A new to me author, Darci Hannah pulled me into, MURDER AT THE CHRISMAS COOKIE BAKE-OFF. A well written mystery, it was hard to figure out whodunit. Truth is, my guess was way off. Mystery fans are going to enjoy!

Although a little predictable this seasonal mystery is entertaining and has all of the details that will help you get ready for the holidays

It is Christmas time in Beacon Harbor, Michigan, home of the Beacon Bakeshop, owned by Lindsey Bakewell. Between hanging Christmas lights around the lighthouse and bakery where she lives and has her business, keeping the bakery cases filled, coffee made, and special orders filled, Lindsey is stressed. Then Felicity Stewart, year round Christmas shop owner, decides the town needs a cookie bake-off to drum up business. Each shop owner gives out cookies and customers vote and the top four winners go to a bake-off. Only trouble is, most don't have time to bake so they pay Lindsey to bake for them. Lindsey's stress is lightened when a baker walks in just in the nick of time...a tiny woman named Carol Nichols bearing a resemblance to Mrs. Claus. Another kink is the contest is to be judged by a celebrity chef brought in by Felicity. Chef Chevy Chambers is quite the character, a naughty character according to Mrs. Nichols. When a murder occurs, Lindsey, her boyfriend Rory, best friend Kennedy, who is in town for the holidays, work to unravel a complicated mystery. Lindsey's parents are in town and get involved as well. Fun Christmas themed cozy to read with likable characters and cool setting, this is a great addition. You might get hungry with all the cookies and other bakery goodies mentioned. The book cover is very festive. Recipes included at the end.
I received a complimentary ARC from Kensington Books and NetGalley. All thoughts expressed are mine only.

If the beautiful cover does not put you in the holiday spirit then the story will certainly get you ready for Christmas and holiday baking. Lindsey owns Beacon Bakeshop, located on the shores of Lake Michigan. Handling the holiday rush was stressful enough but being short on help and then being entered in a bake-off pushes stress to the limit. Things start going smoother thanks to family and the sudden mysterious appearance of a baker's helper until the bake-off activities. Now Lindsey finds herself involved in an odd theft and murder.

This story does a good job of combining a nice Christmas story with mystery, baking and maybe even a bit of Christmas magic. The characters are interesting and Wellington the dog is a fun addition. Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

Oh my goodness I don't think I have ever wanted a cookie so badly after reading this book. This is another delightful addition to the Beacon Bakeshop mysteries. I am so thrilled to receive an advance copy.

Lindsey Bakewell is spending her first Christmas as a bakeshop proprietor and she plans to go all out. She has her Griswold-esque exterior illumination planned as well as oodles of Christmas goodies for her bakery. Her parents and best friend Kennedy are coming in to town and the first town Christmas festival is pending. Lindsey finds herself swept up in a Christmas cookie bakeoff as part of the festival and the food critic judging is a notorious jerk. To put a damper on Christmas spirit, he is found dead under the mistletoe. Lindsey, Kennedy and Lindsey's boyfriend Rory assign themselves to the Christmas caper.

This book will have you craving baked goods. Holy cats I wanted one of those gingerbread muffins (the recipe is included!). I love the charming setting of this story, the picturesque lighthouse and Lindsey's darling doggo, Wellington the Newfie. I like cozy series that feels like you are returning to an old group of friends to catch up over some delicious baked goods while solving mysteries and this one is just the ticket. I do hope there will be many, many more in this series.

3.5 stars, rounded up. Christmas cozy fans, this one is for you, with lots of great descriptions of delicious cookies and lovely decorations. There are so many good suspects for the crime at the center of the story, and Lindsey and her crew have their work cut out for them keeping up with the holiday demand at the bakeshop and crime-solving. The picturesque setting is the cherry on top.

Murder At The Christmas Cookie Bake-Off is the second book in the A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series by Darci Hannah.

Lindsey Bakewell is pleased that her Beacon Bakeshop is off to a fast start and seems to be the place to go for a coffee and pastries. Christmas is just a couple of weeks away, and Lindsey is looking forward to putting up decorations in her shop and on the lighthouse. She’s also excited to have her best friend, Kennedy, arrival, and her parents will also be arriving with their Westies, Brinkley and Ireland. Lindsey is sure her Newfoundland, Wellington, will joy having a couple of playmates.

