Loved this absolutely fun and addicting locked-room mystery/caper/romance! So funny and just a good time read for the holidays. I haven't read The Blonde Identity yet (the author's other adult novel), but now I really really want to.

I loved a good locked-room mystery and this one did not disappoint. The banter and rivalry between Ethan and Maggie was amazing and kept me smiling the whole book and the mystery itself was engaging. I enjoyed the "treasure hunt" to get to the end (not a literal treasure hunt, unless you could a missing author as the treasure). This was the perfect light-hearted murder mystery I need nowadays.

So great!

🎄Book Review 🎄

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for gifting me a copy of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year!

This book was hard to put down. Even harder because the chapters were typically slower…so the one more chapter thing happens repeatedly!

It’s a whodunit mystery that takes place Christmas week when a popular mystery author, Eleanor Ashley invite people to her England estate.

Ethan and Maggie are mystery authors who are enemies and both are invited on a Christmas trip to one of their fans only to find out it was Eleanor Ashley! Shortly after arriving Eleanor disappears during a blizzard and Ethan and Maggie must team up before they’re both killed…and to solve the mystery of what happened to Eleanor.

I loved the twists and turns this book takes while Ethan and Maggie solve the mystery of the crimes that take place at Mistletoe Manor. It was a nice book to break up all the holiday romances I’ve been reading but don’t worry…there’s some romance mixed in.

Read The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year if you like:
🎄Christmas Mysteries
🎄Whodunit mixed with romance
🎄 Forced Proximity
🎄Enemy to Lovers
🎄He falls first

I now understand what people mean when they refer to a book as a “cozy mystery.” Because this book is THE coziest (weird way to describe a crime, ngl) mystery romance… and it’s seasonal!

It took me a beat to get into it (I was a little confused at the start of the story with all of the characters), but that could also be because I was distracted 😅

Anywayyy, it was fun! And cute! The insta-love was a bit much, but hey, it’s a fictional story with a fictional mystery to solve—you get what you pay for! 🤓

(Thank you, Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

Yes, Christmas came early for me as soon as I started reading this book! The twisty murder mystery is smart and riveting. The characterization reminds you of the movie “Clue”! Maggie (not Marcie) and Ethan’s chemistry hits the roof, making you hyperventilate, even though it takes place in the freezing wintertime in England! Ethan reminded me of the mischievous, playful, flirty Richard Castle, including his relationship with his dad! (Who can resist reading a book when the hero is as charming as Nathan Fillion?) Maggie’s traumatic past is heartbreaking. Her self-deprecation and suspicions about people’s motives are understandable, but her wounds make her one of the best crime writers.

This was truly such a delight to read! I was drawn in by the fun cover and found so much goodness inside. I enjoyed the characters, the setting, the plot…it was a breath of fresh air during a run of mundane holiday books. I loved it!

This book was so much fun! I had such a good time reading this romance. I enjoyed the mystery just as much as I enjoyed the love story which is saying a lot because this was an excellent rivals to lovers romance.

THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR | Ally Carter
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Format: 📖

If you are still trying to squeeze in one or two more holiday reads before the new year, then I highly recommend you choose this one!

What a perfect blend of romance, mystery, and holiday! Pure perfection. If you are a fan of playing the game Clue during a family game night or loved Knives Out then look no further.

ALSO I AM OBSESSED with this cover! OBSESSED. Probably one of my favorites of the year.

Here’s what to expect:

❤️‍🩹 rivals to lovers
📖 mystery authors solving a mystery
👏🏼 the banter + tension
🎄 holiday but not too hallmark
✨ protective MMC (loved!!!)
🚪locked room mysteryesque (mansion)

What a fun Christmas thriller! Maggie and Ethan are on a trip to a mysterious mansion in the moors of England. When they arrive they find out the house is owned by reknowned crime author, Eleanor Ashley. Maggie is sure she's died and gone to heaven as Eleanor is her favorite author and the author that saved her as a child. But when Eleanor goes missing, this Christmas trip becomes a crime scene. Is it a test to see who will take over Eleanor's empire? Or is something more sinister at play? Maggie must put her hatred toward Ethan if they are going to solve this mystery.

Ally Carter books are the most fun! I really enjoyed this mystery/romance that takes place over Christmas in a mansion. It gave me Clue vibes which is my favorite game (and my husband cannot figure out how to beat me). Clue + Kissing = my kind of book! If you are looking for something a little different than your typical holiday romance, pick this one up!

