Jacqueline Frost’s Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Returns for a Baby’s First Christmas

Jacqueline Frost’s Deck the Halls with Boughs of Murder pairs the milestone of a baby’s first Christmas with the familiar appeal of a cozy mystery: a close-knit town, a busy family, holiday traditions, and a death that pulls Holly White into asking questions. It’s the seventh book in the Christmas Tree Farm Mystery series, and the reviewer’s affection for Mistletoe and its residents remains a large part of the pleasure.

A first Christmas, with complications

Holly and her husband Evan are new parents to Joy, and the family is preparing to move into a home recently built on the grounds of the family tree farm. Their plans for a happy holiday include introducing Joy to places Holly remembers fondly from childhood, among them Candy Cane Lane and Toyland. Instead, a return trip to Toyland becomes the start of a new mystery.

Holly and her friend Libby go back looking for Joy’s missing mittens, after Holly and her mother had taken the baby there earlier that day. They recover the mittens, but the animals sound unsettled. When Holly and Libby check on them, they discover Greysen, the animal keeper, dead among the reindeer at the petting zoo.

The setup gives the seasonal setting a useful role in the story. Toyland is both a place tied to Holly’s own childhood and a destination she hopes to share with her daughter. That personal connection makes the discovery especially jarring: the festive outing Holly imagined for Joy becomes the beginning of an investigation that threatens to take over the family’s first holiday together.

Questions at the petting zoo

There are several details for Holly to puzzle over. Earlier in the day, she saw Greysen arguing with a stranger. The reindeer enclosure had also been empty before the animals appeared again, this time alongside the body. Holly’s curiosity pushes her to follow those clues, while threats warning her to stop only make her more determined to continue.

That familiar mix of clues and persistence is part of what the reviewer enjoys about the series. Holly is drawn into the mystery even as her family life grows busier. With a baby, a new home, and the holiday ahead, she has plenty competing for her attention; still, she can’t leave troubling questions unanswered. The story puts that familiar impulse in tension with the cozy domestic details that make the series appealing.

The book’s holiday setting also lets the mystery sit within a larger web of family and friends. Holly has returned to her hometown of Mistletoe and helps at the family tree farm, a place with more going on than its name suggests. The reviewer points to the series’ accumulated changes in Holly’s life as one of its pleasures: she has built a family and is preparing for a new home while the people around her bring their own stories into the mix.

The pleasure of returning to Mistletoe

For the reviewer, the series’ appeal extends beyond its central mystery. The Hearth, where readers can imagine stopping for a hot drink, and Caroline’s cupcake shop give Mistletoe a welcoming, lived-in feel. Caroline is Holly’s best friend, and her romance with a dreamy boyfriend adds another thread of warmth to the ensemble. The reviewer says the books offer so much to enjoy that the murder is not the only reason to return, even though Holly’s investigations remain central to the series.

That enthusiasm makes Deck the Halls with Boughs of Murder sound especially suited to readers who like mysteries with an ongoing cast and a strong sense of place. Newcomers can expect a small-town holiday setting and a protagonist whose curiosity leads her into danger; returning readers will find Holly at a new stage of family life, with familiar relationships continuing to develop. The reviewer also promises surprises along the way, without revealing their details.

Frost’s seventh installment brings a festive visit to Toyland into collision with a troubling discovery, while keeping Holly’s growing family and Mistletoe’s community close to the heart of the story. For readers who enjoy following characters across a series, the book offers another chance to spend time with Holly and her circle as the holiday season takes an unexpected turn.