This was a cute Christmas cozy and the first book I have read in the series. I really enjoyed the book and it was a perfect December book to read. I recommend this book

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed the story though it did bog down at times.

This was a great story for a touch of holidays. I always like a bit of Christmas carol magic, and when Marlee Jacob gets the chance to step into a role in the play, that was good. Lots of great characters, humor and mystery.

I love everything about this book and the series. The characters are enjoyable and it's a charming setting. An added bonus for me is A Christmas Carol. I do love holiday themed cozies.

Hollyberry Homicide by Sharon Farrow is the fifth book in the Berry Basket Mystery series. Truthfully, I picked this book up entirely because I wanted a Christmas themed cozy - and this one did not disappoint. This was also the first book in the series that I read. Coming into a series as a new reader after a few books is always concerning because you don't know some of the supporting characters and previous plot points, however that was not an issue with this book.

Marlee Jacobs owner of the Berry Basket loves Christmas. That really isn't surprising given the fact that she was named after Jacob Marley, yes the Jacob Marley of a Christmas Carol lore. After the resident curmudgeon who normally played Jacob Marley tragically dies, she is approached to take on the role. She agrees and adds the role of actor to her already busy life. Slowly it starts to appear that Everett Hostetter, the previous Jacob Marley, possibly didn't die from old age - it looks as if someone attempted to speed of his demise.

Sharon Farrow writes a strong mystery with multiple suspects who are capable of committing murder and who are far from perfect. This one left me guessing right up until the very end.

Marlee Jacob seems like the obvious choice to be Jacob Marley in the town's production of A Christmas Carol. Considering she is replacing the recently deceased actor who played the part for years, she is anxious about the whole affair. The mystery was strong, and the Christmas theme was enjoyable. I love all the books in this series, but this one could be read on its own.

Hollyberry Homicide by Sharon Farrow has Marlee Jacob taking over the role of Jacob Marley when Everett Hostetter is found dead at the Historical Museum’s toy train exhibit. The Green Willow Players is putting on A Christmas Carol at the Calico Barn in one week, and they need Marlee to step right into the role. Gillian Kaminski would prefer that Marlee not take the role because she is sure the production is cursed. Gillian may be on to something when actors begin dropping out which is causing the director to panic. The Berry Basket is hopping with customers looking for holiday gifts and treats. Marlee whips up cookies, waits on customers, and works on memorizing her lines. Her home as well as the shop are festive with decorations and various tress. When a leftover sweet kills an innocent party, Marlee begins to wonder if Everett really died of natural causes. Then Everett’s lawyer is found dead with a sprig of holly over his heart, Marlee sets out to sniff out the killer. Hollyberry Homicide is the 5th A Berry Basket Mystery. It can be read as a standalone if you are new to the series. The author provides the relevant background information on Marlee Jacob. I thought Hollyberry Homicide was well-written with steady pacing. There is plenty going on in this book. Marlee is enjoying decorating for Christmas, The Berry Basket is doing a brisk business, she gets roped into playing Jacob Marley, and she has a variety of houseguests. Natasha is staying with Marlee while she waits for her new place to be finished. It sounds like it will be a long visit. Natasha is a show stealer with her over-the-top personality. The mystery was interesting. It becomes more of the focus in the second half of the book as the clues begin to mount along with the action and suspense. You begin to wonder if Everett’s death was suspicious (or did a ninety-five year old man just pass away on a bench). It all begins to come together and there is a great reveal scene. I enjoyed solving this whodunit. The ending will leave you smiling. Hollyberry Homicide is a jolly cozy mystery with holiday hot chocolate, learning lines, overload of ornamentation, a swaying spruce, and an amateur sleuth bent on sniffing out the suspects.

This is such a fun series, and I had a great time with this cozy mystery. I loved the plot, the twists and turns, and the characters!

Everett. Hostetter is found dead slumped on a walnut bench by Gillian outside the Toy Train Museum. Everett came across as an unfriendly crank whom complained about everything. While DianeCleverly was one of the kindest, most charitable woman I have ever known. What did these two dissimilar people have in common? Anthony Thorne was Everett’s nephew who came to pick him up to take him home only to find out he died. As chief benefactor, Everett oversaw all museum business. He looked forward to this exhibit in particular. Marlee runsThe Berry Basket which specializes in all things berry related: berry jams,jellies, wines,salsas, vinegars, pasteries , baking mixes,teas, and coffees, as well as dinner sets decorated with berries, aprons, berry cookbooks, strawberry hurlers and much, much more. Hostetter was also the Green Willow Player’s biggest donor. For the past nine years, the group hasn’t made a move without his approval. Especially with the mortgage payments on the Calico Barn. Why wouldn’t Hostetters death be assigned to the Oriole Police? Let’s just say there a conflict of interest involving the local police. It’s officer Janelle Davenport she’s Everett Hostetters daughter. While Marlee is asked to take his place in the Christmas pageant she must also find out who wanted him dead. A fun Christmas story filled with adventure and mystery.

