The Knife Before Christmas

Fixer-Upper Mysteries, Book 11

De: Kate Carlisle

Narrado por: Jae Delane

Contractor Shannon Hammer hopes for a peaceful Christmas with her fiancé, Mac, until murder throws a wrench in her holiday plans in a brand-new installment of the USA Today best-selling Fixer-Upper Mystery Series.

Christmas has come to Lighthouse Cove, but business hasn’t slowed down for Shannon Hammer. She’s been contracted to renovate a local hotel owned by the Garrisons, a family that’s so devoted to the holidays they serve a seven-course dinner every night from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Last year’s festivities featured a train that transported guests around the breathtaking Cliffside property. This year, Shannon and her crew have been commissioned to build a Victorian-style carnival midway with games and prizes galore.

Everyone in town loves the hotel’s spirit, except the Garrisons’ children and their spouses, who are hum-bugged by the money being wasted on holiday cheer while their inheritance goes up the chimney. Things turn nasty when a mischief-maker close to the family is found dead. It’s up to Shannon and Mac to catch a sinister Scrooge before all of Lighthouse Cove receives coal for Christmas.

©2024 Kathleen Beaver (P)2024 Audible, Inc.

Keeps you guessing

This was a great mystery with twists and turns and an unexpected culprit. Nice to follow characters portrayed on Hallmark’s Fixer Upper mystery movies.

Just Fine

I Like the mysteries, but I figured it out very early on who the killer was. Also,she mentioned Whitney and Tommy’s three daughters. That’s odd since they had a son named Tyler in the last book. The narrator is fine. She needs to work on her male voices and as always, the author needs to get at thesaurus and stop using the word grin over and over again. Please have these people grow up some; I teach high school and my students are less dramatic.

Another great addition

Kate Carlisle has written another great addition to her Fixer Up mystery series. It has all the usual characters as found in earlier installments as well as an intriguing mystery.
Jae Delane gave a stellar performance as she breathed life into the storyline and gave each character their own distinct voice.
I look forward to the next installment in this wonderful series and highly recommend it to cozy mystery fans.

Nothing

Weak plot, horrible character voices sounds like high school drama interspersed throughout. What grown successful women give energy to such nonsense and antics? Why not focus on wedding dates and venues rather than high school architecture ene

Okay by predictable and slow

This was not a bad book just mediocre (in my opinion). Slow and predictable but there are some pretty word pictures.

Chapter 14

I LOLd and clapped my hands laughing. I loved that ending was fun, funny and satisfying.

Christmas Fixer-Upper Cozy Mystery

The Knife Before Christmas (Fixer-Upper Mystery) by Kate Carlisle
Rating: 4 stars (Audiobook narrated by Jae Delane)
The Knife Before Christmas is the 11th book in Kate Carlisle's Fixer-Upper Mystery series and it is a good addition to the series. It is Christmas and contractor Shannon Hammer and her crew have a job setting up and running the Fun Zone with a carousel, old-fashioned games and Santa. The Fun Zone is part of the Garrison family's hotel and it is a popular local attraction. There are quite a few members of the Garrison family plus Shannon, her fiance Mac, sister Chloe, Chloe's boyfriend the Police Chief, and some locals. Kate Carlisle does a good job with helping the reader keep all of the characters straight. One of the Garrison family members ends up dead and Shannon and Mac find them. The death is a bit gruesome and the details are mentioned a few times. Shannon and Mac make a great sleuthing team and I like how they discuss the details especially because Mac is a famous thriller writer. At times it seems like the characters and relationships overshadow the cozy mystery. There are many warm moments which are nice in a Christmas cozy. This was an enjoyable story and the audiobook is well done. #TheKnifeBeforeChristmas #AFixerUpperMystery #Berkley #KateCarlisle

5 stars

Well written cozy mystery with engaging characters and an entertaining plot. I look forward to the next book.

So Disappointing

I really like this series and had been looking forward to this release. What an incredible disappointment. Awkward, stilted dialogue. Strange incongruous behavior from supporting characters. Several times I had to rewind and listen again because things just didn’t make sense. If you fed the previous books into chat gpt and asked the computer to write a new one this is the disjointed product you would expect.
Very disappointing.

Thus knife was full of unnecessary prose

This book was unlike the other books. The first chapter or so should have been a summary for this who didn’t know the characters. Then, instead of having the readers experience the characters doing things, she told us what they did. The adventure that is usually in her books was missing. I love what this author writes but this was not up to par.