudonymous Frost’s sugary sequel to 2017’s Twelve Slays of Christmas, and Holly White, who’s busy working at her family’s Christmas tree farm in Mistletoe, Maine, takes a break one evening at the town’s new cupcake shop run by her friends Delores “Cookie” Cutter and Caroline West. Over cupcakes, Caroline mentions that the night before, at a benefit dinner, she yelled at her date, local entrepreneur Derek Waggoner, after he got “handsy.” Later, the ladies attend the town’s Christmas tree lighting celebration, which includes a “Guess How Many Mints” game. When the sheet covering the huge bowl standing next to the tree is whisked away, there stands revealed “a truckload of red and white swirled peppermints”—and a very dead Derek, who turns out to have been stabbed with Caroline’s butcher knife. In between consuming Christmas treats, Holly sets out to prove her friend’s innocence, despite the objections of her casual love interest, Sheriff Evan Gray. Never mind the slight mystery. Cozy fans with a sweet tooth will be in heaven. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Nov.)