Misdeeds and Mistletoe

This Christmas, the ornaments aren't the only things breaking

By: Ellen Le Teace

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Snow is falling, cocoa is steaming, and the Tumblebrook Inn is aglow with Christmas cheer… until a renowned ornament appraiser collapses beneath the tree and turns the holiday festival into a murder scene.

Stranded by a blizzard and surrounded by nervous guests, innkeeper Amelia Farnsworth and her quick-witted friend Clara Henderson must sift through cryptic gift tags, forged ornaments, and long-buried town secrets to uncover the truth. But someone else is hunting for the mysterious “crown ornament”—and they’ll stop at nothing to recover it.

With the help of Lady Grey, the inn’s intuitive British Shorthair, Amelia discovers that the Monarch Society—a shadowy group tied to Tumblebrook’s past—isn’t as forgotten as the town hoped.

As the storm tightens its grip and clues vanish as quickly as footprints in the snow, Amelia must protect her guests, unravel her family’s connection to the Society, and outsmart a killer lurking in the twinkling shadows of the inn.

Full of cozy charm, holiday intrigue, small-town warmth, and a cat with impeccable timing, this Christmas mystery will keep you turning pages long past the last snowfall.

3.5/5 — A fun, lighthearted, cozy, clean Christmas mystery.

This was exactly the kind of story I was hoping to read two weeks before Christmas. It has a comforting, nostalgic charm that reminded me a bit of the original Nancy Drew mysteries.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the AI narrator—if I hadn’t known ahead of time, I’m not sure I would have guessed it was AI. The only challenge was the lack of distinct voices for each of the characters, so I did get a bit confused at times and had to pause to remember who was who. I think reading a physical copy might make that easier.

Clean read: no profanity, gore, or sexual content