Marlee found out that playing the part of Jacob Marlee, her namesake was no walk in the park. It came with a few embarrassing moments because she didn’t learn her lines, which was all due to the suspicious death of the former Jacob Marlee actor, which triggered her curiosity and sleuthing ability. Folks didn’t believe her theory simply because the guy was in his nineties. But Marlee had every intention of finding out the truth about her predecessor’s death. Quite an interesting read.

When Marlee Jacob discovers cranky millionaire, Everett Hostetter, dead on a bench at the local museum, it takes friends, ghosts, and a little Dickens to draw out the murderer. Hollyberry Homicide is a cozy whodunnit with lots of Christmas feelgoods. Nice read.

Hollyberry Homicide by Sharon Farrow

A cold wind is blowing off Lake Michigan, and murder is scaring the dickens out of everyone.

This is a very holiday-spirited cozy surrounding the performance of “A Christmas Carol”. Is this performance, and its actors, jinxed? Keeps you guessing until the end. Also, who is the killer? Well-plotted,c enjoyable book.

Princess Fuzzypants here: As if finding the body of the rich old gent who always played Jacob Marley in the local Christmas Carole wasn’t bad enough, Marlee is then coerced into taking on the role at short notice. Of course, the fact that she is named for said character might have entered into it. She very quickly regrets both getting involved in the production and in investigating the deceased to find out who might have motive. Once she starts asking questions, motive is there in surplus. It turns out he shares some of the less palatable quirks with both Scrooge and Jacob Marley. Worst of all, it seems he has used his wealth to bring three people to town. Whatever his purpose was, none of them is terribly fond of the old man nor saddened by his passing. Could it be one of them is a killer?

It takes time and some good sleuthing but Marlee does figure out what happened but when she does the killer is determined to tie up any loose ends. Marlee is the fight for her life. It is going to take the assistance from an unusual source to get her out of this mess.

Marlee is a great character who has grown since the start of the series. With her new beau, her old friends, a parrot names Millie and a kitty named Panther, the stories are full of characters that a reader can love. I confess to being fond of Theo, her baker. The mystery is good and in fact, it has a rather satisfying end when the villain is revealed.

Four purrs and two paws up.

This was fun to read. I liked the characters and the storyline. It's a good Christmas book. However, sometimes I did feel that I fell in the middle of a story and that something went before that.

Hollyberry Homicide is exactly the type of Cozy Mystery I enjoy most. Lots of things happening, clues galore, but not too many and not too easy – and the main character who is fun to watch as they track down the real killer. I’ve not read the earlier books in the Berry Basket Mystery series, and I really appreciated that I didn’t have to in order to enjoy this one. Anything really relevant to this story that we need to know is in the dialogue or narrative.

This small town is putting on the annual Christmas play, A Christmas Carole when it’s discovered that the actor who was to play Scrooge has died. Well, after all, he was nearing the century mark in his long life so no one was really surprised… until it seems his death was not by natural causes as other deaths begin to add to the growing alarm. Now with a feeling of doom and rumors that the play is cursed, Marlee is preparing to take over the title role (Jacob Marley – Marlee Jacob… it’s a natural). She’s busy preparing her business for the holidays, learning her lines, oh, and tracking down a murderer as well.

I had fun in this small town with engaging characters, an interesting puzzle to solve, and a reveal that was perfect. I don’t need to figure out whodunnit to enjoy a Cozy Mystery, the journey to get to the reveal is where my fun comes from. If you love a good Cozy Mystery full of suspense, berries, bah-humbugs, and murder then Hollyberry Homicide is perfect for you this Christmas. I’ll be treating myself to this series next year when I plan out my reading for pleasure list.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Kensington Books via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

It’s December in Oriole Point, Michigan, which means two things: the Hollyberry Festival, organized by indefatigable town booster Piper Lyall-Pierce, and the annual town production of A Christmas Carol. When perennial Jacob Marley portrayer and theatre benefactor, Everett Hostetter, is found dead, the immediate assumption is that the wealthy 95 year-old finally succumbed to old age. Marlee Jacob, berry store proprietor and accidental sleuth, is none too happy to be the discoverer of yet another corpse when she happens upon him, but is secretly relieved that at least Everett, unlike some of her other discoveries, shows no sign of having come to his end via foul play.

