Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood books for the chance to read this book. This is the 3rd instalment of the Cotswold curiosity shop books. This is set at the Christmas village fair just right to get you in the spirit for Christmas . Even though it is the 3rd in the series you could read it as a stand alone . Love Debbie’s writing it feels like you are there with them .

This one is my absolute favourite of this series so far!

Alice is getting excited for the Village Christmas Fair, especially with her mum visiting, who will be having her own knitting booth at the Fair. With a Santa run as well, it's bound to be a wonderful day. However, it soon turns deadly when there is a theft at her mum's booth and one of the runners turns up dead. With some help from her friend Robert, and others in the village, Alice soon turns her hand to solving another crime.

I really, really loved this one. Is it that the characters have been brought to life so vividly? Yes. The knitting? Of course, since I'm a knitter and indie yarn dyer. The seasonal atmosphere? Absolutely, or quite possibly all three! I've read all the books in this series, and alike to most cozy mysteries each book can be read as a standalone, but they do build on each other, and reading all of them really does bring the characters to life.

I really liked the mystery. It revolves around Japanese culture, and I always feel like I'm learning something from this series. In Alice's previous life she worked in a museum, and her curiosity shop does lend towards learning about different items. It was in particular buttons that this story gets drawn in from, and it was really fascinating.

If you love a good cozy mystery you can't go wrong with this series. However, just remember like a good box of chocolates, you can't have just one!!! So read them all!

It is always a treat to see your favorite characters return, and A Death At The Village Christmas Fair is one of mine. 💫💫💫💫💫

Everyone in Little Pride is excited and ready for the Christmas Fair and the Santa Run. Alice's mom just acquired lots of wool for knitting from Mrs. Hardy, who recently passed. Her mom will be bringing her knitted stock to sell at the fair. As the day approaches, Alice receives an odd visit at her curiosity shop. Someone looking for buttons, a toggle to be exact. On the day of the race, Maddie Frampton, who was keeping an eye on Alice's mom's stand, notices someone steal a scarf. It was one of the Santa runners. Later, that same santa is found dead with the stolen scarf. Alice and her beau Robert began to investigate the death. It all has to do with a valuable antique netsuke that someone had in their buttons collection. How did something so valuable land on a box of random buttons, and who would kill for it?

Thank you, Netgalley and Boldwood Books, for this ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

Easy light festive crime read. This is the first book I've read in this series but I think it stands alone with only a few references to what has happened before. Set around Christmas in a Cotswold village with a well rounded set of characters, although I did find Alice, the main character, somewhat frustrating and haphazard at times. Slow burn, slightly bizarre crime which developed into a murder.

I absolutely love a book I can devour in one day! This one definitely kept my attention and had me doubting everyone I definitely enjoyed all the banter and all the colorful characters definitely puts me in the holiday spirit

This was a great book to add to the series and definitely a head scratcher!

I enjoy the characters set around and about the quaint Cotswold Village and the community feel to them too. There is a resident snark in Suki, token rich guy in Robert, Friendly face in Coralie and the outsider becoming an insider in Alice.

This series actually has the characters progress in relationships unlike some annoying others that never seem to get the protagonists together. I like seeing how the characters grow and being introduced to new ones too. I liked the introduction of a story-line involving the vicars wife and also other ladies of the village.

In this particular book there is something for everyone! A murder, knitwear galore, revenge, museum visits, new job opportunities and a whole sleighful of running Santa's!

I really enjoyed this well written book and will be looking for the next one! Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for putting this ARC into my eager hands!

Lovely series, Alice runs a small emporium and is heavily involved in village activities. At the Christmas fayre a scarf with a unique button is stolen from her Mums stall and the thief is found strangled by rue scarf. Alice and Robert her boyfriend feel that the police are not taking them seriously and take it upon themselves to unravel the mystery and investigate it. Good story line and a great read.
Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This is the third book in the Cotswold Curiosity shop series.
Alice and the gang are busy getting ready for the Christmas fair. Once again she finds herself caught up in a murder mystery.
This was a good addition to the series. It’s perfect for all cosy mystery fans.

This is the first in the series that I have read and works very well as a standalone. If you like a cozy mystery, you will love this one. The mother and daughter relationship works here as well as the Cotswolds setting and Christmas scene. I found the pacing slow at first and it took me a while to warm to the main female character. Overall a nice, quick easy read cozy crime.

I very much enjoyed the latest instalment of this cozy crime series featuring curiosity shop/tea shop owner Alice Carroll and her dashing neighbour and partner in crime (and maybe now in love) Robert Praed.

