Overall this is an enjoyable Christmas cozy read, but the pace is a bit odd to me. Read and see for yourself.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC. Due to be published 07/11/2024.

A little early for Christmas but it was a lovely, cosy mystery.

Maddie's Christmas eve just seems to be going wrong and instead of finding herself snuggled up at her parents waiting to see in Christmas she's stuck miles from home in a pub with a bunch of strangers.

The pub sounds like a nice traditional pub with the sort of regulars that knows everyone and their business. Despite this, there are a few characters that you can't help find endearing and Maddie does seem to end up with some new friends.
The murders pop up and a scavenger hunt turns into a whodunnit with the killer being revealed at the end. Not completely unpredictable but well written and an enjoyable story.

Love the sound of the pub and Sofia's hot chocolate!!

This was such a delight to read. It sucked me in right away and kept my interest through the entire story. I loved seeing everything through Maddi's POV as she was the outsider of the group and worked as the perfect conduit through which to explain all these characters and their connections without it being obvious that was what was going on. We also are in the same situation as her with regard to knowing who was trustworthy and who might have been capable of murder. There are lots of great twists and turns and red herrings here. I still don't know what to make of Mrs. Kapoor - she's clearly unhappy but her cavalier way of telling her daughter that the man showing interest in her was only doing so to get closer to her mother was a little heartless. I was also left with conflicting feelings about Sita and Mickey - their past behavior was pretty awful and because it's all so far back in the past it's difficult to know if they have ever really acknowledged the pain they caused to others. I did really enjoy the growing friendship (maybe more) between her and Alex - I would happily read more stories with these two as the mystery/crime solvers so if the author wanted to turn this into a series I would 100% be on board for that!

A fun, sinister and spooky, festive read.

It's Christmas Eve and Maddie finds herself stuck with a broken down car and terrible weather in the small town in the Yorkshire Dale's. Derailed from her trip home to Edinburgh for Christmas, she ends up holing up in the cosy and seemingly friendly Merry Monarch pub. Suddenly roped into a festive scavenger hunt, Maddie is introduced to a host of interesting characters... then the lights go out and a body is found.

This turned out to be a perfect read for spooky season, though it would be a fun Christmas read too!

Full of high tension, a spooky atmosphere and fascinating characters. The mystery of the murder is completely engrossing and the evolving history of the town and its residents keeps your turning the pages!

A classic snowed in isolated mystery. The Christmassy Merry Monarch creates the perfect setting for this whodunnit.

I really enjoyed this read and it would make a perfect Christmas gift for anyone especially those readers that like an intricate and clever cozy mystery. The writing was good and it had a whole cast of interesting characters that kept me on my toes as I tried hard to get to grips who the perpetrator was and I failed miserably I have to admit!
With lots of twists and turns my only complaint is that the dialogue sometimes became a bit too wordy at times but perhaps this was just me and overall it was a book I would recommend to anyone to loves a murder mystery without all the blood and guts.So a good solid 3 star read and look forward to more from Noelle Albright in the future.
My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I added this winter warmer to my TBR with idealistic visions of myself solving a murder mystery cosy by the fire. Instead i ended up binge reading in goblin mode from my bed as soon as Barkley was introduced into the story.

I mostly enjoyed this book but there was something in the pacing that felt a little off. It seemed to take a long time to get going and then felt very stop start until the final reveal. Also as someone from Yorkshire i struggled with how the accent/dialect was written and trying to read the abbreviations made it feel forced in my mind, but that’s definitely a me problem
.
Still a fun little read, and enjoyed the character relationships built in the book, i was however invested in the wellbeing of Barkley above everyone else.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in return for an honest revie

A raging snowstorm, a broken down car and a village pub with a roaring fire seems to be all that’s in store for Maddie on this Christmas Eve. Then it all turns into an unexpected locked room mystery, or should that be locked pub, when there is a murder committed. There is no shortage of suspects or motives but who actually can Maddie trust?
An engaging read to snuggle down with by a warm fire of your own.

