Thank you so much to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for my copy of When Christmas Comes by Andrew Klavan in exchange for an honest review. It published October 26, 2021.
Had I known that this was part of a series, I would've gone back to the start and read through. I found this book to be quite confusing and I had a hard time following it. I found the story overall to be interesting, but definitely needed more context.

This is a rather strange book. I found myself being confused at times with the transitions that happened between what was happening in the story and what were people's memories were looking back on at times.

When Christmas Comes follows one main Cameron Winter character but we get memories from his childhood. He is going to go and meet up with one of his old friends who is a lawyer and she wants Winter to try and find a way to prove that her client Travis Blake did not murder his girlfriend. This proves to be very difficult as Blake admitted to it and is caught on camera with her body near a lake.
The main focus of the storyline is Winter going back through Blake and the women he 'killed' relationship and trying to figure out what caused it and why it happened. We jump from place to place with Winter as he tries to figure it all out.

Overall I thought this book was okay, but as I mentioned earlier I was confused several times while reading. I also found it unnecessary and rather confusing to have things about Winter's passed mix in with this case as they didn't have anything to do with each other in my opinion. I did like how Winter's kept asking questions o try and find out what really happened and why Blake supposedly snapped one day and 'killed' his girlfriend. I wasn't really surprised by the ending as it all was a little far-fetched the more we learned about the couple and how Blake wouldn't talk at all despite him having so much love for his daughter.

This book just didn't work for me personally. But I know it will work for others who are wanting a book that switches pov and goes into memories a lot.


Review will be posted on November 26th 2022

The murder of the community librarian leaves this cozy generally safe town aghast.
More so when the town war hero admits to her murder.

It doesn't make sense so the race to figure out the real story begins.

I was granted a free copy of this text by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a really fun read! I'm a sucker for holiday themed stories and this thriller did not disappoint. A must read for sure!

With just a few characters, it’s easy to slip right into the mysterious circumstances surround the murder, including the close-knit community, the victims lack of personal history, and Cameron’s insights.

When Christmas Comes is a mystery novel wrapped up in a Christmas bow, set against the Yuletide season. In the military town of Sweet Haven the new and beloved librarian is murdered and her boyfriend confesses. This doesn't add up for a local attorney and most of the town-Travis is a military hero. Cameron Winter, now an English professor, dealing with his own demons, is summoned to meet with Travis and help solve the grisly crime. Reminding him of a crime many Christmases ago, Cameron is determined to help Travis, putting himself in great danger.

This was an interesting read, it is more of a mystery/thriller with simple prose than a holiday story. If you're looking for something darker than the usual season festive novellas, this will be for you.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

A Christmas Murder mystery, who knew this was a thing. I myself didn’t know it but I am glad that I stumbled across it. Thank you to Netgalley & Andrew Klavan for an honest review. A local librarian is brutally murdered in the cozy lakeside town of Sweet Haven. The town is getting ready to celebrate the holidays and this murder shakes them at the core. Sweet Haven is safe, things like this don’t happen here. There are no witnesses and her boyfriend Travis Blane confesses to the crime.. but something isn’t right about this confession. A English professor is brought to town to help clear Travis. Cameron Winter takes the case and finds things are totally off. Travis is a military war hero. He has medals and accommodations and has never been violent a day in his life. The whole town can’t believe it and they are all struggling to figure this crime out. The author tells a an interesting tale of murder.. The story is very well written and I was guessing the whole time to figure out, who committed this crime. Like I said not my typical holiday read but I am glad I gave this one a whirl. It most definitely did not disappoint..

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of When Christmas Comes. This is the first novel I've read by Andrew Klavan, probably the last.
I felt this book was a waste of time, did not hold my attention, was confused by the characters, and the storyline. I gave it a good go and read to 60% and then gave up, on to something better

I always try to read holiday stories during the lead up to Christmas, and I particularly like holiday mysteries. This is a great addition to our building collection of Christmas mysteries.

When Christmas Comes is a multilayered psychological thriller, full of stories within stories. The plot is a simple one. War hero Travis Blake has confessed to murdering his girlfriend, beloved school librarian Jennifer Dean. Cameron Winter, an intuitive English professor with a mysterious background, is asked by Travis’ lawyer to investigate the case. She hopes Cameron can discover information to mitigate his sentence.