The time for the Christmas Santa run and village celebration has arrived in Little Pride and Alice’s mum has come to help out at the fair. One of her scarves is stolen by a man in a Santa suit, who is then found attacked and dying in the car park.

I found the budding relationship between Alice and Robert to be gentle and affectionate, with the added cast of village characters making a great reading experience. They are described well do the reader can picture them and the plot is very easy to follow with lots of clues along the way. It took no time at all to finish, although I was disappointed to do so as I was very much enjoying the book.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alice Carroll loved her Curiosity Shop, and with Christmas coming, her Mum was joining her as well. Alice's Mum was a top knitter and could create magic with her knitting needles. She promised to knit plenty of Christmas items which could be sold at the annual Christmas Fair and Santa Run; Alice would add festive season items from her shop to the stall as well. When the Santa Run was over, the stalls were open for business. Alice was astounded at how quickly her Mum's items were selling, but suddenly the lady alongside yelled that a thief had stolen something from the stall. Two of Alice's friends, Jack & Danny, took off after the thief; when they caught up, he'd been fatally attacked. The police were soon on scene, and the investigation began. But Alice and her good friend, Robert, knew there was more to what was showing on the surface. Why was the man killed? And what was he killed for - surely not for the item he had stolen?

Death at the Village Christmas Fair is the 3rd in the Cotswold Curiosity Shop series by Debbie Young and it was fun and entertaining. I haven't read #1 or #2, so this one can be read as a standalone; I didn't feel I had missed anything in the telling. The MCs are all well written and likeable which is important to me; I'll be looking at more in the series. Recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley & Boldwood Books for my digital ARC to read and review.

A cosy mystery set at Christmas. Christmas is meant to be full of joy and glad tidings but in Little Pride there's a murderer.

Alice is caught up in it and determined to find out the culprit. Her amateur sleuthing takes her on an adventure around the community where she gets to know her neighbours better and learns about netsuke.

Alice's shop sounds a lovely place to visit and is a central part to the story. It's described well and sounds like the usual sort of independent shop you find in little villages with all sorts of trinkets and treasures.

There's a couple of culprits and one became obvious midway through. The motive not quite as clear but I'd sussed that one out.

A delightful cosy murder mystery. Alice Carroll runs her Curiosity Shop in Little Pride and is looking forward to her first Christmas there, first up is the annual Christmas Fair and Santa run, she asks her mother to provide some festive knitted goods and run her stall for her. All is going well until a man steals a scarf from the stall, one with a decorative teddy button sewn on as decoration.
As Danny and Jack catch up with the thief he has been attacked and the decorative button is missing from the scarf.
The Police are dismissive of Alice, so she feels that she must investigate herself.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Alice is looking forward to a quiet christmas with her boyfriend and her mum.

But it seems, that will be unlikely as someone is discovered on the school field in a Santa suit. Alice just knows that something bad has happened to them.

What comes next is Alice and Robert doing everything they can to find out the reason why the person is dead and what happened leading up to his death. As well as that, the police has to be made aware that it wasn’t an accidental death, but murder.

The story is full of events held that lead up to Christmas in the beautiful village.

I recommend this book.

This is a beautiful book and it is so amazing, the story is so lovely and very enjoyable to read. i loved everything about this book and i would recommend to anyone who loves reading to give this book a go. it is a lovely book and i will read other books from this author.

Although it did feel strange reading a Christmas novel in August, I really did enjoy this light reading book. The plot is involved enough to keep my interest but not so complex that my mind was struggling. I liked the craft references and the characters. Will read it again in December with a blanket and hot chocolate.

A fun, cozy read to unwind. I had enjoyed the first installment, and I find the series quite enjoyable. This new adventure, despite its overall qualities and festive elements, was a bit more uneven pace-wise. Regarless, I'd very much like to check out the next book in the series.

Rated 3.5

The writing was light, and gave the book small village charm vibes. It was an interesting mystery that had a couple of different elements to it.

The chapters were fairly long, which meant that you got a good chunk of the story before moving on, plus you were able to get fully immersed in what you were reading.

The chapters each had amusing titles which gave a small hint as to what you were going to read next.

There was a good flow between the chapters, so I was happy to read it for long periods of time.

There was an interesting pace to the book. Whilst you felt like you were always moving forward, with more information being added to the initial theories, there were some interesting time jumps. What I thought was the next day was actually the following week for example. It was just casually mentioned which took me by surprise.

The characters were interesting. I didn't realise that this was part of a series, so whilst it was a good standalone, I feel that I would have appreciated the characters more if I had read the other books. That being said there was enough information that I was able to enjoy reading about the characters' adventures in this book without too much trouble.