For me, this was a lump of coal in my stocking. Right from the start I felt the dialogue and characters felt inauthentic. It was like a few of those British mystery shows that are fine to watch, but the acting is over-the-top and the story is often goofy. Less a Vera and more of a Madame Blanc. I DNF.

It's Christmas Eve and Maddie departs for her parents' house in Edinburgh. There's an accident on the motorway, so she follows the satnav directions for an alternate route, hoping to save time. This doesn't work out as planned. It starts to snow and on the outskirts of a small village, her car stalls out and won't start again. When villager Curtis and his dog, Barkley, find her, she decides she has to trust them and goes with them to the local pub/inn where some locals are gathered for the annual Christmas Eve scavenger hunt. She's hoping to call for help, but the roads aren't passable so she's stuck there. She calls her parents and tries to swallow her disappointment and nervousness as she takes a room for the night and decides to make the best of the situation. She soon learns that even a festive scavenger hunt can rip open old wounds and that all is not as it appears. And very quickly things take a sinister turn and not everyone is going to be alive to celebrate another Christmas.

This is an enjoyable mystery in a traditional setting. There's a nod to Golden Age Christmas mysteries even as the situation and characters are very modern. The weather isolates people without the many of the systems (transport, communication) that are taken for granted. There's a great deal of humor, which added to my enjoyment of the book. If you like Christmas cozy mysteries in which a quirky cast of characters is stuck together as the snow falls, then grab your beverage of choice, settle in with this book, and enjoy.

When Maddy’s car breaks down on Christmas Eve and a snowstorm means the rescue van can’t get to her, she has to take refuge in a village pub. The pub is hosting its annual scavenger hunt and Mandy is invited to join them; however the power suddenly goes out and a body is discovered.

A great cozy crime drama with interesting characters (including a possible ghost). Very enjoyable.

I don't know why cosy crime lends itself so well to a festive setting, but it does. Maybe it's the sense of it being a special, different time of year, when people mix together in combinations they might not during the rest of the year. It also helps for British-set mysteries that bad weather provides for the 'locked room' situations often required for this type of story to succeed.

In this latest yuletide murder mystery, the viewpoint character is Maddie, a journalist who gets stranded in a snow-bound Yorkshire village when trying to drive home on Christmas Eve. She finds accommodation at the local pub, where a small group of locals are getting ready for their annual Christmas scavenger hunt around the old building. Maddie rather reluctantly joins a team together with an off duty policeman (convenient) and a retired solicitor, but the first clues have barely been solved when a body is found and the evening turns into a mystery of a very different kind.

It's a quick and undemanding read with a good flow. The mystery is not particularly hard to solve and I worked out who did it fairly early, but it does manage to dodge a couple of cliches. Several plot aspects don't bear close inspection so my strategy is, don't inspect them closely! The premise of any cosy crime novel like this is always convoluted and not very realistic but you know that when you decide to read. Some of the cover quotes describe it as funny, which I didn't find to be the case - there's some weak jokes within the banter between characters but nothing actually funny. The writing is perfectly adequate, but there's nothing special about it and Albright has a tendency to tell, not show, with too much exposition and not enough dialogue. I also didn't develop much feeling for the characters - but then it's a plot driven story, as a mystery should be.

Overall, this is a perfectly respectable Christmassy whodunnit that will please fans of the genre but probably isn't exceptional enough to be chosen by those who read a wide range of genres and only want to pick the best of each.

I enjoyed this book ,very atmospheric with a warming fire some wonderful food while the snow comes down in the Yorkshire Dales in The Merry Monarch Pub a murder is about to be committed on Christmas Eve .There are some great characters I loved Curtis best ,I didn't guess who dunnit ! Another cosy murder mystery .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC .

