Blurb: Ella has spent a lifetime serving the Montgomerys when she ends up back in town and somehow in their house for the annual Christmas party… and the attempted murder of their only son. She was told he wouldn’t be there. If she had known, she wouldn’t have come within a hundred miles of the party. She also wouldn’t have been accused of his murder. Or desperate to find out who actually killed him (because murderous thoughts don’t count).

I wanted to rate It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder (Kiss, Merry, Kill #2) by Ally Carter a four-star. Heck, I wanted it to be a five. I rated Kiss, Merry, Kill #1 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year 4.5 stars (last year) and then became giddy when I received the ARC for this one. It might be my mood, but I settled on 3.75 for this one. It’s more that Murder is riddled with small mistakes and those small mistakes made it hard for me to enjoy a story that otherwise I would have totally loved.

What kind of mistakes? It’s hard to put my finger on, but let me give you two examples. 1) Spatial issues, or just not telling me what was going on spatially and then mentioning it later when I had already placed the characters elsewhere or in a different position. 2) Characters answering other characters in inauthentic ways/conversation moving in strange ways. With the small mistakes, I sometimes found characters to be distant and unknowable when I should have been so happy with them and their quirky selves. I wanted the romance to work, but again those small mistakes made it hard for me to really feel it. Or feel the MC’s and the love interest’s struggles and hurts, which were on the page but, again, just out of reach emotionally. It made some key transitions awkward.

I did like the way the mystery unfolded. I liked the structure (which was like Crime of the Year). And I had a fun time reading this, wanting to return to it each time I had to set it down.

Two more notes: 1) the title promises an old-fashioned Christmas feel. There could have been some of that in there, attached to the town, but there wasn’t. It is Christmastime, but it’s not laid on thick… not nearly thick enough, in my opinion. 2) This is not half as funny as Crime of the Year. I would not even identify Murder as humor, though it has some funny moments.

I would still recommend this for a holiday read for someone who likes romances and/or mysteries. I would even re-read it. After The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. And Good Spirits. And A Christmas Carol.

Spice level 2 (tops, kisses and closed doors), which makes it real cozy for Christmas.