Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and author Ellie Alexander for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

This is the fourth book in author Ellie Alexander’s Secret Bookcase Mystery series. It’s not that far into the series that I felt like I missed a lot. There are a few things that left me wondering exactly what had gone on in previous books as part of an ongoing story that seems to occupy the central figure of the series. Overall, however, this did very well on its own.

In the town of Redwood Grove, the festive holiday season is a big deal. Annie Murray has ambitious plans for a gingerbread competition at the Secret Bookcase, which is the bookshop she works in. They’ve managed to snag a popular baking influencer, Lily Hawthorne, as a judge. At the same time, Annie is struggling to decide where her life is going to go from here. She’s in a relatively new relationship with Liam, owner of a local pub. She has a degree in criminal justice but has been happy working at the bookstore. Hal, the owner, would like Lily and her coworker Fletcher to buy him out.

The day of the gingerbread competition arrives. There are some great entries, including a local baker named Sugar who is giving Lily’s entry a run for her money. Unfortunately, as Lily is streaming to her followers, she “accidentally” falls into Sugar’s creation, ruining it. The remainder of the first day seems to go off without a hitch until Annie is trying to clean up at closing time and discovers Lily, dead.

Annie is drawn into the mystery surrounding Lily’s death. At first, it seems like it might be due to a heart condition she’s had since birth. The investigation leads Annie and local law enforcement to believe it was murder. Could it be the overzealous stalker Lily rebuffed earlier that day? Could it be Sugar, who was promised all kinds of favorable promotions by Lily only to end up on the receiving end of unwarranted vitriol? Could it be Lily’s prickly assistant, Becca, who seems to be the real talent behind Lily’s success? Or the high school culinary teacher who may have stolen Lily’s prize recipe? Or the corporate lackey who’s been trying to rope Lily into an endorsement deal?

While Annie is investigating all of this, an ongoing mystery of her best friend’s murder seems to catch a break. A former worker at the company Annie and Scarlet (the deceased friend) were investigating agreed to talk to her. While she is dealing with the holiday rush and trying to solve Lily’s murder, she’s also wondering if talking to this man will put her in danger.

The Holiday Homicide is a good read. I was lost a bit with the ongoing cold case surrounding the murder of Scarlet. There’s enough information given that I was generally able to follow it. The same goes for the romance between Annie and Liam. It’s apparent there was some friction between them for a while before they started dating, but the background isn’t given. To learn more about either of these, I would have to go back to the first three books.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and well-written. Annie encounters a lot of people in the California town. It seems like the perfect setting for Christmas in California, and the townspeople exhibit a festive spirit. Handling the death of an internet celebrity means trying to control the information getting out, especially before her family is informed. Becca seems more concerned with maintaining Lily’s brand than mourning her friend, which is suspicious but not unheard of. I second-guessed myself a bunch of times while reading this book and it kept me guessing as to what was happening.

I would definitely go back to the beginning as the characters and setting are interesting enough to keep me watching this series. I don’t think you have to have read the previous books to enjoy The Holiday Homicide, but it would help. The ongoing mystery gets another piece of the puzzle here, which seems like it’s going to be continued throughout the series. To understand that, I’d have to read earlier books, but just for the mystery at the heart of this book I could follow the characters with no problems.