The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
Ratings46
Average rating4.1
Romance and a locked room mystery? What’s not to like? This book was very fun and a delightful read.
I'll admit that the banter between Maggie and Ethan made me chuckle a few times. And the author pulled a clever “gotcha!” at the halfway point, transforming my urge to slap Ethan silly for his general smarminess into a desire to give him a big hug because Reasons. But overall this book reminded me of why I dislike 97% of M/F contemporary rom-coms. Maggie thinks she is worthless, the result of parents who ignored her and then died when she was 18, a cheating sack of shit ex, and a manipulative former BFF. She rarely leaves her apartment or interacts with another human other than her kindly editor/mentor. Yet her self-esteem issues are magically cured in less than a week by Ethan telling her that she is wonderful. Of course I want my MCs to be supportive and caring, but having Ethan erase 30 years of psychological injury with a few heated looks and assorted attagirls makes my feminist blood boil.
It's possible I'm overthinking this harmless piece of fluff.
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year was committed by me, for not actually finishing this on Christmas Day :(
This story follows Marcie Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt, two successful writers who are invited to a Christmas party hosted by Maggie's biggest fan - Eleanor Ashley, a prolific and famous author. It doesn't take long for the party to turn into a mystery with the disappearance of Eleanor, with our protagonists stuck in a house with somebody who is very keen on taking out the beloved host.
More than anything, this is a story about learning to believe in yourself. About undoing years and years of learning how to doubt and blame yourself for everything that happens to you and that is done to you. And how that can manifest in quite unhealthy ways. It's a romance, albeit one that develops very quickly, and does include some very cheesy dialogue, but I can forgive it for that because hey, the rest of it is good. Mystery? Check. Characters? All right, a bit flat. Plot? Cute and doesn't leave me with questions or disappointments.
Grab your hot chocolate, a soft blanket, and put on your Christmas playlist, and enjoy this cosy, romantic mystery.
Omg I loved this so much! It was absolutely adorable and the perfect Christmas read.
It is part romance, part mystery and it blended perfectly. They definitely need to make this into a Christmas movie. Also Ethan 100% needs to be cast as Glen Powell.
I loved Ethan, Maggie, and Eleanor so much they were all amazing! The mystery of course wasn't too deep but it felt like an old school Scooby Doo episode of who-dunn-it. Plus it wraps up beautifully!
This was definitely the cozy Christmas book I was hoping it was and more!
This was fun and I finished in one sitting. Loved the mix of Clue and Knives Out with a dash of romance.
3.5 stars, rounded down. This book was so fun, perfect for fans of Knives Out and/or Glass Onion. But also, a good depiction of emotional abuse? It has a little substance to it, which I need in a romance. And I liked that it faded to black because I am a prude.
Also I learned that romance audiobooks are way better when there are male narrators in the mix, and more broadly, a larger and more varied cast than a single narrator. Sometimes someone trying to mimic a character of a different gender can take you out of the story a bit.
Ethan is a great love interest in that he simultaneously embodies and eschews traditional masculinity. His former profession explains a lot of physical capability, but even then he was trying to find wiggle room within his dad's harsh expectations to take bullets instead of firing them. And the industry in which he ultimately ends up has everything to do with his mother.
Also what is hotter than a man who reiterates 500 times a day how right you are and gives you all the credit? King of consent, takes women's headaches seriously, provides snacks, good with kids, listens and remembers details, knows to wear those certain kind of glasses and roll his sleeves up, disdain for other men, it's all coming up rosy.
Now, if he was not hot and the feelings were not reciprocated it would be a lot less charming but this is a fictional book and also men should love women more than women love men. Unsure what I mean by that but I'm sticking to it. It's like Hal and Lois from Malcolm in the Middle.
What prevented me from rating this higher are that it was probably 50 pages too long, due to two main factors: 1) repetitive phrasing and 2) epilogues.
1) Sometimes I think the repetition is more obvious when you're listening to the audiobook. Here are some things that were said a million times:
• Maggie is like “I'm spending Christmas with my nemesis. But somehow, in the back of my mind, it feels so right.”
• Maggie should be afraid but she isn't because she feels safe with Ethan.
• Ethan, in the middle of a crisis, is like “Wow actually nothing matters except Maggie” bro we know
• Ethan is not joking even though he's usually joking. This time he is not joking even a little bit.
• Ethan says, “Maggie,” and nothing else.
• Ethan says, “It's okay.”
2) WHY do romances do the weird epilogues?!?? Leave some ambiguity and let me fill in the gaps or be content with not following these characters through the rest of their lives. If you read this book (and I do recommend it), I would stop at Chapter 66. Maybe a chapter or two earlier, depending on how you like your endings. Don't bother with the Locked Room or Epilogue bits, they are boring and trite.
Anyway, as mentioned I would pick this up if you like Knives Out, Glass Onion, [b:My Roommate Is a Vampire|60041932|My Roommate Is a Vampire (My Vampires, #1)|Jenna Levine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1665612756l/60041932.SY75.jpg|94663345], [b:You Deserve Each Other|50027029|You Deserve Each Other|Sarah Hogle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578144336l/50027029.SX50.jpg|68651245], or [b:The Flatshare|41393171|The Flatshare|Beth O'Leary|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627750351l/41393171.SY75.jpg|58189559].
i really enjoyed the first 25% of this and the setup of the mystery, but a lot of the mystery fell to the wayside for the romance which i felt nothing for at all. it was so dry
Loved this! Who knew I needed a Christmas closed-room mystery romance novel in my life? I'll read this again next year.
(4.75 stars) A Christmasy, locked room mystery tailor made for book lovers and fans of romantic suspense.
This was a quick fun read. The banter is witty. The mystery is compelling and twisty. The romance is swoony with some great protection tropes. It's the perfect book to read during the busy Christmas season when you have a million other things on your mind.
My only complaint was that some parts of the big finale twist kind of came out of nowhere, but it didn't ruin anything for me. I just think it would have been better to lay a little bit more groundwork.
Overall would recommend. Will reread. Great if you watch Knives Out and were like "I wish this had more romantic suspense".
This book was all over the place and therefore so are my thoughts.
- Maggie is the absolute worst character I have ever read.
- Ethan was cool at first, then gave me the ick. The fucking soliloquies about his undying love for Maggie was just too much and CoRnYyY and DrAmATiC
- I rolled my eyes so many times it's actually insane.
- this was wayyyyyy tooooo insta-lovey without any real connection?
- the entire enemies to lovers marketing of this book is a hoax- Maggie hates him for literally no good reason, and that's it....
- maybe I am new to the cozy mystery genre but like, there was no mystery? No real “detective” work? We'd get a little glimpse and then nothing substantial until the very end... I just felt lost.
- what a letdown. Bleh.
Seasonal Vibe: Christmastime Travel Location: England I loved this book. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year had a balanced mix of mystery and romance. Some romance would be happening and then suddenly something would happen to get you back to the mystery, and vice versa. I loved the characters, and the vibe was perfect. It was Mystery+Romance+ Christmastime in snowy England. It was a joyful reading experience. It wasn't all “fluff”, though, because it did deal with difficult character backstories and bad things that had happened in the past. Of course, there was crime to solve, but also a character who's been gaslit. I liked Ally Carter's YA books; my favorites are her Heist Society books. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year had a similar feel to Heist Society, but adult. I went to a fantastic Ally Carter signing event shortly after this book was released, but I'd waited to read it because it's a Christmas book.
