A Holiday Homicide is the 4th book in the series and the second I've read. The characters and setting are engaging and I felt this could almost be a stand alone. Like she does for Ashland in the Bakeshop Mysteries, Alexander brings the small town of Redwood Grove alive. The premise in this installment is a gingerbread competition held during the Christmas season in the Secret Bookcase bookstore. To boost tourism a famous influencer agrees to judge the competition. So much is not as it seems and a murder threatens to make the holiday a little less happy.
There is a second mystery that is woven through the series, I was impressed with the way the reader is caught up and prepared for book 5. I look forward to to next book. This is a delightful Christmas cozy, highly recommended.

Another really enjoyable book from Ellie Alexander! I love the main character Annie, all of her friends, and the setting in Redwood Grove, Ca.

The action in the fourth book in the series occurs right before the Christmas holidays. Annie is hosting a gingerbread house competition at the
bookstore and everything is decorated to the hilt and Christmasy foods abound in this delightful novel.

There are some great new characters - a culinary web star and several other of the baker community who may or may not get along with her.

The romance for Annie and Liam is progressing slowly but nicely as Annie is considering her future career plans and possibly getting closer in the investigation of the murder of her best friend Scarlet.

I highly recommend the entire "Secret Bookcase Mystery" series. The plots are interesting and have kept my attention all the way to the end of each book.

I absolutely loved it!! I could not put it down, and even without the cliffhanger ending, I can not wait for the next one!!

Although the secret bookcase sounds idyllic as a shopping destination I am now loathed to visit given the amount of bodies piling up in Redwood Grove!
Full of festive cheer and gruesome deaths with a bit of a bake off touch in the gingerbread competition this is a lovely cosy crime to while away a cold wet evening- but do you dare have coffee and cake when a poisoner is on the loose?!

I cannot seem to get enough of these secret bookcase mysteries. Annie Murray and the whole bunch from the bookstore and the town have stolen my heart away. I love the fact that everyone pitches in to help bring tourism and extra things to the town. So far, out all the books, this one is my favorite.

Annie, making her big decision about choosing between the bookstore and a job in law enforcement finally had me sighing with relief. She chose exactly what she should have, and I am so proud of her for being mature enough to realize what she can do, she can do it all and be fine.

Oh man, this mystery really had a lot of twists in it. For the longest time, I thought I knew who the killer was, bypassing my first instincts as to who it really was. There are a lot of red herrings in this one so look out!

I have really enjoyed reading Ellie Alexander and I am looking forward to reading some of her other series too. This one seems like it is really just starting to heat up and I am so ready for that.

The extra mystery of finally finding out what happened to Scarlett is a very nice touch too. I really like that the author gives you something else to chew on while you wait for the next book. Love it.

Thanks to Net Galley, the publishers, and to Ellie Alexander for the ability to read and review this book. All opinions are mine and are completely honest.

What’s cozier than a cozy mystery holiday adventure? Fans got more development with Annie’s career, relationship, and past—but newcomers can easily jump in. It’s not a difficult mystery to solve and is more the backdrop to some forward progress that had been lacking. A big leap forward on all the character and backstory fronts and I’m ready for the next installment.

Book 4 of this delightful series celebrates a gingerbread-baking competition being held at Annie’s beloved Secret Bookcase bookstore. A social media influencer is running the contest, along with a disgruntled assistant, and several stalker adjacent followers are in attendance. Someone ends up dead and Annie has plenty of suspects to investigate. Her wonderful friends help out as we are given aromatic descriptions of holiday food and drink.
Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this DRC.
#AHolidayHomicide #NetGalley

Excellent continuation of this series. Character development is great and the set up for a further book is clear.
I was able to guess the killer early in the book, too many other possibilities but just one obvious choice.
My advance copy still needed editing.

Thank you, NetGalley, Storm Publishing and Ellie Alexander for this ARC.

This is the 4th book in the Secret Bookcase mystery. I've enjoyed each one in this series so far. The charcters are developing more and more. I feel like I can't say much since some may not have read the first ones in this series. I will say that I really enjoy the direction this book has Annie's life heading and I can't wait to see it develop. This book didn't seem to investigate the present murder as much as Scarlet's murder which I loved. I am so invested in that one. I need to find out what happened to her!

I love the characters in this series and this holiday installment had a definite Christmas feel. As for the mystery, I figured out who and how early on, and was surprised this person wasn't really considered a suspect until the end. But this case was more a side note. The main focus is Annie making major decisions about her future and the tension really ramps up when she finally meets with the mysterious Mark and uncovers shocking revelations in Scarlet's murder. There's still unanswered questions, about Scarlet, Liam, and others that will keep readers coming back to find out more.

