What a wonderfully complicated, confusing, mixed up world Sophie is enduring in this book! While Sophie is attending a holiday party, she is witness to Horace Scroggins falling from his balcony. Before he is whisked away to the hospital he begs Sophie to retrieve a letter in his office desk and hide it from his wife. Doing as asked, Sophie heads home where she is entreated by her ex-husband to allow her to use her home for the neighborhood holiday light contest because his girlfriend, Sophie's arch-rival, Natalie, won't let him put one light in a color or place that she doesn't approve.

The book is a full of holiday cheer and great sounding recipes even if it is a little light on the mystery. ( )

Too many implausible coincidences, but the characters were interesting, and there was a bit of humor. Lots of nice Christmas details, and a good sense of place. ( )

3.5 stars -- Another fun mystery with Christmas theme. Domestic diva tips are always interesting. More and more characters can get confusing. ( )

While I am giving this book 5 stars, it amazes me where Sophie has time to solve murders, run a business (although she wasn't doing any business in this book which brings up the point: where does she get her money to live) and entertain friends at the drop of a hat. People just show up around meal time and she get whip up a fabulous meal in no time. I guess it is the mystery and the enchantment of the series. ( )

Slightly better than average read with some embarrassing editing errors.

Sophie's trying to get ready for Christmas when she finds a dead body.

The author's trying to juggle a lot of balls in this book and mostly she succeeds but as is the way of these things, nothing really stands out and grabs the reader. Natalie is still a absurd pain-in-the-ass, Mars is still spending an inappropriate amount of time with Sophie (his ex-wife) – although there is a brief hint in this book that there might actually be a reason behind it. Sophie's trying to get to know a new man, Alex, and her ex-boyfriend Wolf shows back up in her life (although no explanation of his status is given - is he still taken?).

On top of all of this is the murder mystery which is overly complicated with a mystery inside the mystery. We have a victim by page 4, but that victim is sort of a red herring - there's a body yet to be found. The murderer was very well hidden in plain sight - I didn't have a clue until the very end but I don't know how much of that is clever plotting and how much is just a result of obfuscation.

Something like this can end up being a hot mess but mostly the story worked. It didn't shine, but it worked. I enjoyed the read and the back of the book has a heap of christmas cookie recipes - some of them interesting enough that I might give them a go. ( )