The Mistletoe Murder Club by Katie Marsh Narrator: Helen Keeley
Series: The Bad Girls Detective Agency #4
Published by Boldwood Books on September 5, 2025
Source: Library
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Length: 7 hrs 7 mins
Pages: 290
Format: Audiobook
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Roll up, roll up… this year’s Christmas show has a twist you won’t see coming… murder!
When Clio – a former actress and current struggling private detective – manages to score a key role in the town’s Christmas pantomime, she’s secretly delighted. At last, perhaps, her talents will be recognized?
It’s all going dramatically well, until their esteemed director is found murdered on the opening night. And Clio knows it’s up to her to find out who the mistletoe murderer is.
She knows her best chance of capturing the culprit is to bring her best friends Amber and Jeanie into the cast. Even if the best way to sneak them in is to carefully conceal them both in a pantomime cow costume.
But before she can cry ‘he’s behind you’, all of them will be in danger for their lives, as there’s a murderer with only one thing on their mind… to bring the curtain down on the Mistletoe Murder Club. Forever.
I picked up The Mistletoe Murder Club, knowing it’s the fourth book in the series and I haven’t read any of the others. I am a sucker for a Christmas mystery and this one looked fun. The author did a good job of giving enough background without over explaining. Clio, Amber, and Jeanie are a fun team, but maybe rely more on luck and guesses than actual investigating.
Clio is in a Christmas pantomime directed by the famous actress, Beatrice Butler. Unfortunately, there is tension among the cast members and Beatrice is not a nice person. When she ends up dead it’s not surprising, the question is which one of them was angry enough to kill her. Detective Marco Santini is leading the investigation, but of course the women are determined to solve it. We have plenty of suspects and clues and the twist was decent.
I’m not sure I’ll bother going back and reading others in the series, but this was an enjoyable read for December. I will say the pantomime tradition sounds fun.
About Katie Marsh
Katie wrote romantic fiction before turning to crime. Her debut novel was a World Book Night pick and her books are published in twelve languages.
She lives in the countryside and loves strong coffee and pretending she is in charge of her children. Her new crime novel, ‘The Mistletoe Murder Club’ is out now.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
This does look fun. I wound up with two Christmas-themed books this month. One was Time of the Child by Niall Williams which was enjoyable but took a long time to get to the point. Others in my group must be more sentimental than I am because they seemed to love it!
Sounds like one I might skip. I’m not the sentimental type either.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for sharing your thoughts
It was fun.
I bought three Christmas mysteries, but have only been reading Christmas romances. I need to get to it.
I’ve been stuck in the middle of a Christmas romance for a couple of weeks.