Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

“Family time is the ultimate killer…”

I immediately jumped into this one as soon as I finished book one in this series, Happy Bloody Christmas, something that has NEVER happened to me before with a series! But I just had to! I loved the first book so much and it cheered me up no end, and I just had to keep that feeling going. Book two is just as fantastic, if you were wondering! Just as hilarious, mind boggling and addictive as book one. So happy to be sharing my review for the latest in the series, Not Another Bloody Christmas!

About the book

Anna’s taking the family away for a quiet Christmas. Unlike last year, there will be no risk of her burning the turkey, far less nagging from her mother-in-law and – crucially – a zero per cent chance of finding a dead body in her larder.

All she wants is to relax with a glass of wine in front of the fire. But when another group of guests show up just before a snowstorm, her plans begin to go awry. And the appearance of a dead body threatens to bugger up Christmas once again…

Can Anna get merry and root out the murderer? Or will this be another bloody Christmas nightmare?

The beginning

After the complete and utter shitshow of last year’s Christmas, Anna is determined to have a better one this year. So determined, in fact, that she’s booked her family into Whispering Pines, an idyllic rural retreat where she doesn’t have to lift a finger. She can spend quality time with her family and drink endless glasses of wine and actually enjoy Christmas without having to worry about hosting. It sounds perfect. But as I’d come to expect with Anna’s life, things don’t really go to plan. There’s been a mess up with the booking, and they now have to share the space with multiple other people. And my god what characters they were! Of course I was laughing from the start. Of course the humour was as perfectly timed as it was in book one. I couldn’t put it down. But I was absolutely not surprised! I loved seeing the return of Jennie, Anna’s best friend who is always at the other end of the phone and always ready for a bit of drama and gossip. And after the last book, she’s the person you want in your corner when you find a dead body… and you will never guess what Anna and Oli stumble across 😂

“I mean sure, he’s dead, and that’s sad for people who love him I’m sure, but come on, the man wore salmon chinos for God’s sake. How much of a loss can that really be to the world?”

Yep, there’s another body. And it’s one of the guests they’re sharing the house with. Thankfully, there’s no blood to clean up this time, but there are a few things that stick out as suspicious… Was this not the accidental death they’d hoped for? Of course not! That’d just be too simple! Once again, Anna and Oli are tasked with working out what happened, why it happened and who was responsible. Already, there were so many people to suspect and, like Anna, I was thinking so much about the dynamics within the group. Who actually liked who? What was their history, what were their juicy secrets? I felt there was so much to learn about this group of strangers, so I strapped myself in! The author continues to make this series so relatable, so fun to dive into, and utterly hilarious. The police are incompetent as hell, just like the previous year, so it’s clear this is Anna’s responsibility now until the snow clears and the body can be removed. I was so glad she had Oli to ground her when reality sets in and she gets a bit hysterical. Because who wouldn’t at a time like this?!

The middle

Going through each of these characters with Anna, Oli and their son, Ben, was so good. I felt like setting up my own murder board with bits of string, drawing pins and photographs of every character in this house. The discussions they have in order to try and understand the circumstances, the theories they run past each other were so engaging and it was so easy to forget about real life. There were clashes and confrontation with the other guests as they share their findings, questions and accusations flying around, and I just loved it all. Mrs Haddock, housekeeper, cook, etc. at the house was a brilliant character. She was so shady and there were most definitely some secrets with her, but I didn’t suspect her as the killer. She was strangely loveable! And Jennie continued to have me howling. Anna’s best mate is one of my absolute favourite characters ever and I reckon she’d be a right laugh in real life. Any plans to write a separate story for Jennie, Jo?! I would absolutely read it! Tbh, I’d read anything this author writes at this point!

“Enough umming and ahhing and poking about half-heartedly, waiting for things to happen, now is the time to seize the bull by the horns. I’m going to track this killer down right now and it is not the wine talking, this is the brand-new me, ready to carpe diem.”

There are some hard truths, unravelling secrets and even hidden passageways! I loved the deepening mystery and the weird, wonderful quirky bits that I’ve come to love from Jo’s writing. We really get to know each of the other guests over time which I particularly loved, and from doing so, I was able to come to my own conclusions about whether they were guilty or not. I felt the mystery in this book was deeper than the first one, yet I loved the whole thing just as much. I know I go on about Jennie loads but god, I just loved her. Her input into this whole thing (for the second year running, might I add!) her friendship, her genuine interest in Anna’s life was so heartwarming and lovely, not to mention her humour, even in the most dire of circumstances. Anna confronts different characters over the chapters, finding out all she can about their relationships with the deceased. Her interrogation tactics were coming on well and her potential future in private investigation was a pretty good call I thought. I still had no idea who the killer was, but it was only a matter of time!

The end

I could feel the reveal getting ever closer, especially as new clues come to light that seem to narrow down their list of suspects. Fancy handwriting, a syringe, and especially those bloody marzipan fruits! There was certainly something very dodgy going on, and learning more of the deceased’s history was very interesting indeed. And as Anna has another rummage around the crime scene, just in case, she finds an important missed clue. This is the thing that gives her that eureka moment. She’s got it! And it’s time for the big reveal. I remember how much I loved this in the last book, the perfect build up that kept me on my toes, those suspenseful moments as she delivers the truth in the best possible way. I had such high hopes for yet another eventful scene, this time outing the killer in front of all the guests at the retreat. This was going to be juicy! It would be interesting to see whether my (pretty late) prediction of who the killer was would be correct or not, and also to see the reactions of the other characters to this news… Bring it on.

“If the last couple of years have taught me anything it’s that life is too short to worry about dusting.”

The reveal this time around was, if it’s even possible, even better than the last book, and I bloody adored that one too! I loved how Anna takes her time, basically accusing everyone in the room, making them all sweat, showing all of them just how each and every one of them would have a plausible motive for killing this guy, to want him dead. And it worked. She made them squirm and it was truly brilliant. But the actual reveal was so insanely clever, so well executed with layer upon layer of perfectly placed clues, information and history. And what was even better was that my prediction was totally wrong! The book continues to be so addictive and hilarious right up until those final moments which took me back to the ending of the last book – family time with the in laws. Despite the book ending before they actually arrive this time, I could just sense what was to come! I had such a blast with this book and I really hope there is another book in this series on its way to us next year. I think there will be… PI Anna Johnson, we are waiting for you and I am so ready to experience whatever comes next!

Overall thoughts

Not Another Bloody Christmas is just as hilarious, fun and mind-boggling as book one, and I just adored it! Jo Middleton has very quickly become a go-to author for a good Christmas read and I am dying to read whatever comes next after this one. Anna does not want a repeat of last year’s Christmas, but it seems she has no choice. After booking her family into a gorgeous rural retreat this year, there’s a mess up with the booking, meaning they’ll have to share their Christmas with a group of strangers…and another dead body. As with book one, Anna gives herself the task of working out what happened, why it happened, and most importantly, who did it. There is such a deep mystery, intriguing clues, brilliantly flawed characters, and SO much suspicion, and it’s written so cleverly that it’s near impossible to work everything out until the end reveal. I loved it all! If you are craving an entertaining mystery that you will genuinely not want to put down, this book is the one. But I’d definitely recommend you start with Happy Bloody Christmas if you haven’t already read it!

Huge thanks to the author, Jo Middleton, and the fabulous team at Avon for my copy! You can grab your own copy of Not Another Bloody Christmas right now on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Jo on Instagram and X for more updates!

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