Thank you Libro.fm / Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner for the advanced copy of Home for the Homicides in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: October 13, 2026
Summary:
‘Tis the season . . . for murder.
When Special Agents Holly Frost and Mark Shepherd report to the idyllic town of Christmas to investigate a very less than idyllic murder, they’re in for more than the average whodunnit.
Welcome to Christmas, a town so cozy and charming it could be the backdrop of a Hallmark movie, where crime is never in season and it’s the holidays all year round. So when a tourist is found stabbed to death by an icicle in the middle of the town nativity scene, the local police are out of their depth—after all, how do you find a criminal in a town where crime doesn’t exist?
The stakes are the whole town is relying on Holly and Mark to solve the crime before the annual Jingle Bell Jubilee festival (which naturally the town’s entire economic survival relies on), plus, whichever of them cracks the case will receive a promotion to Major Crimes—and there’s only one spot.
Holly and Mark are both on thin ice after screwing up on the job. This assignment is their one shot at redemption, if they can put aside their bitter rivalry. And of course, it’s not only their jobs on the line, it’s their hearts, too—regrets of their holiday party hookup last year haunt them like ghosts of Christmas past, so they both want to wrap up this rom-com gone wrong as quickly as possible. But with just twelve days until the festival, the countdown to catch a killer—without killing each other—is on.
Co-authored by New York Times bestseller Elle Cosimano (Finlay Donovan series) and USA Today bestseller Hannah Morrissey (Black Harbor series), Home for the Homicides is a sexy, light-hearted romp, with a dash of merriment and murder.
My thoughts:
When I heard Elle Cosimano and Hannah Morrissey were co-authoring a book together, I knew I had to read it. Blending Elle’s unique humor and Hannah’s dark mind, this was my type of holiday read – a Hallmarkesque holiday read with some murder with the added bonus of some crazy festive ridiculousness. And boy is it fantastic on audio!!
This is the type of book that you can easily binge in one go…at least I did! It has so many laugh-out-loud moments and I loved all the over-the-top holiday antics in the town called “Christmas” – I mean you had me with the mortuary advent calendar!
I’m not usually one to read holiday romcoms – I like to watch those on the Hallmark channel. My idea of a holiday read is one with a side of murder, and this one fit the bill perfectly. Taking jabs at the romcom tropes had me laughing so hard, and the pink cover is just icing on the cake! This is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously – it’s a murder mystery with lots of comedy and romance, which is what makes it such a fun, festive read.
Audio thoughts:
If you do audio, this is a must! The narrators, Angela Dawe, Colin Donnell and Patti Murin, nail this audio performance, bringing this book to life in such a fun, engaging way. The banter, the chemistry, the innuendoes – it’s so believable and so ridiculous that you can’t help keep listening to see what comes next.
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