Things now become interesting. Military mindset, ghost tales, Russian oligarchs, and love stories combine to make When Christmas Comes a satisfying, evocative read although Christmas is only a bit player. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mysterious Press and Andrew Klavan for this ARC.

I find Andrew Klavan a most interesting writer. Klavan crosses over into different genres and his plots are unconventional. “When Christmas Comes” I found I could not put down (once I got around to finally beginning the first chapter.). I found “When Christmas Comes” to be a mix of a Lee Child Jack Reacher commingled with a British cozy mystery. The story takes place in Sweet Haven, an idyllic lakeside town that almost seems to good to be true…and, perhaps, it is.
Travis Blake has confessed to a brutal murder of his girlfriend, and now Cameron Winter agrees to investigate the “why.” Enjoy reading this story and a big “thanks “ to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced readers copy.

When Christmas Comes was a really interesting mystery set in a town called Sweet Haven. The main character is Cameron Winter, an English professor who is not all that he seems. The mystery revolves around a woman who was murdered and the accused is her boyfriend. The pieces don't fit, so an attorney asks Wright to help her figure out what happened. I thought the mystery was really interesting but a tad unbelievable. I really did enjoy it. I did not get a Christmas vibe from this one other than Wright describing some past memories from Christmas past. Still a solid mystery with some really great characters.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read and review an advanced copy of this book.

A woman is murdered, an ex-Army ranger confesses, and a small town near a base is willing to close the case on one of their own. The defense lawyer calls in an old friend to try and prove the defendant innocent, based on a feeling. This old friend is an English professor who has other skills in handling situations like this. He also has many skeletons in his own closet and dealing with them shapes his life and how he addresses it day to day. As he investigates the victim’s past, he discovers many secrets, and puts him in some dangerous situations.

The surprise at the end makes sense, even though possibly too unbelievable. Touted as a Christmas story, however, this book did not leave me with the happiest feelings for the season.

An English teacher arrives in a town where all of the citizens seem to be stuck in a military mindset. He has been asked to find information to clear a man accused of murdering the beloved elementary school librarian. The former teacher has investigated other mysteries, but this one is difficult.

I was attracted to this book because the victim was a school librarian. I really enjoyed the descriptions of this librarian working with her students, but the book as a whole didn't really keep my interest. However, there were lots of unexpected twists that kept me motivated to finish the book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review of the book.

3.5 stars!! This book was refreshingly shorter than most books that I read. The author didn’t draw out character development or add unnecessary story telling. It takes me a bit to read books because I only have a small window to read, so getting this one done in a short amount of time was great! The story itself was pretty good! I liked the characters and ending was really good with the plot twist that I did not see coming. My only ‘issue’ with the book is that I felt like it wasn’t a strong Christmas story. It was advertised as such and I guess I was expecting more from that standpoint. If you are looking for a good crime/mystery then this book is for you!!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review…this is a character driven story with a protagonist who is trying to help her family…bad memories…good memories…bullying…teenage angst…romance…breakups…artists…this book is full of all of these…this is a quick read, and despite there being some topics that are off putting, it is a fun read…

One of my least favorite things is when I love the story but dislike the writing. This book is a perfect example in my opinion of just that, the story itself is great there's murder, mystery, twists and it's all during Christmas time which I love but as another reviewer mentioned and I agree strongly with I don't care for the writing and it almost does seem kind of pretentious. So this is a hard book to review because part of me wants to say yeah give it a try it's at least a decent story, but the other part says I don't know if I can recommend a book with that writing style. So I'll say this if you're looking for a decent murder mystery storyline with some twists and turns that reads at a decent pace and you really don't care too much about the writing presentation or that maybe a more pretentious type of writing is your style, then I definitely recommend the book

Thank you to the publisher and that galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I received an advance copy of, When Christmas comes, by Andrew Klavan. This is not your typical Christmas novel. Murder and intrigue abounds. All in all a good read.

This felt like a really fast read, and for the most part I enjoyed the story. However, there were times that I didn't love the writing style - it almost felt a bit pretentious. I didn't see the ending coming and I liked the twist.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.