The Knife Before Christmas is the 11th Fixer-Upper cozy mystery by Kate Carlisle. Released 22nd Oct 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, mass market paperback, 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.
This is a fun and easy-to-read cozy with well established three dimensional characters and an ensemble cast. Although it's the 11th book in the series, it works fine as a standalone with the codicil that events and relationships established in this book will spoil some of the previous books if read out of order. Readers who read them out of order won't be lost or confused though; the author manages to fill in the backstory and character developments without spoon-feeding or info dumping.
For readers of romance who like some cozy mystery in their reads (or cozy readers who enjoy clean romance) this series will be a good fit. The plot is simple and mostly linear. The violence is mostly off scene and without gore. The language is PG and there is no racy content. It's full of fun holiday themes and would make a great choice for a fun holiday buddy read.
The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 7 hours 41 minutes and is capably read by series narrator Jae Delane. She has a pleasantly neutral alto, American accent (west coast? but not at all intrusive) and does a good job of a range of ages and both male and female characters. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.
Four stars. Well written and engaging.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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