Well, this is a delight. Warm, romantic, genuinely thrilling and blessed with a romance you can root for, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is a stellar example of a cozy romantic mystery.

Cozy mystery writer Maggie Chase hasn’t been having the best time of it when she encounters bad boy of the thriller world, Ethan Wyatt, at their publisher’s Christmas party. Christmas has long been a bad-luck holiday for her, and with both her parents gone and her best friend having run off with her ex-husband, is it any wonder she prefers huddling home alone during the holidays, writing books about cats that can solve crimes by smelling poison?

Ethan and Maggie share a past that’s integral to the general plot and won’t be spoiled in this review, but suffice to say they do NOT get along. Maggie thinks Ethan is a spoiled bad boy, Ethan thinks Maggie is a stuffed shirt, and he loves annoying her. Yet when they’re thrown together by an unexpected all-expenses paid trip to meet Eleanor Ashley, doyenne of the mystery world, there’s no doubting the sparks flying between them.

As Ethan and Maggie converge on Eleanor’s home, bickering all the way, they’re confronted by a real-life chiller. They and the rest of the party are cut off from the outside world by a snowstorm, and then Eleanor simply disappears. Now Ethan and Maggie have a real-life mystery to figure out and a houseload of suspects to sift through, all while trying to ignore their attraction to one another. And there’s only three more days left until Christmas. Is it murder? True love? Or just an entertainment Eleanor has planned for the weekend?

A damn fine mystery, a great romance, good character portraits, a wicked sense of humor – there’s nothing this book doesn’t do well. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year keeps you hopping when it comes to the suspect list, it invests you in Maggie and Ethan (especially poor Maggie, who really has suffered a lot). I can’t tell you a lot about Ethan due to his mysterious shared background with Maggie, but I can tell you that they are fun together.

I seriously, deeply enjoyed Maggie in this book. Her slow acceptance of love, her realistic reactions, her relatable background – all excellent. While Ethan might come off as initially too bratty for some, uncovering his layers is a wonderful experience.

This a novel that’s wise about the writing world, knows a good caper, and isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty – among other things. It’s funny, scary and trenchant, and was a knockout punch of a book for me. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is the best romantic mystery I’ve read all year, and is the best book I’ve read in 2024 so far.