The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle Narrator: Jae Delane
Series: Fixer-Upper Mystery #11
Published by Audible Studios on November 26, 2024
Source: Purchased
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Length: 7 hrs 41 mins
Pages: 287
Format: Audiobook
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Contractor Shannon Hammer hopes for a peaceful Christmas with her fiancé, Mac, until murder throws a wrench in her holiday plans in a brand-new installment of the USA Today bestselling Fixer-Upper Mystery Series.
Christmas has come to Lighthouse Cove, but business hasn’t slowed down for Shannon Hammer. She’s been contracted to renovate a local hotel owned by the Garrisons, a family that’s so devoted to the holidays they serve a seven-course dinner every night from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Last year’s festivities featured a train that transported guests around the breathtaking Cliffside property. This year, Shannon and her crew have been commissioned to build a Victorian-style carnival midway with games and prizes galore.
Everyone in town loves the hotel’s spirit, except the Garrisons’ children and their spouses, who are hum-bugged by the money being wasted on holiday cheer while their inheritance goes up the chimney. Things turn nasty when a mischief-maker close to the family is found dead. It’s up to Shannon and Mac to catch a sinister Scrooge before all of Lighthouse Cove receives coal for Christmas.
There are a lot of things I enjoyed about The Knife Before Christmas and a few things I didn’t. Shannon and her crew are working on a Christmas carnival at the Cliffs Hotel that has a Victorian flair and a couple of surprises. It sounded fun, but it was hard to picture how it all fit together – the tent, Santa’s stall, the carousel. We get introduce to the Garrisons, the family that owns and runs the hotel. There’s a lot of family drama, with almost all of them working and living at the hotel, and it’s not surprise when one of them ends up murdered. I won’t say who because even though it’s obvious, it takes the story a while to get there. The killer, once we get to the reveal, isn’t much of a surprise either.
We do get a lot of Christmas touched here, plenty of decorations and food and drinks. I like Shannon – she and Mac are sweet together. I don’t enjoy all the “she was mean to me in high school and now she’s my archnemesis” bits, though. I don’t remember if that annoyed me in the previous installments or not.
For a Christmassy cozy, it’s enjoyable. At times, the characters and relationships overshadow the mystery a bit, but that’s okay.
About Kate Carlisle
New York Times bestselling author Kate Carlisle is a native Californian who worked in television production for many years before turning to writing. It was a lifelong fascination with the art and craft of bookbinding that led her to write the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder.
With the publication of A High-End Finish in November 2014, Kate launched the Fixer-Upper Mysteries featuring building contractor Shannon Hammer, who specializes in Victorian home renovation and repair.
Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She is the proud recipient of the Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier awards, and her first Bibliophile Mystery received a Best First Mystery nomination from RT Book Reviews. Kate loves to travel and read and drink good wine and watch other people cook.
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