There was so much going on in this book from a wedding to a missing person. When you throw in the numerous prep wedding mishaps, it feels like a bit much.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Mistletoe and Murder is a holiday themed novella and the 4th(ish) Kate Hamilton village cozy by Connie Berry. Released 17th Oct 2023 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 154 pages and is available in audio and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

Readers who enjoy British village cozy murder shopfront mysteries are in for a treat with this series. Series protagonist Kate is an American expat antiques expert who involved with local Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. She and Tom are trying to get their wedding finished successfully and move on to the next stage of their relationship, but crimes keep turning up including arson and worse.

I liked the characterizations here; the characters live and breathe and the dialogue was not clunky. There were several seemingly disparate plot threads which intertwined into a satisfying denouement and resolution. It worked well as a standalone, though there are spoilers for earlier books if read out of order. It's a clean, fun cozy, and the series would make a good choice for a binge or buddy read. This is a shorter piece, and would also work well as a potential sample, to see if a further deeper dive is desired.

Four stars. This is definitely one for British village cozy readers. Very well written and constructed. Clean language and mostly off-page violence.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

*Kate Hamilton Novella book 5
*Fast, easy read
*I couldn’t stop reading- tons of action and complex plot
*Great characters; easy to relate to
*Kidnapping-wrong place, wrong time for the adults involved
*Winter Wedding- always a great way to end a book

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this holiday novella in the Kate Hamilton series as we await the next full length book! In this story, Kate is getting ready to be married over the holidays to her detective beau before a mysterious disappearance related to an antique occurs just days before the wedding. I thought the pacing and mystery was great and didn't feel like I was missing a lot with the shorter story. I did feel like it didn't scream Christmas mystery and it was just used as a setting device. The author also set up her next mystery in the novella, which I'm looking forward to! Overall, I recommend this for those who love a good English mystery and don't need to read the others in the series first.

Book Review: Mistletoe and Murder by Connie Berry

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Stars

Connie Berry's novella, Mistletoe and Murder, offers readers a charming and engaging festive mystery. With its beautifully designed cover, this book immediately captures the holiday spirit. The well-written narrative, fast-paced plot, and likable characters make it a delightful read for fans of cozy mysteries. Set in a charming town during the Christmas season, this novella combines elements of love, friendship, and suspense to create an entertaining tale.

In Mistletoe and Murder, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton finds herself facing unexpected obstacles just days before her wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. Her friend Sheila seeks Kate's assistance in helping her fiancé, Carl Curtis, who is trapped in Venezuela due to a passport issue. Sheila plans to sell her grandfather's valuable coin collection to raise the funds required to release Carl. However, when a break-in occurs at Sheila's house, it becomes evident that there may be more at stake than just money.

As Kate juggles the challenges of wedding preparations and dealing with a fire that threatens her dress, a mysterious body is discovered nearby. The clock is ticking as Kate races against time to uncover the truth about Sheila's disappearance and the connection to the town's recent death. With the help of her resourcefulness and determination, she must piece together the clues before her own wedding is jeopardized.

Mistletoe and Murder is a thoroughly enjoyable novella that successfully captures the essence of a cozy Christmas mystery. The writing style is engaging, allowing readers to easily become immersed in the story. The mystery is well-plotted and keeps readers guessing until the final pages. Each chapter is infused with an element of suspense that keeps the pace lively and the pages turning.

The setting of the story, a charming Suffolk village during the Christmas season, adds an extra layer of warmth and festivity to the narrative. As does the history of the mysterious gold coin and its' Queen Victoria connection.

One of the novella's strengths lies in its likable characters. Kate Hamilton is a relatable protagonist whose determination and resourcefulness make her an endearing lead. The supporting cast is equally well-developed, each adding their own unique charm to the story. The relationships between the characters are authentic and provide depth to the narrative, making readers emotionally invested in their outcomes.

