A Cattitude Christmas

by Tara Lush

Christmas in Cypress Grove should be merry and bright… but this year, it’s chaos, cookies, and a crime only a witchy sleuth can solve.

Amelia Matthews, midlife innkeeper and reluctant witch, is determined to make her first Florida Christmas magical for her daughter, her friends, and the quirky guests of the Crescent Moon Inn. Between baking for what feels like everyone in town, wrangling inflatable snowmen, and coordinating the town’s beloved Christmas parade, she barely has time to breathe.

Then disaster strikes. The town’s most treasured holiday mascot — the Santa Manatee statue — vanishes. To make matters worse, Jimbo, Amelia’s kind-hearted employee (and official Town Elf), is attacked during the theft. Now, with Cypress Grove’s holiday cheer hanging by a thread, Amelia has no choice but to investigate.

With the help of her daughter Jenny, her eccentric friends, and cat Freddie Purrcury, Amelia must follow a trail of glitter, gossip, and magical mischief to uncover the truth. But someone in town is hiding more than holiday secrets, and solving this mystery could mean the difference between saving Christmas... or watching it sink into the Florida swamp.

Full of humor, heart, and holiday spirit, A Cattitude Christmas is a witchy cozy mystery perfect for fans of Practical Magic, Bailey Cates, and Amanda Flower. While this is part of The Crescent Moon Mystery series, it can be read as a standalone novel

Curl up with a mug of cocoa, a plate of gingerbread cookies, and this festive cozy mystery today!

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2025

About the author

Tara Lush is a RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism.
She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations under the name Tamara Lush. For many years, she was a journalist with The Associated Press.
Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, iPhones, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf coast with her husband and Shih Tzu.

Reviews

[ReadThisAndSteep · Rating 5 out of 5]

A paranormal holiday cozy mystery set in small-town Florida, featuring a quirky cast of characters and a cat named Freddy Purrcury who steals the show. This delivers holiday vibes with mayhem and magic!

For a novella, this packs in a lot of holiday spirit and hijinks along with the mystery. It's the holiday season, and Amelia is busy. She's managing her inn, baking for the upcoming holiday, helping to wrangle the high-maintenance one-hit wonder scheduled to perform at the town's parade, when she gets sidetracked by an investigation. Her witchy little town of Cypress Grove is missing its Santa Manatee Statue after Amelia's employee Jimbo is attacked. Meanwhile, her cat, Freddy Purrcury, is beefing with an inflatable snowman.

I always enjoy my visits to this whimsical world to visit Amelia and her coven and crew. This series is escapist. I also enjoyed the sleuthing, the ghosts, and the zany humor. Freddy Purrcury's feline antics add to the story's cozy charm. A quick, fun, festive

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cattitude Christmas is Book 8 in the Crescent Moon series by Tara Lush!

This is such a wonderful story! Set during Christmas, the story gives you all the holiday vibes you could want!

Midlife witch Amelia Matthews is trying to make this Christmas in Cypress Grove the best one ever for her friends and family.

Jimbo is picked as head elf and he is so excited to present the Christmas Mantatee statue.
When the statue is stolen, and Jimbo hurt, the town is in chaos.

Amelia has her hands full with volunteering for the parade.

I really loved this cozy witchy mystery.

I really love when the mystery isn't a murder. I think it takes a talented author to write an excellent cozy mystery without a body.

This author nailed this story; I absolutely LOVED the story and of course Freddy the cat.

I love the map included in the book too!

Highly recommend!

[Cozy Reader Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Christmas Cattitude (Crescent Moon Mysteries #8)" by Tara Lush is a very cozy Christmas paranormal mystery. There's no death in this one and I didn't keep waiting for it like I have when other cozy mysteries have decided to do a super cozy installment. It was a uniquely Florida Christmas story.

Despite being a landlocked Florida town, Santa Manatee has become the beloved holiday mascot in Cypress Grove. Amelia's sole employee, Jimbo, gets his lifelong dream of being Santa Manatee's elf helper. Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled that a poorly made, dated, plexiglass manatee is the town's Christmas mascot. Amelia gets pulled into things when Jimbo is attacked and Santa Manatee goes missing.

There is also a side plot of Freddie Purrcury vs the inflatable snowman. You just have to wonder what was going on in his little furry kitty head. This would make a great Freddy Purrcury novela.

Overall, great cozy mystery read for the Christmas season. This one is light on the magic, ghosts, etc but that's because it has Christmas season magic.

[kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book on Audible. The narrator was excellent. I adore this book series by the writer, Tara Lush. I am familiar with the main characters. This was a very fun holiday story. Very easy to engage with and it had funny parts where you laugh out loud. Perfect before Christmas. I did receive a free audiobook copy of this book and this review is completely my own.

[Amanda Reads Cozies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Catitude Christmas by Tara Lush is full of quirky holiday fun — a perimenopausal witch coven, a fiberglass manatee in a Santa hat, and a library haunted by a bossy ghost librarian. With magic, humor, and dozens of cookies, it’s the perfect cozy read for anyone who loves small-town Christmas stories with a supernatural twist.

