After the last two Christmas catastrophes, Anna decides Christmas is cancelled and calls off anything festive. No turkey, no tree and no celebrating! She has however, been roped into helping out at her daughter’s school for the ‘Seasonal Community Gathering’… just don’t call it a Christmas Fair, alright? But when Anna, and her BFF Jennie, find one of the committee members dead, they are reluctantly drawn into more festive drama… again 🎄🎁🔪

The Pros:
1) Put simply, I love a Christmas holiday story and if you add a sprinkle of murder with it *chef’s kiss*
2) This is a cozy murder mystery, with an amateur sleuth - which I am such a fan of
3) The book is so readable - I read it in less than 24 hrs, which says a lot. The writing style is my perfect type
4) The friendship between Anna and Jennie is so sweet (and funny)
5) It’s a family affair! I find the fact that the whole family always get involved, so fun

The Cons:
1) Obviously there are dark (but fun!) themes

The Quotes:

1)... everyone knows that ‘working in IT’ is just a euphemism for reading Reddit threads about Star Wars and occasionally telling people to switch things off and on again.

2) Even Poirot doesn’t solve murders before he’s had his eggs.

3) I prefer it when women over forty look a bit crap like me and I can pretend that there’s no point exercising.

The Summary:
I am such a fan of Anna and her unfortunate Christmases lol. As usual she gets drawn into a possible murder, this time with her BFF by her side - which makes it extra fun. I love that the stories are always cozy, so well written and with a bit of (wonderful) silliness! Anna and Co. are really likeable, you get the Christmas holiday vibes and a whole cast of other suspects *coughs* I mean characters. If you have been a fan of Anna’s christmases so far, I think you’ll love this book - this is my favourite of the series so far. I read it in less than a day, which says a lot. I really enjoyed it! Throughly recommend if you like Christmas, humour and lovely cozy, silliness!

Summed up in a sentence?:
Anna has cancelled Christmas, then finds a body at the school fair

I rated the book 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5!

A big thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

This is book 3 in the Christmas Murder Mysteries and
Anna Johnson Investigations isn't really getting off the ground, with only her neighbour wanting the disappearance of her council-issued recycling box investigated. Also, traumatised by the last two Christmases that were rather bloody, Anna issues a no Christmas celebrations diktat but then misses the festivities terribly. Thank God for the school's Christmas Fair Weekend, sorry, the Seasonal Community Gathering which Anna and BFF Jennie are pressganged into helping to organise. Then head teacher Tom Prendergast dies after falling off a ladder and PC Cumberland thinks it was an accident.

This time Anna doesn't even bother correcting the police, she simply starts sleuthing, utilising distracted Jennie plus good-natured husband Oli and techy son Ben. This murder mystery farce is hilarious and entertaining, with a great cast of characters and a funny cover. The PTA politics are keenly observed, but the suspects are confessing too readily for my liking. I figured out the murderer and some clues quite early on, shouting at the book, thinking, why are they all so slow? I'm afraid this meant that the middle bit dragged a little for me and there didn't seem to be any sense of urgency. I was also missing Anna's feisty MIL Pamela. It's a great sequel but it's not my favourite in the series.

No more Christmas murders.

To try and avoid the hat-trick, Anna has banned everything festive.

Except...she has to volunteer at her daughter's "Seasonal Community Gathering". Definitely NOT a Christmas Fayre.

But Anna's out of luck.

Her and Jennie discover one of the committee dead.

Predictably, the police want to write it off as an accident. But there's far too many things not adding up...

Hilarious

This is a brilliant light hearted fun murder story. The PTA part of the story was ace and the main character husband made me laugh over the Christmas box and tree. Ben is an ace son. Pizza for breakfast is fab.. Just a great read . Loved it .

The third in the excellent series of Christmas thrillers from Jo Middleton sees Anna, fed up with dealing with murders at Christmastime, putting her foot down. There was to be no Yuletide celebration - no decorations, no turkey, no After Eights and definitely no corpses. Unfortunately, drafted in reluctantly to assist with the school's Seasonal Community Gathering, that final condition was broken, as a member of the PTA is found dead in very suspicious circumstances, and Anna, along with her friend Jennie (distracted at times), are determined to get to the bottom of things, to work out who was responsible.

