Title: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Avon 2024
Genre: Romance/Mystery
Pages: 293
Rating: 2/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - The Book Nook (Bookish Main Character); She Reads Romance - Holiday
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 4
The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room two days before Christmas.
Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.
She hates his guts.
He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)
But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.
That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.
She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?
As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.
Assuming they don’t kill each other first.
Wow! This was such a disappointment! I was hoping for a great romance mystery with the blurbs likening it to Knives Out. It was no Knives Out. That mystery was smart, intriguing, and complicated but ultimately explainable, even easy enough for the audience to figure it out if they paid attention. This mystery was intriguing but ultimately left unsolved. We get the ultimate letdown by just saying that some mysteries should be left unsolved. NO! The whole point of a mystery book is to solve the case. I was highly annoyed but that part, but what really tanked the book was the romance angle. This was not a romance. This was a jumble of tropes that never really made any logical sense and two characters that I never thought had any chemistry. The FMC was a total grinch most of the time and then did a complete 180 in an instant. Nope. The MMC was creepy and leering constantly needling the FMC but in a stupid childhood playground kind of way. No thank you! And having their first time having sex while the FMC is bleeding from a head wound?!?!?!? No fucking thank you! Ultimate disappoint for the season.
Next up on the TBR pile:
