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Would you believe I have yet to read an Ally Carter book? We have a bunch of Carter’s books reviewed at Rated Reads, (like Heist Society for YA readers and The Blonde Identity for adults) but all by other reviewers than me! This adult title set at Christmas seemed like a nice place to start. I didn’t really read a lot of holiday-themed books this year. This one was popular (it’s new), so the fastest way for me to get it (free) was on Spotify audio, so that’s what I went with (it was fun to listen to).
Maggie Chase is a successful writer of mystery novels. But she’s had a pretty hard year: her marriage ended (and she lost her best friend) after she found her ex and the best friend together. She lost her home and most of her money in the divorce. And she had a professional disappointment. Her parents have both been gone since she became an adult, and she has no siblings or other relatives. Maggie’s on her own.
Now, though, she’s just been invited to a very wealthy mystery person’s home for Christmas, and Maggie’s editor insists she accept. The trip starts off not so great, though: on the (private) plane over to England from New York, she finds out at least one other person has been invited as well — Ethan Freaking Wyatt. He’s a ridiculously popular fellow author at the same publisher. He’s handsome, smooth-talking, a writer of thrillers. And he never gets her name right. She hates him.
After arriving in England, they are driven out to a huge estate in the middle of nowhere, and the mystery host? Literally a mystery host: Eleanor Ashley, the legendary author of 99 murder mystery novels. Maggie is quite simply a superfan. She can’t believe she’s at Eleanor Ashley’s house — she can barely get out coherent sentences.
The first evening, Maggie (and Ethan — ugh) meet another crime writer and several of Eleanor’s family members. And the next day, Eleanor just vanishes out of a locked room. And another guest is poisoned.
What with being thrown together in a place where the danger is getting higher each day, Maggie decides she has to just trust Ethan and work with him to solve the mystery (mysteries). Where did Eleanor go? Who poisoned the other guest? And who seems to want more people dead?
As they work together, Maggie grudgingly finds herself getting to know Ethan, who has generally seemed unknowable: he’s just a façade, a good-looking guy in a leather jacket. Gosh darn it: she may actually be finding herself liking him. A little bit.
I had the best time with The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. Now I see what all the hoopla is about with Ally Carter. She is an entertaining writer! And clean. Many of her books are rated mild (though not Blonde Identity…). This one has a bit more adult content than her YA books but is still closed-door. The mystery is good, the romance utterly swoony. The progression in the story to learning about Ethan and his interest in Maggie had me practically sighing in delight. So dang cute.
So yeah, I recommend Ally Carter now too.
Rated: Mild. Profanity includes 9 instances of moderate profanity, 15 uses of mild language, and one use of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing and a closed-door scene with a tiny bit of lead-up of mentioning “roaming hands” and mention of characters being unclothed later. Violence includes attempts at murder via several methods.
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