'Twas the Knife Before Christmas Audiobook By Jacqueline Frost cover art

'Twas the Knife Before Christmas

A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery, Book 2

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

'Twas the Knife Before Christmas

By: Jacqueline Frost
Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

A Christmas delight, 'Twas the Knife Before Christmas will charm the stockings off fans of Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier.

It's out of the cupcake tin, into the fire for Holly White's best friend, Caroline. Can Holly clear Caroline's name in time to go caroling?

When a body turns up in the dumpster behind Caroline's Cupcakes, Holly White is horrified to learn her best friend, Caroline, is the main suspect. Everyone in town, including Mistletoe, Maine's sheriff, saw Caroline fighting with the victim on the night of his death. Worse, Caroline's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a custom-designed marble rolling pin.

Now, just 10 days before Christmas, Holly's up to her jingle bells in holiday shenanigans and in desperate need of a miracle. Juggling extra shifts at her family's Christmas tree farm and making enough gingerbread jewelry to satisfy the crowd is already more than she can handle - and now she has to find time to clear her best friend of murder. Add in her budding relationship with the sheriff and run-ins with an ex-fiance looking to make amends, and Holly's ready to fly south until springtime.

But her Sherpa-lined mittens come off when Caroline is taken into custody. Can Holly wrap up the case in time for Christmas...even after she gains the true killer's attention? Find out in 'Twas the Knife Before Christmas, Jacqueline Frost's second pine-scented Christmas Tree Farm mystery.

©2018 Jacqueline Frost (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Amateur Sleuths Cozy Detective Fiction Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Celebration Winter Christmas Feel-Good Cozy Mysteries
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Featured Article: The Best Cozy Mysteries to Keep You Warm This Holiday Season


We’ve rounded up a list of some of the best cozy mystery audiobooks to help brighten up your winter listening. Here you'll find contemporary and historical cozies, classic whodunits and ingenious heist stories. While varying in tone, plot, and setting, these picks all share an irresistible holiday atmosphere. You'll find snowstorms galore, bakeries full of tasty holiday treats, glittering get-togethers, and picturesque English villages decked out in their holiday finest.

What listeners say about 'Twas the Knife Before Christmas

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,461
  • 4 Stars
    842
  • 3 Stars
    302
  • 2 Stars
    56
  • 1 Stars
    25
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,479
  • 4 Stars
    660
  • 3 Stars
    175
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    20
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,191
  • 4 Stars
    794
  • 3 Stars
    289
  • 2 Stars
    56
  • 1 Stars
    29

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Santa's in town but all isn't merry

Loved it as much as the last, it just keeps getting better, but more dangerous for our beloved winter sluth Holly White.
Don't miss this slayride in what is anything but a winter wonderland, where threats come in the form of winter sweets and not every Santa is a jolly old fellow.

My favourite part in the book is the slayride with a hot under the collar Sheriff and news photographer who keeps picking the bear so to speak. To a ride none of them will ever forget.

Great narrator, who keeps the story pace nicely and has you waiting on edge of your seat while keeping that cost Christmas feeling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fun

Great Christmas theme mystery! Fun listen and who done it puzzle to figure out.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love This Book

I have fallen in love with this series of books. It's December 2020, and I am wondering. When is the 3rd book coming out.
Holly makes me smile, laugh. Her relationship with her parents is wonderful. Everything about these books makes my day. Christmas is a difficult time of year for me. So finding a book that keeps me hooked is awesome!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great series

This is the second book in this series and it is as wonderful as the first. I hope their will more volumes to come in this series.

I would highly recommend these books to any of my friends.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good fun!

I love the cozy Christmas mystery. The characters are a delight. The mystery was good and I really enjoyed the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book

So far I've enjoyed Jacqueline Frost as a writer and Allyson Ryan does a wonderful job of reading.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Small town Maine quirkiness at Xmas, easy to like

Enjoyed the next in series of the quirky but sweet love story of a cop and young, amateur sleuth. If you like Christmastime it’s hard not to like the visions of a small town Maine backdrop complete with wine, cookies, pies and jewelry making hobbyists. Loved the narration and effort to capture the Boston accent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Second Verse (book), as Good as the First!

A perfect sequel to the first book in this "Christmas Tree Farm" series, I thoroughly enjoyed it as well - both the writer's crafting and the narrator's performance.

Jacqueline Frost combines some of the best elements of Janet Evanovitch, Diane Mott Davidson, and Sue Grafton. How? She tells a very engaging story, and she tells it in a way that is also captivating and smile-inducing.

The story is perfectly family-friendly, with the worst expletives being, "Oh, SNICKERDOODLE!" There may have been an occasional H or D word, but those were characters being ugly. There is also no graphical sex (thank you, Ms. Frost!) with the most blatant sex being a .... KISS! Oooo. Sure, it's a murder mystery, and there's some action and violence, but nothing graphical, and certainly much more G-rated than you see on TV these days. Again, thank you, Ms. Frost. I can recommend this book to some of my more sensitive friends without qualm.

The best thing about Frost's writing is that it ranks very high on my "Transparency" scale. By this, I mean you can become totally immersed in the story, with nothing about the writing that gets in the way of the reading (listening). There are no situations that make you think, "Oh, right" or "Come on, now, no one would act like that," nothing that will confuse you, and you can "live" the story as you hear it. All in all, I would definitely get another book by this author.

Narrator Allyson Ryan also does a masterful job, very much like Lorelei King does in the Stephanie Plum audiobooks. She does a superb job with character voices, each being distinct without being over the top, and she puts the perfect emotion into her cadence, pitch, and tone, to help you become totally immersed in the moment of the story.

The combination of the writer's work and the narrator's performance make for a delightful time listening to this book. I am eager for the next book in this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great Christmas mystery

The story continues and improves in this installment. Holly's friend Caroline is arrested on charge of murder just before Christmas and Holly is bound and determined to prove her innocence. This is the second book in the series and can be read alone, but reading the first will give you insight into Holly's character. Like a terrier on the hunt she investigates, all possible leads, is relentless in her pursuit, and reluctant to give up on a hunt, and is extremely difficult to redirect. Returning characters in include Holly's parents, Caroline, Cookie, Ray and his mother and Sheriff Evan Gray. there a few new characters and I am sure we will seeing more of at least two of them.
The murder happens early and the story builds from there. The victim is not a beloved town character, with only an ex girlfriend singing his praises. The threats to Holly in this story are more intense and quickly escalate. The author ups her game in this story as we become more comfortable with these characters. and hard off to the narrator Allyson Ryan who does another excellent performance. Her clear delineation of the voices of the characters meant I never lost track of who was speaking. Great job by the author and narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

loved this book, light hearted, fun to listen to as you try to figure out who did it and why. You get to know the characters in the book and it makes me want to go visit Mistletoe .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!