I love the Secret Bookcase Mystery series! A Holiday Homicide by Ellie Alexander was a short and sweet cozy mystery! I have loved the growth of Annie as a main character over the last four books. In A Holiday Homicide Annie and her crew decide to host a holiday bake off at her bookstore hosted by a famous baking influencer. Unfortunately before the fun filled weekend takes off someone ends up dead! It's up to Ellie and her friends to solve the case. These are great books for a quick mystery or palette cleanser. I'd recommend!

5/5 stars

I devoured this book and this cozy mystery series keeps getting better and better! Returning to charming Redwood Grove in all his small town vibes is very nostalgic and I want to go visit The Secret Bookcase bookstore.

This one was easy to follow, kept me invested and I loved the advancements in Annie's personal life too.

The whodunnit in these books are so good and I keep thinking I'm going to guess the killer but I don't.

I loved all the baking aspects and it was fun to learn about the future of The bookstore.

I highly recommend this series to all my cozy loving friends and I can’t wait for book 5 to come out!

I'm so glad I live in a world with Ellie Alexander holiday reads - truly a gift to readers! I only started reading cozy mysteries this year but Ellie Alexander is absolutely one of my all time favorite authors. The gingerbread making, Christmas vibes, and of course a mystery are perfect! This one should be read anytime that you need to feel warm and happy.

Loving this series! Such a great holiday mystery to read curled up on the couch. Ellie Alexander is fantastic!! Give me more!!

This series, and Annie in particular, has grown on me. She has become more tolerable now that she has acknowledged her feelings for Liam and isn’t coming up with reasons to hate him. The mystery was well-paced and interesting but where this excelled was in the ongoing investigation into Scarlet’s murder; great strides were made in the cold case and really propelled it further. Looking forward to learning more about that in the next one.

Nothing quite says holiday cheer like homicide. At least for cozy holiday mystery lovers. And Ellie Alexander delivers in the latest Secret Bookcase Mystery where Annie has to solve the murder of a celebrity influencer who dies in the bookstore during a gingerbread competition. Yes, you will find the holiday spirit here with all sorts of activities, decorations and appropriate food but also the dark side of online influencers.

A good solid mystery and some further information about the murder of her friend in college. I look forward to the next in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

A Holiday Homicide is a delightfully charming, holiday cozy mystery. Annie and her fellow bookstore owners are hosting a gingerbread-baking competition, and a celebrity influencer has agreed to attend. Unfortunately, when the star is discovered murdered among the bookshelves, Annie is thrust into yet another murder investigation. With a new relationship blooming, Annie must balance her love life, her business goals, and her desire to solve this case - all during the hectic holiday season.

A Holiday Homicide is a perfect cozy. I love the bookstore with all of its quirks and secret rooms. The characters in this series are great, and I can't wait to see how Annie and Fletchers' new business partnership develops! This series is interesting because there is both a murder mystery that occurs in each installment and then an overarching murder that Annie has been trying to solve for the past decade. This larger mystery continues to develop from book to book. I am definitely looking forward to Annie's next adventure and can't wait to find out more about Scarlet's murder.

Another awesome cozy by author Ellie Alexander! This cozy has everything a reader wants. Awesome characters, solid mystery plot that flows smoothly and filled with lots of red herrings. Its always a treat to read one of this author's books! Thanks #Netgalley and #Storm for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.

I loved being back with Annie and the gang for a holiday book, and one that included a baking competition no less! Great mystery, characters and lots of holiday festivities.

Annie Murray lives in Redwood and works in a bookshop the secret bookcase .
She’s an ex criminology student and an amateur sleuth .
This is a perfect Christmas cosy mystery Annie is a great character and she has plenty of depth .
There are some lovely warm characters mixed with the seemingly “ normal” characters who are not all they seem .
A bookshop, murder and an amateur detective what’s not to love ?
Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing .

Gingerbread contest in restored estate, now bookshop, provides a sensory experience to this murder mystery. Sights and smells of the holiday permeate the plot and provide nice backdrop to the plot. Characters were so interesting from deeply caring and kind to deeply flawed and scary. Would definitely read future books in this series.Thanks to #NetGalley and #AHolidayHomicide for advanced digital copy.

Ellie Alexander does it again!!

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an ARC and chance to give my honest feedback

The fourth book in the Secret Bookcase series and it is such a fun series to read! I LOVE the main character Annie and her relationship with her friends in Redwood Grove.
Cozy, classic mysteries with fun banter and great character building. It is not 100% necessary to read them in order but I highly recommend it as the character relationships and story builds with each book.
I loved that this book dove deeper into Annie's past with her friend Scarlet. It left on a bit of a cliff hanger and I absolutely cannot wait to dive into the next book!!

The more books I read in this series, the more I fall in love with it. I hope there are more books coming because I would absolutely love them.

