A Murder Yule Regret
A holiday costume party in the sleepy coastal town of Santa Sofia could be just the boost Ivy needs for her fledgling photography business. At the party, Ivy enters a victorian fantasy come to life, all courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Fox. Ivy gets to play shutterbug while hanging with Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits, and more classic Dickens characters. But what begins as the best of times is the worst for one of the party guests, a tabloid journalist with more enemies than Ebenezer himself.
When the man’s body is sprawled across the jagged rocks below the house, fingers point at Eliza. Meanwhile, Ivy gets roped into helping prove the starlet’s innocence. Her festive photos are now official evidence, and the ghosts of Christmas present could mean the party for Eliza is over, once and for all.
The Details
Series: A Bread Shop Mystery – Book #7
Author: Winnie Archer
Genre/Category: Cozy – Culinary/Holiday
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Isbn: 149673355x
Page Count: 352
Rating: 
The Review
Ivy is an excellent character with incredible insight. She has the personality of a crime reporter who loves her job, with the empathy of a hard-working woman with ambitions beyond everyday life. She loves helping to bake bread at Yeast of Eden with Olaya, but her passion is photography. In A Murder Yule Regret, the seventh book in the “A Bread Shop Mystery” series, Ivy uses her photography skills to help catch a killer.
As with all the books in this series, the characters are front and center, each adding nuance to the story that keeps the reader empathizing with them while keeping them entertained. Miguel, Ivy’s boyfriend, helps when he can, but it comes down to Ivy and Em, Ivy’s sister-in-law, and the local sheriff to find a killer. Murder during the holidays isn’t ever good, but in some cases, it may be justified. The settings are always interesting, and the bread descriptions and recipes will make anyone want to grab a loaf or bake one. Ivy’s photographs sound beautiful and help the reader imagine the scene.
The victim in this book is a creepy reporter who loves to destroy the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. Celebrities fear seeing or speaking to him, and most people who interact with him soon regret it. The suspects are varied, each with a good motive and opportunity, but the police zero in on one suspect who appears to have the most to lose. But Ivy doesn’t believe it, and as she follows the clues, she begins to understand how easy it would be to hate someone as vile as the victim. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough delicious bread in the world to forget the foulness of the man at what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.
Between murders, her photography work, working at Yeast of Eden, helping to create the scrumptious desserts and bread, and Christmas holiday prep, Ivy tracks the suspects and the clues to reveal a killer. There are moments of intense action and emotion and times when there is peace and tranquility throughout A Murder Yule Regret. This is a holiday story worth the read and will make this series continue into the next year.
The Author
Melissa Bourbon Ramirez, aka Winnie Archer, is the national bestselling author of seventeen mystery books. She is a former middle school English teacher who gave up the classroom to live in her imagination full time.
Melissa, a California native who has lived in Texas and Colorado, now calls the southeast home. She hikes, practices yoga, cooks, and is slowly but surely discovering all the great restaurants in the Carolinas. Since four of her five amazing kids are living their lives scattered throughout the country, her dogs, Bean, the pug; Dobby, the chug; and Jasper, a cattle dog/lab, keep her company while she writes.
Melissa lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and their youngest son. She is beyond fortunate to be living the life of her dreams.
Readers may enjoy another book in the “A Bread Shop Mystery” series Death Gone A-Rye.
Represented by: Root Literary Agency
Contact Winnie: 
Contact The Cozy Review
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