Annie returns. This time a gingerbread competition is taking place at the bookstore. She is also thinking about what direction she would like her future to take. Of course there ends up with something for her to investigate.
It is a nice easy read to relax with and I continue to like the main characters.

A Holiday Homicide is the 4th book in the Secret Bookcase Mystery series. It takes place in the town of Redwood Grove, CA around Christmas time. The Secret Bookcase Book store is owned by Hal Christie. It is in a restored Englilsh country estate. It is the largest mystery book store on the East Coast. Annie Murray works at the book store. She was once a criminology student when at college. Hal has offered to Annie and her co-worker, Fletcher a change to take over the running of the store. He would like to step back a bit. Annie use to be a student to Dr. Caldwell who is now Redwood's lead detective and has offered Annie a job working for her.

The store is giving it's first event, a gingerbread bake-off. Sugar Lester who owns Sweet Room Bakery wants to partner with them for the event. She has gotten Lily Hawthorne, the biggest baking influencer in the country to come and judge the contest. Sugar has told Annie that working with Lily would give a boost to their businesses. Lily plans to build a very large duplicate of the book store. Annie plans to do the room with the secret room in it. Sugar plans to do a replicate of the town of Redwood itself. They will invite the village to participate in the contest. Fletcher plans to do a replicate of Chaning Cross Station. He is a great admirer of Sherlock Holmes. Liam Donovan owns The Stag Head pub and is Annie's boyfriend.

Lily arrives with her assistant, Becca. Annie helps Becca bring in the pieces of the gingerbread house. Once Becca puts it together it is breathtaking. Lily goes and explores the store and has fallen in love with it. Perfect for her broadcast to all her followers. The store opens to all the participates at 10:00 for them to put their gingerbread houses on exhibition. Shane Briggs is at the head of the line. He said he was there to help LIly. Becca sees him and asks him what he is doing there. She tells Annie that he is a stalker who comes to all events that Lilly is doing. He is a super fan. Liam comes to help and is told about Shane and asks him to watch out for him.

Dayton Coyle is a culinary instructor from Redwood Grove High School. He is bringing his students there. Kari Harris works for Queen Mary Flour Company. She is hoping to get Lily to go into business with them and plans to talk to Lily about it. Priya (Pri) owns Crypic Coffee shop and is Annie's best friend. Penny is her girlfriend who is away on business.

When opening the contest Annie introduces Lily to the audience. Shane has somehow gotten into the store and was at the stage trying to get to Lily. Becca calls for help and Liam and Sugar get to him and take him away from the stage. Annie and Pri go outside to speak to Shane. He told them that he and Lily are really good friends. He said all he wanted to do was to make sure Lily got his gift. It was a Montblanc pen with her name and her logo on the pen. He asked Sugar to make sure that Lily got it. Sugar went and made sure that Lily had it.

Dayton got Lily to try his grandmother's recipe. She tasted it and said she recognized the recipe. He showed her the original. She told him that she would talk to him later about the recipe. Kari shouted to her but Lily paid no attention to her. Lily told her viewers about Sugar's village showing her camera and tripped and fell on Sugar's gingerbread village and it shattered to the floor. Lily made light of the situation that it was an accident. Lily left the stage with Shane's pen behind her ear. When cleaning up the ruined village Becca implied that falling into the village was done on purpose. She didn't like that Sugar's village was so good. Lily did not like being upstaged. Sugar was upset when she heard what Becca said. Becca left to find Lily to make sure she was on schedule. When Lily saw Annie she told her that Sugar was angry at her so she decided to go and judge the local entries.

When Annie was tiding up and putting books back on shelves in the parlor she came across Lily on the floor with her notebook and pink pen by her side. Annie went to check on her and called for help. She asked the other couple who were there to call the police. She did CPR until the medics got there but she was dead. Dr. Caldwell arrives and takes over. She speaks to Annie with questions. Annie tells her that Lily had eaten a piece of cake and her reaction to it. Annie goes back upfront and finds Sugar crying at the counter. They go into another room to talk. Sugar tells Annie she was with Lily and Becca in the children's area doing a photo shooting. Lily did mention she had a headache and chest tightness. Becca had told Sugar that Lily had gone off her medication a few months ago.

This is where the story gets interesting but there is so much going on that it is hard to put on paper. There are so many people who could have killed Lily, I will leave it to the reader to enjoy to the exciting ending.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read this series from the beginning. Have gotten to know the characters who live in the town and look forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC.

