Summary

Christmas is coming and Mia’s life is becoming more complicated by the day. She loves her job as an event planner running Belle View Catering, but she’s currently planning a rather unusual Nativity Themed first birthday party (they want camels), and simultaneously dealing with a teenage drama queen who wants the best and most unique sweet 16 party ever! Meanwhile, her estranged mother has suddenly returned from Italy, her best friend Jamie has learned that he was adopted, her grandmother is engaged in neighborhood warfare in an attempt to win a Christmas decorating competition, and then she finds a body. 

My Thoughts

This is the first book I have read in this series and I really enjoyed it. 

The story is well-plotted and perfectly paced. The mystery is well-crafted and it kept me guessing. There were some good red herrings and an entertaining suspect pool.

The book does have a lot of characters. I kept a list and stopped when I hit 55. Of those, at least 41 appear more than once in the story, so I was glad I had that list. It might not have been necessary for people who have read the earlier books. I was trying to learn about family members, friends, and staff, and when you add to that the suspects and the clients, it at times felt like a lot! 

That said, the recurring characters were well-developed, and I very much liked Mia and her family, especially her grandmother. Nonna Elisabetta was funny, tough, insightful and a bit of a troublemaker. Really, she’s everything you could hope for in a grandmother. 

There was a lot of humor in this book and I laughed out loud a number of times. Afterwards, I learned that the author has written for a number of sitcoms, and that made perfect sense.  

If you look for over the top Christmas atmosphere in Christmas mysteries, the book won’t disappoint. It’s a cold and snowy December which is always a nice place to start. However, it is the neighborhood house decorating contest which helps set the festive scene.

Don’t read this while hungry. Seriously the food! The pasta! The sweets! More pasta! Fortunately, there is a collection of recipes in the back of the book. I will be trying out all of them and will update the review once I have. 

Most of the characters used bits of Italian here and there. It can be figured out by context, and I feel like it gave an air of authenticity to the conversations. 

My Rating 4/5

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About the Author

Maria DiRico is the pen name of Ellen Byron. She is the award winning author of 4 mystery series, a playwright, and a writer for several successful sitocms. A native New Yorker, Ellen now lives in Los Angeles.

To learn more about her and sign up for her newsletter, be sure to check out her website.