Middleton has crafted some great characters in these books, and it is nice to have family involvement into the stories without it becoming sentimental. Each of the books is a hoot, with real life thoughts and reactions, along with great storylines that grip and never get too convoluted or confused.

I sincerely hope that Middleton is already starting on book four of this series as I cannot wait to hear what happens next to Anna and her family. Maybe they need to go on a Yuletide holiday abroad - Lapland?

Really enjoyed Anna’s continuing hilarious Christmas adventures.. Apart from the cake batter episode which was a bit off the wall, it was very entertaining. Long may her Christmases be fraught with suspicious people and murders.

Honestly these books just get better and better!
Was so happy I got invited to read this book!
Highly recommend

Thanks Netgalley for letting me read this book for an honest review

Anna spent her last two Christmas holidays discovering dead bodies and tracking down killers. This year she has decided that Christmas is not going to be happening in her house. She has instructed her family....no tree, no visiting relatives, no Christmas dinner, nothing.
The only fly in the ointment is that Anna's daughter has set her heart on playing the part of Nancy in the schools production of "Oliver", and so Anna feels obliged to help the PTA, as the head of the committee is the person casting the parts for this production.
Anna, and her best friend, Jennie, are therefore roped in to volunteer for a weekend helping with the schools Seasonal Community Gathering, which most people know as a Christmas Fair. Just those two days to endure, then Anna thinks everyone will be busy with their own Christmas plans, and she will be left in peace. Anna and Jennie are sorting out the tombola prizes, until they discover a member of the committee is dead.
Anna and Jennie find themselves drawn into another mystery. Could this be an accident, or is it murder. Anna is suspicious, and all the committee members appear to have something to hide.
Another festive funny from Jo Middleton, a Christmas mystery with fun and chuckles along the way. Suspicious characters kept me guessing until the end. A really enjoyable read.
Thank you for my advance copy.

Anna has spent two straight Christmases finding bodies, so she cancels Christmas completely, and murder STILL tracks her down at her daughter’s school fair like it has her location services turned on. No tree. No turkey. No tinsel. No forced cheer. She is done. December has lost visiting privileges. And yet there she is at a “Seasonal Community Gathering,” which is obviously a Christmas Fair that got called into HR, sorting tombola prizes when somebody ends up dead. At this point I think Anna could spend December 25th alone in a bunker and a corpse would slide under the door.

After "Not Another Bloody Christmas," I absolutely understood why she was done. This woman has tried festive. Festive has betrayed her repeatedly. But Lily wants a part in the school production of "Oliver!," which means Anna starts thinking maybe helping the PTA would be useful, and THAT is how they get her. One tiny volunteer commitment. One weekend. No Christmas spirit required. Famous last words from a woman whose personal holiday tradition is apparently homicide with refreshments.

Then Anna and Jennie find a dead committee member, the police start floating “accident,” and Anna barely even pretends she is going to leave this alone. There is no internal debate anymore. We have progressed past that stage of the relationship. The police say accident, Anna sees a locked office, weird little inconsistencies, off-brand bunting, a whole crowd of people carrying petty grudges like handbags, and suddenly she is investigating again. She doesn’t even need convincing. Murder has become her seasonal side hustle.

And THANK GOD Jennie is properly in the mess with her this time because the two of them together are exactly what I want. Anna is trying to work out whether someone has actually been murdered, Jennie is helping while also being distracted by her own nonsense, and somehow they keep moving through the school like two mums who were supposed to be checking raffle tickets and accidentally formed a crime unit. Oli gets dragged in because apparently marriage vows now include “for richer, for poorer, in suspicious death.” Ben helps because Ben has already accepted that his mother treats Christmas like an active investigation.

The PTA people are also exactly as terrifying as PTA people should be. Nobody is committing crimes over international espionage. These people are furious about committee decisions, food, decorations, school politics, who said what to whom three meetings ago, and the kind of microscopic power struggles that only exist when someone has been given access to a clipboard. Half the suspects seem like they would absolutely kill someone over bunting, and the other half seem offended that you would accuse them when they have a perfectly respectable grudge over the tombola.