Felicia Stewart, owner of a Christmas items shop, and Betty Vanhoosen, local realtor, enter the bakeshop and inform Lindsey that the Chamber of Commerce has decided to have a cookie bake-off. The bake-off, The Beacon Harbor Christmas Cookie Bake-Off, will be held the week before Christmas. Those shop owners who wish to participate will bake their favorite cookies and display them in their stores. Customers will then vote on their favorite, and the top four will move on to the Bake-Off. The Bake-Off couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Lindsey was shorthanded in the kitchen. But out of the blue, an elderly lady, Mrs. Nichols. Mrs. Nichols turned out to be the answer to Lindsey’s prayers.

Most everyone is off to bake their cookies, but three shop owners ask Lindsey to bake their cookies, claiming a lack of baking skills. In voting, the top four are Lindsey, Felica Stewart, Ginny Brooks, an ice cream shop owner, and Bradley Argyle, a chef at a local hotel. The Bake-Off will be judged by Chevy Chambers, a celebrity food critic from Chicago. Chambers has offended many of those in attendance. He was seen sexually harassing the female contestants and completely ignoring Argyle. Chambers also got into a physical altercation with Felicity’s husband on the stage. About as the winners were going to be announced, Chambers could not be located on the stage.

Lindsey goes in pursuit of a woman who reportedly stolen her bake-off cookies from the bakeshop early in the competition. Lindsey gets locked in a storage room and has to be rescued by her beau, Rory. As they are heading back to the stage area, Rory says he wants to show her something. As they are approaching what Rory wishes to show her, some mistletoe hanging, they instead find the dead body of Chambers. An unsigned note in Chambers’s hand asking him to meet under the mistletoe and a cookie Lindsey has baked in the bakeoff.

Lindsey, Kennedy, and Rory will set all to find out who the killer of Chambers was. They will also get some help from Lindsey’s parents and Betty. They will soon find out that there are several suspects to be investigated.

This book is a wonderful follow-up to Murder At The Beacon Bakeshop, the first in the series. The book is well-written and plotted. The author provides the reader with a wonderful cast of well-developed, enjoyable, and believable characters. I particularly enjoyed the pups, Wellington, Brinkley, and Ireland.

Delicious recipes are also included in the book.

I will be watching for the next book in the series.

Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off by Darci Hannah is the second book in the cozy Beacon Bakeshop series. As with most cozy series each book in the Beacon Bakeshop series will have it’s own fully solved mystery so readers can read each as a standalone or in any order. However, there is some character development that will carry over from book to book for those that read the series from the beginning.

Lindsey Bakeswell has that “safe” career that she thought she should have and a boyfriend that she thought may have been the one. When Lindsey’s relationship crumbles when she catches her celebrity chef boyfriend with another woman she decides to ditch the safe career and follow her dreams of owning her own bakeshop. Lindsey packed up and moved to her childhood vacation destination of Beacon Harbor, Michigan where she bought the old lighthouse intending to convert it into a bakery and home for herself and her dog, Wellington.

Now Lindsey is spending her first Christmas in her new home in Beacon Harbor and business is booming with the holiday orders coming in. Already swamped with orders and short on staff Lindsey gets a visit from Felicity Stewart who runs a Christmas shop year round in town and feels she knows it all when it comes to the holiday. Felicity has organized a Christmas cookie bake off that of course she thinks she’ll win so Lindsey plans to enter a perfect Christmas creation. However, just as the contest is in full swing a judge is found murdered so Lindsey of course does everything she can to catch another killer.

Darci Hannah is an author that I’m very familiar with now having read another series by her and the first two books of the Beacon Bakeshop series and I’ve enjoyed them all. Just the right mix of quirky humor and fun along with an interesting mystery this second book seemed even more fun that the first. I usually reserve my praise for a twisty story for thrillers but this cozy had a lot of twists that kept me on my toes until the very end. With such lovely characters and a charming setting thrown into the mix I’ll be sure to return to the Beacon Bakeshop series for book three!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off is the second installment in the Beacon Bakeshop series set in Beacon Harbor, Michigan featuring Lindsey Bakewell, owner of the Beacon Bakeshop located in an old lighthouse. Christmas is approaching and Lindsey is determined to make this the best one ever - her parents and best friend Kennedy are coming to town and she's looking forward to spending the holiday with boyfriend Rory Campbell and her lovable newfie, Wellington.