In conclusion, Mistletoe and Murder is a fantastic cozy Christmas mystery that will captivate readers from start to finish. Its festive setting, well-plotted mystery, and likable characters make it a perfect holiday read. Whether you are a fan of cozy mysteries or simply looking for an engaging and heartwarming story, Connie Berry's novella will not disappoint. Grab a cup of hot cocoa and curl up by the fire for a delightful reading experience this holiday season.

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

This is book 4.15 in the Kate Hamilton Mystery series. It can be read as a stand alone, this is the first I’ve read. American antique dealer, Kate, is planning her Christmas wedding to Tom, the local police officer in their small English village. When Sheila comes into the shop with some old coins and a story of a rare gold coin, they are very interested. When Kate goes to pick up the coin, Sheila has been attacked and the house ransacked. With drugs and crime on the rise can Tom solve the crime wave before his vacation for the wedding is cancelled? A good cozy.

I love Christmas and murder. This book has both and the author did a fantastic job of bringing them together in a way that one couldn’t put it down. If you love murder and Christmas stories then this is for you.

What the heck happened here? It should not take 4 days to read a 154 page novella, but here we are. Sigh.

I have really, really, liked this series - I like the premise and Kate [the MC] and all the side characters so much and was really anxious to get this brief time with them [and was hoping it was the wedding] until the new book next year; unfortunately, this book just fell completely flat for me.
First, there were like 6 [?] plot-lines all running together at once and it got so confusing that I am not sure just what was resolved and what wasn't [I DO know that someone who SHOULD have been arrested, wasn't and I am just not sure why]. Second, if one is from CLEVELAND, and is having a wedding in DECEMBER in England, ONE should not be mad/upset/disappointed when the people coming FROM CLEVELAND IN DECEMBER are delayed [okay, disappointment I understand, but if you want people to arrive on time, flying out of Cleveland in December is not a good plan. E V E R]. Seriously. And please take Vivian back to the lovely lady she was - her becoming the wedding cordinatorzilla was disconcerting and not needed. She is too lovely [and WAY too British] to have stooped to that level. Third...well, there just was too much going on. WAY. TOO. MUCH. It was like the author had wanted a full-length book, had to do a novella and so then tried to cram as much of a story as she could in 154 pages and in doing that, we lost everything that we all love about these books.

I did like the way the end sets up book 5 and even after this hot mess of a novella, I am really looking forward to a full-length Kate and Tom novel - they work well together and it will be interesting to see what this possible new job entails and where it takes them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Connie Berry, and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great novella! This one actually advances the story and so if you miss this one, you lose out on some story and character development, not to mention the addition of some new characters. The mystery was short but still well developed and taught me something about coins and letters in the process; that’s my favorite part of this series, the history and antiquity lessons. Looking forward to the next full-length addition to the series.

Kate and Tom are finally getting married! But of course they end up in a mystery before they can make it to the church. This was a quick and easy read/listen and the mystery was good and had me guessing. Even though it’s a novella the mystery is well paced and complete and we get to see Kate get her HEA. Looking forward to Kate and Tom’s next adventure!

A fun mystery to read.
It is a fast read but with many twists. Fifth in the series and can be read as a stand-alone but you get a better feel for the main characters by reading the previous ones also.
You might have your suspicions about Sheila’s so-called fiancé but getting the full picture is not available till near the end of the story.
Trying to get ready for her own wedding. The arrival of family and friends from the States with delayed flights creating more problems, Kate really didn’t need the extra distraction created by Sheila’s disappearance combined with her house been burglarized. Fingers are pointed at the young man living next-door. Is he guilty?

Every book in this series that I read is better than the last one and this novella is no exception. I loved the mix of wedding activity with the different investigations. I really like Kate and the community she has built. Her relationship with Tom is loving and supportive and feels genuine.

The mystery in this hooked me right from the beginning. I had some suspicions as to what Sheila had gotten herself into but I had no idea how things were going to unfold or just what Kate and Tom were going to discover next.