Anna remains my favorite because she is not suddenly a genius detective. She is still just a woman who notices something weird and then physically cannot leave it alone. She pokes. She asks questions she probably should not ask. She wanders into situations that seem like a bad idea while everyone around her has accepted that this is happening again. There were places where I was ahead of her and wanted to tap the page like, Anna. Babe. We know this. Please catch up. But watching all these people volunteer deeply embarrassing information while trying to avoid looking murderous was still very much my thing.

Also, the funniest part is that Anna actually misses Christmas. Of course she does. She did not cancel Christmas because she hates it. She canceled it because Christmas has now trained her nervous system to expect homicide. She still wants the cozy family bits. She still wants traditions. She just does not want another body near the mince pies, which feels like an extremely fair boundary that nobody in this series is respecting.

And the family has become so used to this that their reactions are almost worse than the murder. Lily is getting older. Ben remains fantastic. Oli knows exactly who he married. Nobody is shocked anymore when Anna starts asking questions. Nobody is saying, “Surely this is none of our business.” They have all apparently reached the point where if Anna says, “Something’s off,” they start looking for chargers and car keys. This household has adapted to murder like other families adapt to a new recycling schedule.

"Bah Bloody Humbug" gets 4 stars from me because I am apparently fully committed to watching Anna attempt one corpse-free December and fail every single time. I guessed some of the mystery before she did, and there were moments where I wanted everyone to move it along, but I was having too much fun with Anna, Jennie, the family, and the deeply unwell social ecosystem of a school Christmas fair to care that much. Also, if there is a fourth book and Anna books a holiday abroad, somebody is absolutely dying in customs.

Merry Mayhem Prize: For Cancelling Christmas, Attending a Definitely-Not-Christmas Fair Anyway, and Still Finding a Body Before the Tombola Is Even Properly Sorted

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the ARC, and for once again inviting me into Anna’s annual attempt to survive December without becoming an unpaid consultant to the local police. Next year somebody please lock this woman in a spa on December 1st. No committees. No bunting. No ladders. No corpses. Actually, forget it. A masseuse would probably turn up dead before lunch.

Jo Middleton has done it again! A fabulous Christmas murder solved with her usual relateable sense of humour and lovable family. I especially like how the children have developed over the three years since we first met them, Lily is adorable and Ben is perfection.

I enjoyed this Christmas-themed whodunnit very much! It expanded my British-English vocabulary enormously (quavers, tuck store, pulse bakes) and made me laugh out loud. I adore my new favorite crime solver and plan to look for more.

Murder Centre Stage..
Is it possible for Anna to have a corpse free Christmas ? This year, bearing in mind her track record, she’s determined to go all out to avoid even the most basic of the festivities . Just in case. Needless to say, that is absolutely not going to happen. Best laid plans and all that. Another fun and frothy instalment to this lighthearted series with plenty of comic moments, manic mishaps and bad judgment calls as well as a murder centre stage and with a cast of well drawn and bizarrely believable characters. Very enjoyable once again.

Bah Bloody Humbug is a hilarious, fast‑paced festive mystery packed with PTA politics, petty vendettas, and one very suspicious “accident.” Anna is chaotic, sharp, and laugh‑out‑loud funny as she stumbles into yet another Christmas‑adjacent murder. Perfect for fans of comic cozy mysteries and Motherland‑style humour.

Reading a Jo Middleton book is just like unwrapping the best Christmas present you've ever had. What could be better than Christmas, a murder and a sleuth who's a normal person? I've thoroughly enjoyed the last two books featuring Anna, best friend Jennie and her wonderful family. Bah Bloody Humbug is a twist, with the murder taking place at the prep session for the school winter fair (come on, who hasn't had slightly murderous thoughts towards their PTA colleagues?)

It has just the right balance of humour and mystery, and I was utterly hooked from the first page. Trust me, you'll never look at bunting (or indeed cake batter) in the same way again!