Local shop owner Felicity Stewart has decided Beacon Harbor should have a week long cookie contest with the top four "fan favorites" participating in a cookie bake off at the end of the week judged by celebrity Chevy Chambers. Of course Lindsey will participate but what she didn't count on was all of the other business owners coming and asking her to bake cookies for them too. Already short staffed, she wishes for a miracle and one arrives in the form of Mrs. Nichols.

Lindsey makes it to the final four alongside Felicity, Ginger Brooks and hotel chef Bradley Argyle. Chevy Chambers has rubbed everyone wrong all week, and it's rumored that he might be encouraging a few of the ladies to sleep with him in order to ensure a victory and earn a cooking spot on his show. When Chevy suddenly goes missing halfway through the competition it's really no surprise when he turns up bludgeoned under the mistletoe, but was the murder weapon Felicity's missing rolling pin? Before she knows it, Lindsey and friends are elbow deep in another murder investigation.

This addition to the series has everything. A delightful cast of characters, a goofy dog, a great mystery, delicious cookies and recipes, a ghost and perhaps Mrs. Claus? Even in August you will be transported into the thick of the holiday season. Well done!

I received an advanced copy of Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off from NetGalley via Kensington Publishing. While not required to write a review I am happy to offer my honest opinion.

Baking is Lindsey Bakewell’s joy. It’s Christmastime, and she has visions of sugarplums, candy canes, twinkling lights, and….so many cookie orders she can’t possibly complete them all without an assistant. Then, the vision of Mrs. Claus walks into the Beacon Bakeshop and turns out to be an extraordinary baker named Carol Nichols. Lindsey’s entered a cookie Bake-off that’s being judged by celebrity food critic, Chevy Chambers—a charmer, or a crook?

Humor and suspicious actions set the stage for a holiday murder; some cookie shenanigans, and the unwrapping of a trail of clues leading to, and explaining the killer’s identity. The secondary cast of characters is invigorating and highly likeable unless they’re bad-guys! Of course, the lighthouse ghost, Captain Willy Riggs makes himself known to help Lindsey in her sleuthing. Author Darci Hannah delivers delicious recipes for readers in this special holiday cozy.

I honestly reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Kensington Publishing. All opinions are my own. Thank you.

The second in the series, Murder at the Christmas Cookies Bake-Off. Such a wonderful series, I like all aspects of it. The main character, Lindsay, is very likeable. Her BFF Kennedy is hysterical. I love her snappy comments, especially her love/hate relationship with Lindsey's man, Rory. Those scenes crack me up. Lindsey's family and friends/coworkers are all great. The setting is described beautifully. The cooking excerpts are fun to read (and recipes). I highly recommend this series! I hope there will be many more books to come!

I really enjoy baking shows, so this sounded like a book I'd like, and it was. The characters were quirky, and I really liked the fact that the romance angle isn't overwhelming. Some parts were a bit too slow, but it balanced out as the mystery unfolded. I loved that the book included some cookie recipes that I look forward to trying. This is a good book to help get the reader ready for the upcoming Christmas season.

Second in Darci Hannah's Beacon Bakeshop series, Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-off has Lindsey Bakewell is dreaming of a "perfect" Christmas. She is busy decorating and baking for the Christmas Festival when Felicity Stewart owner of the Tannenbaum Shoppe and self proclaimed Christmas aficionado and Betty Vanhoosen, Chamber of Commerce president, surprise Lindsey with the news that the festival will now have a Christmas Cookie Bake-off and all shop owners are expected to participate.. Bake-off judge is celebrity food critic, Chevy Chambers. When Lindsey overextends herself by baking cookies for non-baking shop owners, she is rescued by the timely arrival of Mrs. Nichols to be her assistant. In spite of being the baker of most of the cookies, Lindsey makes it into the final four, but before a winner is picked Chevy Chambers is murdered.
Decorating the lighthouse, family visit for the holidays, too much baking and too many suspects capture both the Christmas and suspense aspects of this well written story. The final chapters have a satisfying conclusion with loose ends tied up and some unexpected plot twists that should impact book three! Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for a review copy given in exchange for honest review. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A small town, a lighthouse bakeshop, and a bake off combine with murder to create a deletable treat of a mystery. A fun read with enjoyable characters, looking forward to more.

I really enjoyed the first in this series. This book, however, I felt letdown. Often it seemed silly or even hokey. Like the play on Christmas names. I had a hard time getting motivated to even finish it.

