A Wonderful Christmas Crime is the 6th Christmas Tree Farm cozy village mystery by Jacqueline Frost. Released 21st Oct 2025 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, 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 very light cozy; Christmas themed comfort reading. Lots of things are happening in Mistletoe, Maine, and not all of them are wonderful. Theft and murder are a definite damper on holiday festivities, and again, right on schedule, MC Holly White's in the middle of things. Apparently something about rural Maine brings out the crime in people. Like Jessica Fletcher, the crime statistics are off-the-charts. Nevertheless, for fans of fluffy crime novels, this one is a nice addition and fits well with the series. As always, the village is full of harmlessly eccentric oddball secondary characters, and the resolution and denouement push the boundaries of the suspension of disbelief, but overall it's fair-play and enjoyable.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 16 minutes and is read by Allyson Ryan. She has a professionally trained neutral American accent and although some of the "Mainer" and "Swedish" accents aren't 100%, it's absolutely not intrusive and doesn't detract from the read. She does a good job with a number of voices of both sexes and a range of ages from very young to elderly. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.
Four stars. It's a long ongoing series and recommended for public library acquisition, home use, or a long(ish) binge/buddy read. Although this is book 6, it works well enough as a standalone, with the understanding that the returning ensemble cast has a long back-history and there will be spoilers for earlier books if read out of order. This is a -very- light cozy; language and content are clean, and violence occurs off-page.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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