The publisher's summary:
Tucked away inside an old lighthouse in Beacon Harbor, Michigan, bakeshop café owner Lindsey Bakewellis ready to make her first Christmas in town shine bright. But her merry plans crumble fast when murder appears under the mistletoe.
With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the 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.
I loved this story. It has everything you want in a Christmas cozy mystery. There are engaging characters, a wintery but cozy setting, and the smell of freshly baked pastries on every page. When. Lindsay rose at 3:00 a.m. each morning to begin mixing her doughs, I felt like I was there with her. As a baker myself, I could easily see in my mind her sweet roll dough recipe as well as her cinnamon rolls and caramel pecan rolls. She baked and fried the doughs before making a variety of danish pastries all hours before her bakery opened for the day.
The characters were believable. Of course, Lindsay is a great character but the villain seemed all too real to me also. Felicity, owner of a year-round Christmas shop, is the epitome of every jealous woman I have had to "compete" against when bringing treats to work. She will sabotage the efforts of other bakers in order to always be first at everything. A few years ago a co-worker threw my cookies in the garbage because no one was eating hers so I definitely feel Lindsay's pain. The celebrity judge, Chef Chevy Chambers, is another villain in the story. His character provides many of the twists and turns because he not only is having an affair with several contestants but he also put a few of them out of business with his scathing newspaper reviews of their restaurants. When he ends up murdered, there are several possible whodunnits. The howdunnit should be obvious. It's a rolling pin.
Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off is simply the best Christmas cozy that I have ever read. Check it out. 5 out of 5 stars.
I enjoyed this one when I read it, too. I love the lighthouse bakery.
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