[Nicola “Shortbookthyme” · Rating 4 out of 5]

✅Thank you so much @the.book.lush for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

My thoughts:
💙Witches….Ghosts….Cats….Oh My!!!
💚Holiday mystery
🩷Small town charm
💜Festive mayhem
🤎Cats with grudges
🖤Magical elements
💛Ghostly sleuthing
🧡Corny moments
A Cattitude Christmas has a bit of everything in it….perfect reading for lovers of a holiday witchy cozy mystery.

http://instagram.com/shortbookthyme

[Kevina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc review

A Holiday theme mixed with a mystery trope? Sign me up! Tara's storytelling gives you cozy, thriller, comedy, and drama all wrapped in one. Plus Freddie Purrcury! Love the cat name lol. Also the talks of baking gingerbread cookies got me craving one. All Amelia wanted was to spend time with her daughter, friends, and quirky neighbors for the holidays. When an attack strikes and the Cyprus Grove’s mascot, the Santa Manatee, is stolen, Amelia has to act fast to solve the crime with her intellect and magic. It is not just a mere robbery, secrets are unveiled. I enjoyed reading the book. I couldn't keep count of the times I gasped when Amelia discovered something new. I love witches and Christmas, the combination of both was amazing!!

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cattitude Christmas

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“ Amelia Matthews, midlife innkeeper and reluctant witch, is determined to make her first Florida Christmas magical for her daughter, her friends, and the quirky guests of the Crescent Moon Inn. Between baking for what feels like everyone in town, wrangling inflatable snowmen, and coordinating the town’s beloved Christmas parade, she barely has time to breathe”

Another wonderful book by Tara Lush for this series! Such a cute mystery for this season. I love finding out more about the residents of Cypress Grove. I would highly recommend this book especially for this season and this whole series is amazing!

[Louise Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Crescent Moon Mysteries series is one of my favorites, and this holiday story did not disappoint. All the quirky characters we've grown to love are here all wrapped in glitter and tinsel for the holidays, complete with a cookie recipe. As always with a Tara Lush book, there are plenty of laughs as the mystery gets solved, but this was also a beautifully heartwarming holiday novel. It got me in the holiday spirit, with a reminder not to let the true beauty of the season get lost in the chaos. It's the perfect heartwarming holiday paranormal cozy mystery!

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only in Florida Christmas

Christmas is coming and Amelia is in the middle of all the preparations. She's on the town committee for the parade and entertainment. She is baking up a storm of cookies. And trying to keep an inflatable snowman inflated with Freddie on the loose.
There are weird demands from the singer coming to entertain. There are strange food combinations. The mascot of Christmas, Santa Manatee, is stolen.
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Crescent Grove for Christmas. You'll laugh and possibly cry while reading A C attitude Christmas.

[J.T. Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cattitude Christmas by Tara Lush was a cookie lovers dream cozy mystery. This book had me craving all the cookies that Amelia was baking. I was really worried about Jimbo at the beginning of this story! The mystery around who hurt him and stole Santa Manatee was interesting and allowed me to see more of the everyday Cypress Grove. I enjoyed seeing Amelia and Jenny's relationship continue to grow. Overall, I enjoyed A Cattitude Christmas!

[booksy.tx.ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas cookies and justice.
A holiday cozy mystery with a bit of ghostly magic. Oh, what fun! Amelia is on the case when a local holiday figure goes missing and a friend is hurt. Loaded with Christmas cookies, she gets the job done. Plus, the problem is solved with a bit of a Christmas flair.


Come read with me @booksy.tx.ana

[Marseydoats · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Freddie Purrcury on the cover!
This was awesome! I love this series --- all the characters are great!
Will be waiting for the next one!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightful, sweet read

Lovely little story of redemption. Tara manages to capture the best of Florida in her writing. Looking forward to the next one!

[Brian J · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun and touching

A little mystery and a lot of Christmas spirit brings home a lesson in love and acceptance
Really very good

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

Not the greatest mystery story, not great literature, just thoroughly enjoyable fluff. Likeable characters and a setting that would be fun to visit.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect cozy mystery for the holiday season. Great characters, heartwarming, sometimes funny, well-paced, and ultimately uplifting.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas in Cypress Grove comes with cookies, a mystery, cookies, old grievances, cookies, strange family recipes, and lots and lots of glitter.

[Kestrelmorn Geiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful story, and especially poignant.

[Susan Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable

Another really fun story about Amelia and her family and friends and the town of Cypress Cove. It’s so much fun to read these and be a part of the excitement. Thanks again Miss Lush for another enjoyable book. I’m just in time for the Christmas season! So many great things about this book. I really have trouble explaining. To write a story about love friendship forgiveness. All of those things are really important. Very good point about trying to control Christmas chaos or trying to control anything! It hit home for me and I appreciate it all of it!

[Marisa Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 8 in the Crescent Moon Mysteries.

This is a super fun Christmas read.

When our beloved Jimbo is selected to be the official Town Elf, he is SOOOO excited to be part of the festivities. Until Santa Manatee Statue goes missing after he is attacked.

Meanwhile, at the Inn, our little Freddie is taking issue with an inflatable holiday decoration in the lobby. Poor Amelia has to fix it multiple times, while she’s just trying to make a gazillion cookies, and find Santa Manatee.

Santa Manatee IS found, but broken.

An unlikely hero does make a new statue, but how he got there, well, read the book!

[LesliesLakeLife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book number 8 in the Crescent Moon series was just as enjoyable as the others.

Freddie Purrcury was up to his shenanigans, as usual. Someone hurt, Jimbo, the town elf, and stole Santa Manatee! It was up to Amelia to figure out what happened all while running the inn, baking cookies, and organizing the parade in Cypress Grove.

A must read