Lastly the settings. I loved the shop and the small town. The Christmas setting was fun and I enjoyed reading about it. The descriptions were light as it was a character based story, but they were enough to make the story cosy and festive.

Overall a cute, small town read.

If you thought Christmas fairs were just about twinkly lights and overeating mince pies, "Death at the Village Christmas Fair" is here to ruin your cozy little bubble because someone dressed as Santa gets strangled with a stolen scarf. Yep, that’s the holiday spirit in Little Pride, a picture-perfect Cotswold village where charm meets chaos and knitwear becomes murder weapons. Alice Carroll, who owns a shop full of weird old stuff, suddenly finds herself knee-deep in murder, mystery, and a rare Japanese netsuke button that turns out to be the hottest thing since Christmas pudding. Add her swoony neighbor Robert, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a festive disaster with a side of detective work.

The whole setup is pure small-town chaos wrapped in a Christmas bow. Alice is trying to enjoy her first countryside Christmas, which should be all cozy vibes and twinkling lights, but instead she’s juggling her mum’s relentless knitting projects (I swear, the woman never stops), the village Christmas fair, and a murder investigation. The scarf with the rare netsuke button isn’t just a crafty conversation starter; it’s the clue that drags Alice and Robert into a tangle of museum thefts, secret pasts, and a whole lot of gossip that spills faster than the village’s Christmas punch bowl.

Here’s the thing though, while the charm and setting are on point, the mystery itself is a bit of a slow roast. I caught onto parts of the crime well before the big reveal, which made some sections drag more than a Christmas caroler who won’t quit. But I’ll forgive the pacing because the heart of the book lies in the village itself. Little Pride feels like that eccentric aunt’s house at Christmas where everyone knows your business but somehow still manages to make you feel like family. Alice’s mix of earnest curiosity and occasional cluelessness is endearing rather than frustrating, and Robert’s laid-back but loyal nature makes him a perfect partner in crime-solving and Christmas cheer.

The romance simmers sweetly in the background without becoming overbearing. No swoon-worthy declarations at every turn, just a realistic, slow-building connection that actually fits the story rather than distracting from it. Robert’s chill, down-to-earth vibe balances out Alice’s occasional scatterbrained energy, making them a surprisingly believable pair in a genre that often falls into over-the-top romance traps.

What really had me hooked was the whole knitting and button obsession. I never thought I’d get so invested in tiny Japanese netsuke buttons, but Debbie Young sneaks in all this quirky, crafty trivia like Christmas stocking stuffers you didn’t know you needed. Alice’s mum brings the perfect dose of sarcasm and wisdom with her knitting needles flashing as fast as her wit. Their banter alone could keep a winter fire burning on the coldest nights.

The village gossip is a character all on its own, mixing humor and suspicion in equal measure. Everyone’s got a theory, and nobody’s shy about sharing it. This makes the mystery feel like a warm stew bubbling on the stove, sometimes slow to develop, but satisfying once all the flavors come together.

So, what’s the bottom line? This book is like your favorite ugly Christmas sweater. It’s comfy, a little goofy, and full of heart. It won’t blow your mind with twisty plot turns, but it wraps you in a cozy blanket of festive vibes and small-town warmth that’s hard to resist. Perfect for a quiet night with hot chocolate where you want something light but still juicy enough to keep turning pages.

Sweet, sometimes slow, but undeniably charming, a festive little whodunit that’s more about warm feels and quaint village vibes than a complex mystery. 3.5 stars.

Whodunity Award: For Making Buttons Way More Suspicious Than They Have Any Right to Be

Big thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC, because nothing says “holiday spirit” like getting a murder mystery delivered straight to my digital doorstep. Seriously, you guys keep my TBR dangerously festive and my hot chocolate intake dangerously high. Keep ‘em coming, because I’m here for the cozy chaos!

In this cosy mystery story we have Alice Caroll, shop owner, that with the help of Robert her love interest, try to solve the case of the murder that happened at the Christmas Fair.
Someone stole a scarf from Alice's mom stand, but some moments later they found a man in Santa's costume dead. And around his neck it is the same scarf, but missing a netsuke.
I enjoyed this story and liked it so much and made me curious about all the buttons, the netsuke and why the murder. And I also have enjoyed the sode characters. They were all interesting and charming.
This is my first read from Debbie and it was a good one. I like her style of storytelling, the book was fast paced and kept me reading it so easy until the end.
And the end was a very cute and christmasy one.
Really good for Christmas time to read it with a hot chocolate in hand.

Thank you Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read the book in advance. This is my only and honest opinion.