It took a lot of strength for me to finally pick up this book and read it. Ever since I picked up the first two books in this series and began reading about Addie Greybourne back in 2019 (just six years ago???), I have been absolutely hooked. The characters are so real, the stories so engaging, and the crimes so well-plotted - I felt like this had become a real little world of which I had the privilege to peek in and watch from time to time. Over the past six years, I have been fortunately enough to communicate with the author, Lauren Elliott (a/k/a Linda Maureen Fowler), on any number of occasions, and I found her to be personable, considerate, and simply wonderful to chat with. So, it was with shock and profound sadness when, back in August, I and other fans of Elliott and her books learned that this amazing woman had passed away on August 11, 2025. I was so stunned, and it was shortly after her passing that this next book in her Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series was published - the last one she wrote before she died. I bought the book and put off reading it, because I knew that once I did, there would be no more - that the adventures of Addie Greybourne and her ever-growing supporting cast would come to an end. But my love of Elliott's writing and her story-telling skills got the better of me, so I picked it up, determined to take my time and relish every page for as long as I could. Well, it only took me two days to read the book, I got so caught up in the story and just HAD to know who did it and why!
Epilogue to a Christmas Murder, while not intended to be the final book, is certainly the perfect book end for this series. Over the past several books, Addie Greybourne's life has gone through a number of changes - her best friend, Serena, has gotten married and had children. Her first love when moving to Greybourne Harbor, police chief Marc Chandler, found a new love and has settled into marital bliss. Her bookstore and curio shop has grown so that she had two employees helping her out - Paige and Nikki. Her most recent love and ex-fiance, Simon Emerson, has reunited with his wife and son, starting a new chapter in their life. Her mentor and mother-figure, Catherine Lewis, has married a globe-trotting man of mystery, and she is rarely in Greybourne Harbor any more. As for Addie herself? Well, she has returned after taking a year's sabbatical in England, where she not only solved a murder, but found her heart falling for a certain detective inspector (Noah Parker), only to leave England before it ever even had a chance. Now, Addie is back in Greybourne Harbor, everything and everyone has changed, and Addie doesn't know where she fits in any more - but one thing's for sure, wherever Addie is, a murder is never far behind!
Oh, did I mention that the book Addie was donating, which was worth quite a hefty sum, signed by O. Henry, and came all the way from England, was hand delivered personally by none other than Detective Inspector Noah Parker! No one is more surprised than Addie, who thought she was never going to see him again. However, it's a good thing he's in town, because it turns out that the dead body is Nikki's ex-husband, Chad, who she divorced and ran away from because he was so abusive. All evidence points to Nikki as the killer, and since she is Marc's cousin, he has to take a leave of absence while Noah is asked to step in and head up the investigation. So, it ends up with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys ... er, I mean, Addie alongside Marc and Noah ... working together to figure out who the real killer is so Nikki does not end up being railroaded by a politically-minded mayor who is running for re-election and wants this case wrapped up quickly. As the evidence builds against Nikki, Addie is more convinced than ever that someone else is to blame, and she's determined to prove it, even if that means she has to do it on her own!
The book, which, I think, is probably the longest in the series, weighing in at 360 pages, splits its time between Addie trying to figure out who killed Nikki's ex-husband and Addie trying to figure out just who she is now and how she fits in with all of the changes in her friends' lives. Anyone who has ever had some major upheavals in their life and had to make some major changes will appreciate the frustration, sadness, and constant questioning that Addie goes through over the course of the book. And while, from the very beginning of this series, I have been a big supporter of Addie and Marc, I can admit that maybe, just maybe, our English inspector might actually be a better fit for Addie. Thankfully, she figures this out by the end of the story, as well, after she manages to uncover the identity of the real killer, thereby proving Nikki's innocence (and proving, as she always does, that she was right all along!).
Elliott, who admits to being a fan of Nancy Drew, having read all her books growing up, manages to sneak a Nancy Drew reference into this book! When Addie is at the police station, where a press conference is set up, she asks one of the reporters if she remembers her, and the reporter responds with, "My favorite bookseller and Greybourne Harbor's very own Nancy Drew" (p. 149). Elliott also slips in a British female detective reference, when Noah refers to her as "Agatha Raisin" (p. 194), which is a British television series about an amateur female sleuth (and it happens to be based on a book series by M.C. Beaton). I suppose Elliott wanted to give both American and British readers a bit of a nod with famous female detectives from both sides of the pond.
The only thing that left me a bit nonplussed with this mystery is the fact that we never find out who stole the presents (and Addie's valuable book) from the museum. Addie kept wondering if the theft and the murder were connected, but after it turned out they were not, and the real murderer is revealed, the theft is pushed to the back burner. There is an epilogue of sorts (perhaps where the title comes from?) where some of the stolen items show up on the doorsteps of various people in town, all wrapped up in shiny Christmas paper, with sleigh bells being heard by each person who finds the gift on their front porch. It seems everything EXCEPT the O. Henry book is returned, and nothing further is said about it. I realize with the Christmas theme of the book, the hint here is that perhaps "Santa" took the gifts and gave them out to those who they should go to (especially since the man who stole them was dressed up as an elf, and no one knew who he was); however, I just feel like Addie would be more invested in finding that missing book and the thief who took it. Maybe it was a plot thread that was going to come back in play in a future book, but now....oh, well, it's a mystery that shall forever remain unsolved.
And now it's over. Addie's mystery-solving days in book form are over. I would like to think that her sleuthing days continue, as she and Noah continue to work together to solve murders in Greybourne Harbor, as well as Pen Hollow, and maybe even Moorscrag, as well. I have no doubt Elliott had many more ideas in mind for her book-minded sleuth, and I'll just have to imagine what they might have been (perhaps even one day solving the mystery of what book is the REAL first edition of Nancy Drew's Password to Larkspur Lane...). Elliott will be greatly missed, as well Addie and all of her friends and family...until we meet again!
RATING: 10 pairs of red-and-white mittens out of 10 for providing Addie (and readers!) with one final mystery that gives us all a nice, well-wrapped conclusion to the tales of Addie Greybourne.
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