This was absolutely fantastic! The banter between Maggie and Ethan was delightful. Their relationship had me smiling and squealing throughout. The mystery was intriguing. The last few chapters?? Perfect! Love love loved the ending. Give me ten more books just like it. Ally Carter wrote (as always) a great book! I want one of these reads every Christmas! Now I am off to recommend to everyone I know.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I loved this. What a unique, fun story!
It has heart too. I enjoyed the story but I also loved the characters and their backstories.

Maggie and Ethan are both mystery writers. Maggie has never been a big fan of his, she actually dislikes him but we won’t know why for awhile (it’s nothing new unforgivable, I promise ).

They both get called to the mansion of the most famous mystery writer Eleanor Ashley, they will be spending Christmas with her and her family. Neither knows why but Christmas has been tough for both of them over the years and they think this trip could boost their careers so they go.

They aren’t there long before Eleanor mysteriously disappears from a locked room.

At first Maggie thinks it’s a competition, maybe the person who figures out what happened to Eleanor will get to take over her famous book series when she retires.

But then things start getting dangerous and it no longer feels like a competition. It actually gets Maggie and Wyatt to work together to figure out what’s going on and find a way to safely escape themselves.
And they just might fall in love along the way.

I absolutely loved this one. Wyatt and Maggie will both break your heart at times but you will love them and want nothing but the best for them.

Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt can’t stand each other. To be more precise, Maggie hates Ethan. She’s the new Queen of the Cozy, and he writes thrillers. They’re both invited to a a Christmas house party at a remote estate, who’s owner turns out to be Eleanor Ashley, the “Duchess of Death” and one of the world’s most famous crime writers.

Then Ms Ashley disappears. Has she been kidnapped or is it a giant puzzle to be solved? Maggie and Ethan join together to find her, and in between getting shot at and more, Maggie discovers that Ethan doesn’t hate her at all, quite the contrary! Can they find the missing writer and figure out their relationship at the same time?

I really enjoyed this enemies to lovers romp, it’s funny and I loved the characters. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Locked room is my favorite thriller/mystery trope and this did it very well. This added a romance side plot too which was exactly what I wanted. There were some interesting characters and I enjoyed the suspect pool. The msytery was solid and kept me hooked as I was reading. My only complaint was I wish we had more of Eleanor and she seemed like a real spitfire!

Mystery writer rivalry, mysterious invitations, country house party, and a locked room mystery to be solved. Her Young Adult Spy books were on my radar for years now, but turns out a humorous Christmas Mystery Romance is what got me to finally give her a go. There was plenty to ho ho ho about once the tinsel got untangled.

The Most Wonderful Crime of the year starts on a plane when two rival authors find themselves bantering to fill the time as they jet to a country house holiday party hosted by the top writer in their game and the acknowledged queen of crime. Maggie can’t stand the charmer and his popularity who can never get her name right and Ethan has a strong desire to get past Maggie’s prickles since she made such an impression during that elevator meet cute a while ago. This is Maggie’s dream come true to meet the author, who has been her inspiration since childhood. No sooner do they arrive on Eleanor’s estate when they meet up with a rum mix of family, household members, and acquaintances. The atmosphere is strained. The weather turns into a blizzard and then Eleanor Ashley disappears from her office, which was still locked.

This pair of opposites are determined to get to the bottom of Eleanor’s disappearance and end up ranged together with everyone in the house having strong motives to remove Eleanor and someone is equally determined that Maggie and her use of Eleanor’s books for detecting inspiration also must go. Maggie’s got the brains for figuring it out and Ethan has the security expertise to watch her back while she’s at it. Maggie uses words as her shield, but slowly this pair start working past the dislike and mistrust. Maggie’s reasons for her trust issues come out and I was all a swoon to learn while Ethan kept calling the gal Marcie.

The mystery is what brought them together, but this book is focused on Maggie, Ethan, and their romance along the way. It’s fun, but not too fluffy. Loved the holiday at an English country house for the setting harking back to the Golden Age of British Mysteries. I sure hope this is only first of books pairing up Maggie and Ethan as a detecting team. Those who enjoy mysteries with a strong dose of romance and humor and romantic suspenses should definitely add this one to Santa’s List.

✨ Review ✨ The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

Thanks to Avon and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This was one of the most fun books I've read this year. It mixes a locked room mystery with a fun and flirty romance when two rival authors are snowed into a famous author's mansion the night before she disappears. They have to work together to find the missing author and keep each other alive along the way.

