Review: Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case by Kristen Painter

Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case : A Nocturne Falls Mystery

Author: Kristen Painter
Publisher: Sugar Skull Books
Series: Jayne Frost #1
Pages: Kindle Edition, 217 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: March 8th 2016

Summary:

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

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?

Review:

Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case is a spin-off from the cute Nocturne Falls Series. It totally works on it's own, so it's a fun book to read even if you haven't read that series.
While it is set in Nocturne Falls, the world building being the same, this novel has a quite different feel. It has more a Agatha Christie does Urban Fantasy vibe than the PNR cuteness of Nocturne Falls.

I love the mystery part of this novel. I love Jayne's POV. The entire book is told from her POV. Jayne, though sent on a mission by the Winter King, her antics reminded me of a young Miss Marple at times. The story line was extremely fun, the mystery was good- made me, think hard and yet solvable if you pay good attention...Just like I said, a good the butler did it anyway kinda mystery a la Christie. Right down my alley.

This is like the Nocturne Fall series light on world building. Vampires are vampires ( they don't sparkle in the sun *snickers*), elfs, were-animal, gargoyles, witches and fae- all present and while Painter doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to the paranormal beings, she very cleverly makes this her own with amazing and imaginative details. I love the snowglobe for example, and the snowy cussing... But then if you have read Painter, you would come to expect that, just like I have. Still, it's an absolute pleasure to read.

Since I basically been reading nearly everything Painter publishes, I think it's safe to say I love her writing style. Jayne Frost #1 just cements why I love her writing. There are some really brilliant moments, amazing descriptions and a well paced story line

I like Jayne -mostly. And I love her relationship with Jack Frost, Buttercup and Juniper.
Painter did a stellar job at the world building when it comes to most of the support cast. We even get to see some of our beloved Nocturne Falls characters again...
Cooper is the all around golden boy and I really liked him. I like the big resolve when it comes to him, btw. I kinda suspected something like that, but it was interesting how Painter did it, though I do hope that Jayne will take it up, I am not sure I like how it was left.
Greyson for some reason reminded me of Jonny Depp, and even when Painter kept saying his style didn't look gordy but sexy- I kinda thought it did. LOL
Honestly I liked Greyson, would like to know more about him and think he is an interesting love interest.
BUT and there lies probably the biggest issue I had with this. I didn't see the chemistry between Jayne and her love interest. I mean she seemed too calculated. Too, I dunno... I just didn't see it.
While I loved the mystery and thankfully this is more a mystery than a romance, it had too much romance in it for me. Maybe because I personally didn't much enjoy the romance bits
This is mainly due to Jayne's behaviour. And while this doesn't have a love triangle per se. Jayne's dating life and at her at times calculation behaviour didn't lie well with me. Juts my personal preferences.
Don't misunderstand me.. I so wanna know how things are going to go for Jayne romantically. LOL

I am not so sure I was satisfied with the villains in this one. Well I was to a degree. I got some of the motives, but I didn't with others. (view spoiler)

Jayne is an interesting character, and I enjoyed taking this journey with her, it was interesting to see the changes in her and how she made friends - how much her life changes because of it all. Best part how she dealt with everything, embraced the changes and made it her own.

So I am looking forward to the next installment- I am wondering where Painter will be taking it, hope there will be more intriguing mysteries and some of my answers and the romance will be solved.



Rating: