Murder at The Christmas Cookie Bake-off
The Blurb
With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the cookie recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever, winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Unfortunately, striving for a picture-perfect December in Beacon Harbor is a lot like biting into stale shortbread. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition.
Self-appointed Christmas know-it-all Felicity Stewart is determined to take the top spot in the bake‑off, and she’s not afraid to dump a little coal in everyone’s stocking to do it. Just as the competition heats up, everything falls apart when the judge is found dead and covered in crumbs from Lindsey’s signature cookie!
Solving a murder was never on Lindsey’s wish list. But with her reputation on the line during the happiest time of the year, she’ll need to bring her best talents to the table in order to sift out the true Christmas Cookie culprit.
The Details
Series: A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery – Book #2
Author: Darci Hanna
Genre/Category: Cozy – Culinary/Holiday
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496731735
Page Count: 323
Rating: 
The Review
Murder at The Christmas Cookie Bake-off is the second book in the “A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery” series. The main character, Lindsey, has grown in leaps and bounds since the first book. She, along with the other cast members, is bright, imaginative, and filled with entertaining quirks and habits that are endearing. Add in some holiday cookies, a haunted lighthouse, and this story is yummy delicious.
This Christmas, Lindsey wants to be perfect, but that is never going to happen. Between a last-minute cookie bake-off, her family coming to town early, and not having an assistant baker, she is run off her feet, frustrated, and is beginning to look and sound more like the grinch than Santa. Then, just when she thought all hope was lost, a stranger appears to help her bakeshop fill orders and bring the Christmas spirit to her shop, the cookie bake-off ramps up, and Lindsey’s family lends a hand. All-in-all, Christmas is beginning to look and feel perfect until the cookie bake-off judge is murdered.
The judge was famous but more for his underhanded ways than any talent. So it doesn’t come as a surprise when he is murdered, while several of the contestants become the prime suspects. Even the lighthouse ghost doesn’t like the victim. But Lindsey isn’t as sure as everyone else is about the motive or the suspects. She starts digging into the man’s past and can’t come up with a reason why someone wouldn’t kill him. Christmas is on the way, and Lindsey is running out of time. A killer is on the loose. In order for her perfect Christmas to happen, the killer must be caught before her cookie dreams crumble.
There is a good amount of action in Murder at The Christmas Cookie Bake-off, plenty of twists and red herrings, and just enough intrigue to make the mystery work. Characters new and old are fun to get to know, and you can never go wrong with adding in cookies. This story is filled with everything we enjoy about the holidays, good food, friends, family, a sense of community, and a delightful setting. I look forward to the next book in the series and highly recommend any book written by Darci Hannah.
The Author
Cozy mystery author, Darci Hannah, is a native of the Midwest and currently lives in a small town in Michigan. Darci is a lifelong lover of the Great Lakes, a natural wonder that inspires many of her stories. When Darci isn’t baking for family and friends, hiking with her furry pals, Ripley and Finn, or concocting her next cozy mystery, she can be found wandering around picturesque lakeside villages with her hubby, sampling baked goods, and breaking for coffee more often than she should. In addition to cozy mysteries, Darci’s other passion is writing historical fiction.
Readers will enjoy the first book in the “A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery” series, Murder At The Beacon Bakeshop, or another of Darci’s series such as, “A Very Cherry Mystery,” Cherry Scones & Broken Bones.
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