A review by juliannewarren12
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Being a spin-off of Knives Out and Ethan are the only two things that saved this book. While I enjoyed and didn’t expect the ending of
the Inspector being the attempted murderer
, the book lacked depth. The characters were all very shallow with no backstory. Every character except Ethan, Eleanor, James, and Maggie were all very annoying and unlikable to me. I felt that we didn’t learn enough about Maggie outside of her
Ex husband and bff cheating.
It was hard for me to like Maggie and Eleanor because their characters felt so rushed and undeveloped. I really liked how much they built up Ethan and would’ve loved to see that with the other main characters as well. 

This book isn’t spicy at all and the romance stays pretty PG13. I did enjoy the flirtatiousness of Ethan and the protective side. I LOVED LOVED LOVED
the emphasis on Maggie’s insecurities/trauma and how Ethan helped her move past them. That is the only part that made their romance enjoyable in my opinion. I do wish the Tucson event between them went in more detail because that felt rushed for being so important.


I wish there was more character and world building in the beginning. The second half really saved this book for me and made it enjoyable. I wouldn’t read this again but it was an easy and unique Christmas read. 
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