She is less relieved when her puntastic name immediately gets her roped in to replace Everett on-stage. With less than a week to prepare for the play, and business and festival preparation taking up so much of her time, she’s finding it difficult to learn her lines, and that’s even before she finds herself embroiled in the search for Everett’s will. But the more clues Marlee uncovers regarding Everett’s legacy, the more she suspects that not only was Everett murdered, but that his killer will strike again and soon.

I love Sharon Farrow’s Berry Basket mystery series, which features the most consistently gripping culinary cozies on the market. Her plots are always intelligent, and in this installment she upends several of the unwritten rules of the genre, resulting in a truly surprising and suspenseful end reveal. The parallels between the murder mystery and Charles Dickens’ seasonal ghost story were also very clever, adding another layer of depth to her tale. I also loved catching up with all the supporting cast, from Marlee’s variously sweet and snarky employees to all her awesome and diverse friends. While you definitely don’t need to have read the five preceding books to understand and enjoy this one, I can’t recommend reading this series through from the start highly enough!

There were three berry-related recipes included in this volume, and I absolutely had to try out this variation on my all-time favorite cookie recipe, lightly edited here for format:

QUOTE
No-Bake Hollyberry Cluster Cookies

½ cup butter or margarine
30 large marshmallows
¼ teaspoon green food coloring
4 ½ cups cornflakes cereal
⅓ cup mini red cinnamon candies, such as Red Hots

Heat butter in large saucepan or pot until melted. Add marshmallows.

Stir until all the marshmallows are melted. Mix in the green food coloring.

Stir in the cornflakes cereal, until all pieces are coated.

Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Press 3 cinnamon candies into each cornflake cluster.

Let cool until set.

Makes approximately 24 cookies.
END QUOTE

I love cornflake cluster cookies, and had never thought of how much they look like little piles of leaves before this recipe! The food coloring and melted marshmallow mix lend the cornflakes a nice glossiness that really evokes greenery, so much so that my kids called these “salad cookies” upon initially seeing them. Being a good mom, this helped me get them to delay pillaging all the cookies, as they were convinced that anything this color had to be good for them and thus needed to be avoided, at least until they discovered how delicious these are!

I will recommend that you use the soft or chewy version of Red Hots for this recipe though, as I found myself very carefully eating around the harder cinnamon candies I found in the baking aisle to use here. I am a little weird about texture in soft baked goods (see: my antipathy to nuts in cookies and brownies) though my caution may also be due to having had braces for a really long time and thus being wary of crunching down on hard things. While you can bypass this issue by eliminating use of the Red Hots entirely, the spiciness does add a nice kick that I highly recommend. Plus, they just look cuter with the little red spheres. These are a fast, festive addition to any holiday cookie plate, and I’m really looking forward to making them again!

Next week, we head to the Jersey shore to make a yummy if labor-intensive main dish while solving another devious murder. Do join me!

I was intrigued by the synopsis. I loved the quaint quiet town and I wanted to visit the Berry Basket Shop.
The first few pages lured me in. The author wasted no time setting the scene with the victim seemingly just dieing of old age. But I knew better. The cookies at the death scene were a giveaway. I knew they would play a part in the investigation!
I have to admit I did get bogged down with all the theatrical stuff revolved around the Dickens Play. Sorry I am not a fan of theatre much less Dickens. I know Gasp. For me it just drug on. I was a bit like Marlee although she stepped up to the plate and made sure the murder was solved and the Show went on.
The characters were charming. I even enjoyed Marlee's Russian house guest. Even though she was a bit of a pain in the ___ and everyone kept asking Marlee why she put up with her. In the end she there for Marlee helping her when things got dicey.
I am not sure if it was the authors intention to make the myster so easy to figure out. But it was fun discovering how the clues in the beginning played out to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed Hollyberry Homicide I've added this series to my favorites list.

I received a complimentary copy.

Marlee Jacob doesn't have for this. Between running her store the Holly berry Festival, the last thing she needs is to be wrangled into playing Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol replacing the gentleman whose dead body she found. All in all, a cute cozy, my first in the series. Good mystery and fun characters with lots of holiday cheer.

“Hollyberry Homicide" is the 5th instalment in the "A Berry Basket Mystery" series by Sharon Farrow. This can be read as a standalone but I recommend reading in order. I found it to be a fun and entertaining Christmas read.

I really enjoyed this story, and it has made me want to catch up on the series. I have several books in my TBR pile. I loved all the Christmas cheer and the friendships between the main characters.

The mystery was interesting and well plotted, and I loved the characters which are well developed.
I kept guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end. I recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends.

I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Kensington Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If the title doesnt grab you, the setting and the characters will! One thing about this series is that it is a fun read. Whether you enjoy cozy mysteries or not, this book will fit the bill. Endearing characters, a well written plot leave this mystery as a great read.