A Nutcracker Nightmare by Christina Romeril

Available: October 17, 2023

Rating: 5 nutcrackers

Harriston is hosting a high school reunion. Many are excited to reconnect with their classmates, but others are not quite so happy to reminisce. The class of 1999 was a small one and only a handful of alumni are in town for the reunion but that doesn't mean there won't be fireworks as suddenly they're being picked off one-by-one. Who is killing these people? And why? Since Hanna was the last person seen with the first victim and she had a motive for seeing him dead, Alex is determined to get to get to the bottom of things!

As with the first book in this series, this book started off a mite slow. The first chapter was a bit of a slog but I knew from reading the first book that a little patience would pay off. Once I got into this book I could hardly put it down (which worked out quite nicely since we were without power and my Kindle was the only device I had charged!) I really like the characters, kind of a fun twist that the main characters are twins. The recipes look great and it's a neat side business to go along with their mystery bookstore. The one thing I don't like is the relationship between Alex and Tom. I don't see the appeal of Tom and I don't know why a woman would "date" a man for an entire year without him ever once expressing any real interest in her.

The investigation was perhaps a bit over complicated. The killer was fairly easy to spot, perhaps that's why there were what seemed to be an almost excessive amount of red herrings, but it all got a bit confusing and that narrowed my attention even more closely on the killer. On the other hand it's always kind of fun to have a victim that everyone hates so very much.

Overall this is a great new series and I love that it's Christmas themed. Fans of Christmas themed mysteries should definitely check this out!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.