This book covers several of my favorite subjects to come across in books - antiques, missing people, and scams - and was like a Christmas gift of a read. It was fast paced with likable characters and just the right amount of twists and turns. I flew through this in 2 sittings and really could have read it in one if non-bookish responsibilities hadn't forced me to go to bed! While this definitely falls into the category of cozy mystery this whole series has a classic mystery feel to it with a crisp investigation and a logical sleuth.

This is a series that is best read in order as the stories and character connections grow from book to book and might be confusing if you are jumping in with this book.

It’s five days before Kate Hamilton is set to marry Detective Inspector Tom Mallory on Christmas Eve, and the complications are starting to come, like travel delays for Kate’s family and friends coming from the states. But the bigger complication comes from Sheila Parker, an acquaintance who comes looking for an appraisal of her coin collection. That night, Sheila’s house is searched. The next day, Sheila vanishes. Can Kate figure out what happened to Sheila before her wedding?

I find missing person mysteries to be that much more compelling, so I was hooked on this one quickly. I did figure a couple of things out early, but there were still plenty of surprised on the way to the climax. Meanwhile, I loved spending time with the characters old and new. We get some good updates on ongoing storylines, and the ending sets up the next full length book. I am a bit surprised that the wedding came in an ebook only novella, and there isn’t a lot of time for Christmas trappings, but both of these are minor issues. Fans will be happy to get a chance to visit the characters again. While this might not be the best place to start if you are new to the series, I definitely recommend you start the series soon.

Loved this novella that leads up to Kate and Tom's wedding. Filled with extra duties for Kate and a missing friend, there's more than a wedding to focus on! These characters are so well written they feel like old friends. I loved that her daughter may finally have found a good man and her son is taken by Tom's daughter. I look forward to what lies ahead in this series.

Wedding bells, treasure trove, and a missing widow (4.5 stars)

Kate and Tom’s wedding is only 5 days away, but when Kate’s friend Sheila goes missing after bringing a coin collection to the antiques shop for appraisal, the intrepid couple take on the task of finding her… before it’s too late.

Mistletoe and Murder is a novella with a solid mystery. While I figured out parts of the puzzle early on, with one character in particular throwing up red flags almost immediately, other aspects of the plot kept me guessing until close to the climax. Kate (an American antiques dealer with a flair for solving mysteries) makes an engaging first-person narrator, while her fiance Tom (a British police detective) provides a steadying, supportive presence along with access to records, information, and the apparatus of official investigations. Watching Kate and Tom juggle pre-wedding appointments against their responsibilities toward the investigation, it’s clear that both of them put duty and friendship over the details of the wedding preparations… but they also put each other first, leading to a dramatic climactic scene and a delightful wedding.

If I have any quibble, it’s with the pacing of the last chapter or two; the post-wedding section, involving clearing up some final details of the mystery, sags a little in terms of energy. It’s also clear that Kate and Tom haven’t entirely worked out at least one potential issue in their relationship, and I anticipate that will become a source of tension in the next book. Being the sort of reader who gets invested in the characters I like, that worries me a bit, but I do trust Ms. Berry to work it all out in the end.

A final note: Don’t read this book first! You’ll enjoy it much more if you’ve read the previous books. Start with the first book in the series, A Dream of Death. The entire series is wonderful, combining well-plotted mysteries with interesting characters and charming or atmospheric settings. While the books fit the definition of “cozy” due their amateur detective and avoidance of gruesome violence, Berry takes the risks and realities of crime seriously. The result is that the books feel similar to the Golden Age mysteries of Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh, updated to a contemporary setting and a modern sensibility. Berry’s choice to make the narrator an ex-pat American is the icing on the cake; you get all the pleasure of the British village setting, with the necessary explanations (for an American audience) built into Kate’s narration. I highly recommend them.