Wow!! Just as good as the first story in the series, Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop!
I would love to give a higher rating than 5 stars but alas that is all I can give it....truly a wonderful story with great characters. It was nice touching base with Lindsey, Rory, Kathleen and the workers at the bakeshop.
This cozy mystery happens to be right around Christmas and Lindsey has a vision for the bakeshop...she just hopes she can make it happen. From decorating the lighthouse bakeshop for Christmas to trying to keep up with all the bakeshops orders Lindsey finds herself needing more help. When she finds the perfect assistant baker she starts to see her Christmas vision come to life.
Then someone decides to have a Christmas cookie bakeoff and leading up to the bake off the different participants has to make a special cookie and give them away free so their customers can vote for the top 4! As usual in any cozy mystery there ends up being a dead body and even though Lindsey is told to stay out of the investigation by the sheriff she just can't help herself.
Darci Hannah has spun a mystery that had me guessing right up to the end. I loved everything about the story and it pulled me in until the book was done. And the ending I saw that coming and it brought tears to my eyes...
Highly recommend

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and Darci Hannah for allowing me to read an advanced digital copy of this book for an honest opinion. This is my honest opinion of the book.

I am in love with this series! The characters are so much fun and entertaining. This totally gets you into the Christmas spirit!
With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever—winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Unfortunately, striving for a picture-perfect December in Beacon Harbor is a lot like biting into stale shortbread. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition...
 I can’t wait for the next adventure!
#MurderattheChristmasCookieBakeOff #NetGalley

I absolutely love this series, and this book was even better than the first. Lots of holiday spirit, love, family, mystery and some twists and turns.
Lindsey is busier than ever in her bakery, desperate for some help for the holiday rush. When she finds out that there will be a Cookie Bake Off right before Christmas, she is totally overwhelmed. But with a little holiday magic, a mysterious baker appears and lightens the load. All is going well until the judge of the bake off is found murdered, and there are many suspects. Told to stay out of the investigation, amateur sleuth, Lindsey, her friends and family just can't seem to resist trying to figure out the mystery. Things get a little heated when the culprit discovers Lindsey is on to them.
This book can be read as a stand alone, but if you love a great cozy mystery don't miss out on the first book in the series.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It's nearly Christmas in Beacon Harbor. Lindsey Bakewell, owner of Beacon Bakeshop is in over her head with orders. When Felicity Stewart announces A cookie contest and bake off it pushes Lindsey overboard.. She's got way too many orders and zero baking help. Out of the blue Carol Nichols arrives and takes over the baking. .Then it's announced that celebrity judge Chevy Chambers will be the one to judge the contest .Turns out ole Chevy considers himself A ladies man and starts pitting the female contestants against each other . Only Bradley Argyle is left alone.. At some point Mr. Chevy ends up dead and kindly ,loveable Carol Nichols is one of the top suspects. Boyfriend Rory and best friend Kennedy won't let Lindsey investigate this crime alone. But will it cost them more than they want to pay?? Lots more I could say but won't. This is book 2 in a great new series and well worth the read.

Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off by Darci Hannah (Beacon Bakeshop Mystery #2) 4 stars

Holidays, Lights, Food - all are highlighted here in this book. Lindsey Bakewell is getting ready for the holidays; putting Christmas lights on her Lighthouse/Bakeshop, cooking up dozens of holiday treats and having her family and best friend join her. Usually Christmas is a bit of a disaster for Lindsey, but she is determined that Christmas will be perfect this year. Until...she is volunteered?? to participate in the towns Christmas Cookie Bake Off. Before you can say Happy Holidays, she is called to make cookies for most of the businesses that volunteered?? for the contest. A foodie celebrity is going to be one of the judges for this contest and people will make it into the finals by having people vote for their favorite cookie. To make this situation worse, Lindsey needs an assistant baker before she faints from exhaustion. Luckily, Mrs Nichols shows up to bake up an avalanche of cookies. However on the day of the Bake Off, the celebrity judge is found dead with his head bashed in. Who had means, motive and opportunity to do the deed, it is up to Lindsey and company to help find the culprit.

This is the second in this series and I didn't read the first one. But this one was so good, I will go back and find the first one in this series. I enjoyed the food details and found that Lindsey is no ordinary baker. She left her Wall Street career to follow her bakery dreams and found a home in Beacon Harbor. The supporting cast is delightful and there is a paranormal element in this series. Most of the obvious suspects were harboring secrets and Lindsey had to sort through a lot of information to find the murderer. This book was a fun read and I look forward to the next one in this series.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.