This is a fun and entertaining cosy crime read.
When Maddie breaks down in a snowstorm in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales on Christmas Eve she has to rely on the kindness of strangers to help her.
The pub she is taken to is about to hold its annual scavenger hunt and when a power cut hits and a murder is uncovered everyone becomes a suspect.
This novel is full of humour and suspense. The characters and the atmospheric setting of the pub in the isolated Yorkshire Dales add to the suspense.
This is a perfect read for the winter months. Well-paced and well written, full of loveable and detestable characters in equal measure.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

It is the time of year for festive murder mysteries, this one is from Noelle (so apt) Albright, written the popular style of the golden age of crime, a cosy set in a isolated part of the Yorkshire Dales. where the weather appropriately enought is heavy snow blizzards, that leave the place cut off. It is Christmas Eve and fear, murder and chaos is on the menu. Maddie Marlowe is on her way to Scotland, but has the worst of luck when she finds herself stranded, unable to get in touch with the outside world for help when her car breaks down. Which is how, feeling distinctly unsettled, she finds herself at The Merry Monarch pub, initially an apparently welcome sight with its welcoming warmth, food, and cheer.

With the locals, a scavenger hunt has been organised, all is fine, but the atmosphere soon changes, the power goes, there is conflict and the darkness soon contribute to the descent into more troubling drama and oppressive vibes. The festive feel, the wit and banter dissipates, as the fun and games come to a claustrophobic and shocking end, there are twists and turns, and murder that follows, raising the suspense levels. This will no doubt appeal to many readers, with a great cast of characters, and I certainly found it a reliably enjoyable cosy read, although perhaps I could see what was coming a trifle too easily. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This started relatively slowly as it set the scene for everything that followed. It was a great whodunit. At times it was sad as I was just starting to like one of the characters when off they went investigating alone,( not the best move) but there were numerous suspects to investigate. Each one seemed to have a motive so needed to be eliminated from the suspect list, since they were all snowed in together. I had pieced together enough clues to work out who the murderer was only shortly before the reveal. I enjoyed this book

This was a really enjoyable cosy mystery ideal for Christmas.

The characters were a bit thin, but sympathetic and didn’t do anything too stupid for the most part. The red herrings were well plotted and though the ending wasn’t a total surprise there were enough uncertainties to keep me guessing a bit.

All in all I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a seasonal mystery that will entertain.

*** Thanks to NetGalley any the publisher ***

The book gets off to a great seasonal start with Maddie getting stranded as her car breaks down in the snow on Christmas Eve.
I loved the Yorkshire Dales rural setting of this book, and the scavenger hunt provides an original story line. I found some of the dialogue unrealistic, which was off putting.

Book Review: The Christmas Eve Murders by Noelle Albright

The Christmas Eve Murders is a delightful blend of humor and suspense that had me hooked from the very first page. Set in the charming Merry Monarch pub nestled in the Yorkshire Dales, the story perfectly captures the cozy yet chaotic spirit of the holidays.

As the pub prepares for its annual scavenger hunt, the cast of characters comes alive. I loved getting to know Mickey, the landlord, and his wife Sofia, along with the quirky regulars who add layers of intrigue and hilarity. The unexpected arrival of Maddie, a journalist stranded by a snowstorm, injects a fresh dynamic into the mix. Her journey from an unwelcome guest to a key player in the unfolding drama was a highlight for me.

When the power goes out and the hunt turns deadly, the tension ramps up dramatically. Albright masterfully weaves together the festive atmosphere with the looming threat of murder, creating a captivating whodunnit that kept me guessing until the end. The interactions between the characters are sharp and witty, making me chuckle while also holding my breath in anticipation.

The blend of cozy vibes and murder mystery is executed flawlessly, reminiscent of classic Agatha Christie but with a modern twist. I found myself racing through the chapters, eager to uncover the culprit while enjoying the holiday setting.

Overall, The Christmas Eve Murders is a perfect festive read for mystery lovers. It's charming, funny, and delightfully suspenseful, making it a wonderful addition to my holiday reading list. I can't recommend it enough for anyone looking to get into the holiday spirit while solving a cozy mystery!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

This book was great! I loved the writing style and I loved the characters and their chemistry. I loved the Christmas vibes. Great book!! Such a good cozy mystery and it did have me guessing!

I love Christmas and I love a good murder mystery, 5 stars from me for this perfectly wrapped holiday read!