I have read and enjoyed Books 1 and 4 in Kate Hamilton Mysteries series and plan to go back and read the second and third ones. This Christmas novella was easy to follow since I have read two of the stories. Kate, who works in an antiques shop, and Tom, a detective inspector, are about to get married on Christmas Eve. Family and friends from the US and other countries are heading to the UK. But trouble happens to a friend, and she disappears a few days before. She may have been taken because of a very special coin and official letter. So, Kate and Tom work to find her but they really are pushed with the wedding and honeymoon coming up and it makes the time even busier. I like the small Suffolk village setting, especially at Christmas, the interesting and likable characters, history, and always enjoy the mystery that Kate and Tom get involved in.
I received a copy for the purpose of an honest review. All thoughts are mine only.

In Connie Berry’s festive holiday novella Mistletoe and Murder, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton has a long way to go before she gets down the aisle, but will someone stand in the way of her happily ever after?

I loved visiting the village of Long Barstow in Suffolk again, and hanging out with Kate, Vivian, Tom and Ivor for the Christmas wedding.

I found myself engrossed in the story and reading it in one sitting. I did not suspect the killer until Kate did, there were lots of twists and turns to keep me absorbed in the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good traditional British cozy mystery with a historical background.

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mistletoe and Murder by Connie Berry is a novella written as part of her Kate Hamilton series, one that had escaped my notice until now. It was a terrific story culminating with the wedding of Kate and Tom, apparently a long-awaited event. The story revolved around the disappearance of an acquaintance of Kate’s, Sheila Parker, who had brought a coin collection into Kate and her partner, Ivor Tweedy’s antique shop, Cabinet of Curiosities, to get it appraised. The conversation turned to a gold, five-pound coin given to her gg-grandmother by Queen Victoria, along with a note in the queen’s handwriting. She had yet to locate it in her deceased mother’s house but was astounded by how much it could be worth when it was found. Despite the fact that Kate was in the final days before her wedding to DI Tom Mallory she was totally invested. Kate was a widowed transplant to Suffolk who had found a home there after her husband had died. She could not ask for a better partner, fiance, and group of friends. She promised Sheila she would return the album full of coins the next day and she set off to accomplish come wedding-related duties and have dinner with Tom. The next day when she went to Sheila’s house to return the album, the door was ajar and the house had been torn apart. Sheila was gone: a mystery that threatened to derail the wedding.

Kate is a terrific middle-aged character who restarted her life and was now looking forward to an even better version. Her mother, son, and friends had arrived from the US and she seemed to meet each glitch with equanimity as did Tom. Of course, he was a police officer so he had more experience with things not going as they should. It is a unique situation, Kate having relocated from America and one that reads well. They are a unique pair. The setting is marvelous. The crime was not at all what they had expected it to be and that made it more interesting. There were several people involved in Sheila’s disappearance that complicated things, but Kate’s cleverness, and Tom’s professionalism solved the crime. It was a good plot with a plethora of complications, and interesting characters, especially the leads. I will be going back and reading more of this intriguing series. I heartily recommend it!

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Mistletoe and Murder by Crooked Lane Books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #CrookedLaneBooks #ConnieBerry #MistletoeAndMurder

This is a very enjoyable, fast-paced novella in the Kate Hamilton series. In it, Kate and her husband to be, Tom, try to solve a mystery while also preparing for their Christmas-time wedding.

Great characters and an interesting plot.

I'd recommend this to fans of cozy mysteries and/or to fans of Christmas mysteries.

In Connie Berry's holiday novella Mistletoe and Murder, part of the A Kate Hamilton Mystery series, the impending Christmas wedding of American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton and English detective Tom Mallory takes a back seat as they're drawn into a perplexing case involving a missing friend's fiancé stranded in Venezuela due to a dubious debt.

Berry skillfully blends cozy holiday traditions with suspense, creating a captivating tale where Kate's determination to solve the mystery competes with her own wedding preparations. The book's endearing characters, evocative English holiday setting, and skillful balance between mystery and emotion make it an ideal festive read, offering a blend of heartwarming moments and intriguing twists that will delight both series enthusiasts and newcomers alike.