What I liked:
1. Annie’s character and her growth are so realistic and relatable
2. The development of the relationship between Annie and Liam is also realistic and not rushed.
3. The setting is so cozy and welcoming. I could escape to Redwood Grove right now
4. That it is a locked room mystery that isn’t gory or detailed. I love watching the mystery be solved without all the details

My only criticism is about pacing. I think there are parts that could be more drawn out but I also think there are parts that could’ve been faster. Again, I love this series and am happy to have read this installment. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy.

A holiday homicide is the latest book in the secret bookcase mystery series by Ellie Alexander. This story follows a similar structure to the previous books and is just as cosy and interesting a read as all the others. The mystery for our hero Annie to solve this time revolves around a suspicious death in the bookstore after a gingerbread baking competition, this time the murderer was more obvious and the crime easily solved but that left time for progress to be made in the unsolved case of the murder of Annie’s best friend years prior, which as a reader of this series I am glad to have gotten more information about at last but we end with more questions then answers.

I’ve been enjoying the festive themed mysteries novels and what a better way to end the year by reading one of my favorite cozy bookcase mysteries by Ellie Alexander!

This is probably my favorite book out of the series, with the holiday plot it made the story more compelling to read. As always the storyline with Annie and the crew was amazing. I love the take on social media influencers and baking. Ellie books are fun, cozy, and always keep you guessing. I was excited that Annie figured out what she wanted to do for her career path and I can’t wait to read what happens next upon her journey! Still, the slow burn between her and Liam is killing me. I want them to be a couple already haha.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to preface this by saying that I didn't realise when requesting the book that it was the 4th in the series (this is completely on me and I own that), and perhaps this is why I didn't connect to the character of Annie as much as I thought. I also found that the actual reveal of the murder was very sudden and almost a non-event, like there was no confrontation or anything, just ended very abruptly.

The premise of the book itself was a lot of fun and definitely kept me guessing - and for the most part, other than a reference to one of the previous murders, it didn't allude too much to previous books but I think if I had read them first, this might've fared better for me.

I'm definitely intrigued and will try and go back to read the previous 3 books because I need to know more about Annie and her backstory, but this was a fun Christmassy murder mystery.

Annie Murray decides to partner the Secret Bookcase with a local baker, Sugar Lester of Sweet Room, by hosting a gingerbread baking competition with Lily Hawthorne, a social media star, who is coming to town to highlight the event on her media website. All is going well until Lily ends up dead in the bookstore.

There are several people who have a history with Lily, who just happen to be in town for the gingerbread competition. I really enjoyed the holiday vibe in this book with the description of the gingerbread, decorations, and weather.

I am glad that Annie finally figured out what she wants for her future in terms of a career and I loved Fletcher’s PowerPoint with his thoughts about how they should handle their future business buying out Hal. I liked how Annie is moving forward with Scarlett’s death and not letting it consume her as much, even though she is still investigating it.

This town and the characters are delightful and I can’t wait to read more about them in future books. I am wondering about Hal because he seemed kind of sketchy at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is one of the stories in the Secret Bookcase series. It is a nicely told story about a murder that is solved with the help of Annie Murray, a former criminologist student who, after her best friend's murder, finds a life working in the Secret Bookcase. As in the previous stories, Annie Murray helps her former professor solve the case. It is entertaining reading.

Annie and her friends had another exciting case to investigate after another murder took place in her beloved bookstore workplace. Hal and Fletcher continue to be the most amazing boss and coworker anyone could ever wanna work with. And that Pri’s the best bestie a girl could ever imagine having. She always has Annie's back. Dr. Caldwell was such an awesome mentor and we finally get to find out what Annie's decision’s gonna be as far as working with her former criminology professor.

Last but most definitely not least, I absolutely love how Liam and Annie’s relationship did a complete turnaround for the better. I never like conflict with a couple and now they're super cute and solid. He surprised even Annie with how she could influence his reading choices now when she actually got him interested in mysteries.

The main case was solved and Annie's cold case concerning her old friend was getting a little bit warmer so I'm eager to see what happens next. Can't wait to read the next installment!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Storm Publishing via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

This is one of the coziest cozy mystery series I've come across. There's a strong community, the main character has a good group of friends that are practically family, and the bookstore is on my list of fictional places I wish were real. How can I not enjoy a book set in a mystery bookstore with fun characters - especially when written by Ellie Alexander?

This was a fun mystery. A not so likable influencer drops dead in the bookstore during a heavily publicized event with a local bakery. While Lily had seemed sweet and bubbly on camera there are a number of behind-the-scenes actions that has Annie wondering just what the real Lily is like. A number of characters - local and otherwise - seem to have a motive but it takes some serious digging to figure out who would want to kill her.

I really wasn't quite sure who the killer was until Annie figured it out and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to that point. The book is full of Christmas-y cheer and a bit of suspense. I really enjoyed that there is progress being made in Annie's personal life as well as her quest to find out who murdered her best friend, Scarlet.