This was a cute cozy mystery about Annie who is trying to solve the mystery of the murder of a celebrity during a gingerbread bake-off. This was a cute little mystery, it was somewhat predictable but that’s the charm of these books and makes it a comfort read. I haven’t read the other books in the series so there was some backstory lacking, but that’s not this book's fault. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a fun read during the holiday season. It definitely scratches the itch of what you’d be looking for in a book like this.

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing for allowing me to read this book early for an honest review.

I received a free copy of, A Holiday Homicide, by Ellie Alexander, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book 4 of 4 in the, A Secret Bookcase Mystery series. Redwood Grove has another dead body in its town. A celebrity baker has been killed at a gingerbread contest. It is up to Annie Murray to solve the crime. This was a nice holiday cozy mystery.

This is book 4 in the A Secret Bookcase Series.

All eyes in the baking world are watching Redwood Grove this Christmas Season, as an amazing Gingerbread House competition, being held at the bookstore.

Sugar, a local bakery owner invites Lily, a baker influencer to town to judge a gingerbread house competition.

Becca, Lily’s assistant (and friend? business partner?) is very frazzled as they arrive in town.

As the book opens, I did quickly figure out who the victim would be.

But in true Ellie fashion, she gives us so many suspects, each with a strong motive.

Is it the assistant? The teacher? The baker? The over anxious rep from the flour company? The stalker? Oh yeah. We have a stalker in this book.

We see Liam and Annie’s relationship moving forward (how did I ever think he was a murderer? Read my review of book 1 where I considered him a suspect 😂).

Fletcher also surprised me with the new business venture he proposes to Annie, and I gotta say, I LOVE it! Hal is on board, so I’m excited to see how this play out.

We also get more information on Scarlet’s death, and honestly, the twist here about floored me.

Can’t wait for the next book

This is a delightful holiday book! You would wonder how murder and holidays blend together but it works.
With our budding Private Investigator and her very early days budding romance, there is quite a bit going
on at the bookstore as Christmas is right around the corner…. The festivities in the tiny village may prove to
be dangerous, .. possibly fatal…as holiday baking and holiday ‘influencers’ are bound to mix with more of a
mess than oil and vinegar until our budding investigator and the Police, make progress in time to limit the
carnage right before Christmas
You would wonder how this works, but it absolutely is a delightful story with lots of yummy baked goods
being offered, along with a great menu for the holiday party. While not labeled as such, this book would
interest younger readers as well~high schoolers on up. And while this is a series, it’s fine to read this book
as a standalone.
My thanks to Storm Publishing via NetGalley for the download of this book for review purposes.

The 4th book in this series had holiday fun with gingerbread-making contests, fabulous decorations, music, events, and a budding relationship between Annie & Liam. I was happy to see Annie finally make some decisions about her future with the bookstore and crime-solving so she can move past being conflicted. I found it hard to like most of the newly introduced characters and care that much about the murder. While we finally got some movement on solving past crimes, I still feel like it’s time to get all the details and let Annie move on so I hope answers come to light in the next book. It’s ok to have some mysteries in a character's past, but I am disappointed and annoyed with each book that doesn’t move past Scarlet’s death and still doesn't give any real details.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book

A Holiday Homicide by Ellie Alexander.
I read this E-ARC book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the fourth in thr Secret bookshelf mystery , which is turning out to be really comfy, cosy and easy to read murder mystery books. Annie Murray is still planning lavish, but always seemingly deadly events in her small town.
The story and characters have developed significantly since the first outing making Redwood Grove and its residence realistic, distinguishable and likable. Ellie Alexander once again nails the brief of coziness with a interesting but never salacious or gory primary mystery, whilst also furthering the whole series arc regarding Annie's friend's Mysterious death.
The gingerbread competition and details around the decorations and festivities made this a really seasonal read which would be really enjoyable in the run-up to Christmas and could be read as a standalone but would be best red with the other books first.
The author is absolutely prolific and is producing these works at a real pace to keep up with the different holidays and I'm absolutely there for that. These are easy and enjoyable reads which will help solve the stresses of a challenging day.
I thoroughly enjoyed it once again

This book put me in the holiday mood! The gingerbread competition sounded amazing. The story was full of surprises. The last few chapters really drew me in and I was holding my breath reading them. I can’t wait to see what happens with the search for Scarlets killer.

I loved returning to the charming town of Redwood Grove and the Secret Bookcase bookstore. In this instalment Annie is hosting a Gingerbread House competition at the bookstore, and things are really sweet until influencer drops dead …

It was entertaining, full of twists and turns and I didn’t completely guess whodunnit until Annie did..
Overall, I'm thoroughly invested in this series and excited to see where the author takes these endearing characters next!

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

I requested and received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Storm Publishing and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my OWN.