Book Review: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
Ally Carter, 2024

Premise: Maggie writes mysteries, and she's really good at it. But it's been a year since her husband destroyed their marriage and her life fell apart, so she's not looking forward to Christmas. When her publisher sends her to spend the holidays with her literary idol, she thinks perhaps things are looking up... until she sees who else is invited.

This is a holiday-mystery-themed romance novel with a good amount of humor, action, and heart. It does a good job establishing our lead and her current world, while slowly revealing her past situation. 

I liked that Maggie's flaws and struggles seemed realistic. She's not perfect, but neither is she dumb or dealing with problems that have easy solutions. 

The male lead is a bit more complicated. By the end, he's a lovable, strong romantic hero, but you don't start getting his perspective until around halfway through. Until then, the book did too good a job convincing me that he was a jerk (like Maggie thought he was, because what he saw as friendly teasing, her low self-esteem had her hearing as truly cruel behavior). So it was a big ask for me to accept that she changed her perspective on him so quickly.

This is a frothy holiday romp with a good amount of actual tension included. I like a romance that has a major plot alongside the romance itself. The leads have a chance to see each other react to danger while they try to discover the truth behind the disappearance of their hostess. They have fun solving puzzles and escaping death traps. I just wish the romance felt a little more natural.

In the end, I found it funny, charming, and enjoyable, but it wasn't a complete slam dunk for me.