Book 114, 2025

Eggnog & Murder: A Christmas Paranormal Cozy Mystery with a Magical Holiday Whodunit with Recipes, a Lie-Detecting Rabbit, and a Small-Town Sleuth by Mila Alderwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I finished reading my first holiday book of the season last night: Eggnog & Murder by Mila Alderwood. It’s a paranormal cozy, and the main character is Juniper Moss.

Juniper’s life revolves around her beloved bakery and her rabbit familiar, Pip. She is honored to provide the eggnog for Winterberry Falls’ annual winter fest, but when the choir director collapses after taking on sip of her nog, Juniper finds herself under the suspicion of the villagers. To clear her name and salvage her reputation, she begins following clues and leads, with Pip’s help. Sheriff Rowan Hale has faith in her ability to track down the culprit. Juniper’s magic is steady and warm, but she can feel another magic, cold and bitter, overlaying her own. The town and the festival depend on her getting to the bottom of things.

Let me get this out of the way first. There was no murder; the choir director recovered from his malaise. For that reason, the title of the book was at least confusing if not misleading. Beyond that, the story was charming. Juniper is a calm and steady presence in the midst of upheaval in town. I admired her determination to see things through, even when she made some missteps along the way.

Favorite lines:
♦ “They’d panic more over missing pastries.”

Lovely, four stars