There are certain books where the banter, especially in a good enemies-to-lovers, really carries the book, and this is one of them. Everything about the two main characters was just fun to read.

The book also slayed with the minor details though -- a cast of characters that sometimes were just too over-the-top, obsessions with Christmas sweaters, plants & poisons, secret passages, and more.

For a multi-genre Christmas book that's light and fun (amidst assorted crimes), this is a great pick for your holiday season!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
Genre: m/f contemporary rom com + locked room mystery
Setting: mostly British countryside mansion
Pub Date: Sept 2024

Read this if you like:
⭕️ enemies/rivals-to-lovers trope
⭕️ a book that puts the com in rom com
⭕️ locked room snowed in mansion adventure

THE HIT OF THE SEASON!!! I have been an Ally Carter fan since I was a literal child and I was SO excited for this holiday mystery romance. Ethan is truly a man written by a woman and a sleeper contender for book boyfriend of the year. Both the mystery and the romance kept me on my toes and I've been raving about it since I started it. I NEED a copy for my shelves but I fear I'll have to wait until next year to get my hands on one. Definitely want to reread before Christmas!

“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.”

The cover alone attracted me to this charming festive romance that is mixed with a Knives Out type mystery, and I was quite excited to dive in.

Knowing this wouldn't be a straight up mystery, but rather a romance with mystery elements helped frame my expectations of the story. It is very romance-forward, but Aly Carter creates a mystery that is strong enough to feel like it isn’t second string. Her setup is great too: two mystery writers, known to be enemies in the writing world, received invitations to spend Christmas at crime writer Eleanor Ashley's mansion with a pending snowstorm that cuts off communication with the rest of the world, an eccentric family, attempted murder, and the mysterious disappearance of Eleanor. I love an 'enemies to friends to lovers' trope; Carter builds the tension between Maggie and Ethan well, and I genuinely believed in their friendship first and foremost, especially as the two learn to open up to each other and lean on one another. Ethan is perfectly swoonworthy, especially as he just wants Maggie to see her value, while Maggie is perfectly relatable in her doubts (and later on, her convictions). Ethan and Maggie's witty banter is great; I especially loved the deadpan humour in Maggie's thoughts on Ethan! The timeline moves quickly (they fall in love in two days), but Carter makes a salient point about how lives can change in a matter of seconds, why not in two days? The denouement has the makings of a classic “all the suspects gathered in the library” scene with a lot of playful banter between Maggie and Ethan that brought about a satisfying conclusion.

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is a story of self doubt, paying attention, trust and care. It would make a really entertaining movie and made me want another book featuring Maggie and Ethan solving more mysteries. Thank you to Harper Collins Canada & NetGalley for the ARC!

This was super cute! I read it in less than a day. Perfect blend of Christmas vibes and mystery! The only thing I wasn’t a fan of is the miscommunication trope between the two main characters - but it definitely wasn’t a huge deal since the story still flowed well.

This is an absolute delight. Everyone should read this because if the holidays don’t make you at least a little bit itchy for murder then you’re a liar.

I couldn’t stop laughing yet also kind of swooning over this. I was skeptical the murder mystery hijinks and romance would work but it was perfectly balanced. Ethan is such a cocky yet secret sweet cinnamon roll, and I loved seeing Maggie’s confidence grow. She was whip smart and her banter with Ethan made the pages fly by. Their sarcastic humor, always tinged with violence and murder, is honestly my love language.

Maggie was a strong main character with the perfect blend of vulnerability and depth, but also a compelling personality with her dry humor and murdery impulses. I loved how this was toned down on the whining and drama once she starts to fall for Ethan, and instead she just rolls with it. So refreshing not to wallow in the melodrama and instead just focus on hot make outs in secret passageways and poisoned suspects.

The gaslighting and panic themes were done respectfully and honestly, which was surprising given the length of this book. Overall I was really impressed with how well so many aspects came together brilliantly for an overall fun time. This has all the right holiday vibes, a swoony romance, great backstory and characters, and a fun knives out-esque murder mystery to keep the plot and pacing moving. I will definitely be looking for more books by the author.

Consider me well into the holiday spirit now 🔪

Holiday enemies to lovers book. All the ingredients of a great holiday mystery: snowed in, bridge is out, missing host, and people who don't know each other stuck in a small space with one another. Fun read.