Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case by Kristen Painter (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case

Author: Kristen Painter

Publication: 8 March 2016

Format: Kindle eBook

Amazon Description

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost’s daughter, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now…private investigator. Sort of.

Needing someone he can trust, her father sends her undercover to Nocturne Falls to find out why employees at the Santa’s Workshop toy store are going missing.

Doing that requires getting to know the town, which leads to interesting encounters with a sexy vampire, an old flame, and an elevator that’s strictly off-limits. The more Jayne finds out, the more questions she has, but the answers lead her deeper into danger.

Will her magic save her? Or will she come up cold?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case has been sitting on my Kindle Cloud since January .... of 2018. I guess I just needed the perfect time to read it and this has definitely been the perfect time. I had started reading something else and even had the post started for it, but decided that I should at least pretend to be festive. Grabbed a Christmasy rom-com from Kindle Unlimited. And then another. And then said "screw it" because I'm apparently definitely not in a schmaltzy rom-com-y mood. 

Enter Kristen Painter. 

I looked to see if any of my upcoming Nocturne Falls books were Christmas-season-themed. I love Nocturne Falls. Just enough "rom" and just enough "com" without being too much of either. Unfortunately, it looks like I would have to jump around in the series order to get to Christmas again so ... no. But in my recommendations list was the second Miss Frost book -- it being a spin-off series to the original Nocturne Falls and all that. I was confused as to why it was recommending the second and not the first ... until I discovered that I already had the first.

Whoops.

I was immediately pulled in to the story of Jayne Frost. Her father is Jack Frost -- the elven Winter King. Her mother is Santa's sister, Klara. She herself has had some difficulty finding her fit at the North Pole so is sent to investigate some strange disappearances happening at their flagship toy store in Nocturne Falls, Santa's Workshop. She goes undercover as a "normal" winter elf named Lilibeth Holiday rather than the super-magical elven princess that she is.

If you didn't already know, Nocturne Falls is a town in Georgia where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year. Supernatural beings can be themselves -- werewolves, witches, vampires, and so on -- and human visitors can just think that it's part of the gimmick. The entire town participates but, even so, Santa's Workshop "was one hundred percent Christmas. Right down to the genuine icicles hanging off the eaves and the canopy over the door, and the swirls of frost in the corners of the windows."  The store even smells of pine, snow and peppermint.

It's a new experience for Jayne being away from the North Pole and not having to hide who she is -- well, not entirely. She has a magic bracelet that changes her blue hair to white blond and other physical differences so no one recognizes her as being Jayne. Besides that, she's free to just be an elf .... and to potentially hook up with other elves (like her college ex who doesn't realize that "Lilibeth" is Jayne) .... or vampires. 

I'm personally rooting for the vampire. 

With Jayne. Without Jayne. 

Whatever. 

I'm rooting for the vampire.

You may already know that I have a bit of a thing for the vampires of Nocturne Falls. We can add Greyson Garrett to the list. He made a brief appearance in The Vampire's Fake Fiancée as the stand-in Vampire On Duty and has "a voice that sounds like silk drawn over steel and dusted with the lilt of the Irish." Oh ... added bonus? He's also part Roma (aka gypsy). 

If I was reading a hard copy instead of an ebook there would be drool stains. 

Oh, yeah, and the whole mystery of the disappearing elves is good, too.

It's "rom" and "com" and cozy-level mysterious and festive and wonderful and I definitely give it five great big fluffy snowflakes. You know, instead of stars .... because Christmas Eve and whatnot ....

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader