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Ivy Clark #9
Murder With a Sip of Eggnog: An Ivy Clark Mystery
A missing neighbor, an pet snake, and a Christmas mystery Ivy can’t ignore.
Ivy, Jett, and Boyd travel to Arizona for a relaxing holiday with Ivy’s parents—but peace and quiet are out the window when they meet Wayne, the overly enthusiastic neighbor who’s obsessed with Ivy’s crime-solving past.
When Wayne disappears after a Christmas party, Ivy is left with more than questions—she’s also stuck caring for his pet snake. With the local police brushing it off, Ivy starts digging. But the deeper she goes, the more it looks like Wayne’s disappearance wasn’t voluntary… and Ivy might be the only one who can uncover the truth.
Ivy, Jett, and Boyd travel to Arizona for a relaxing holiday with Ivy’s parents—but peace and quiet are out the window when they meet Wayne, the overly enthusiastic neighbor who’s obsessed with Ivy’s crime-solving past.
When Wayne disappears after a Christmas party, Ivy is left with more than questions—she’s also stuck caring for his pet snake. With the local police brushing it off, Ivy starts digging. But the deeper she goes, the more it looks like Wayne’s disappearance wasn’t voluntary… and Ivy might be the only one who can uncover the truth.
170 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 6, 2025
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2025
This series has been so much fun and I’ve come to really love the characters as in all of them and there are quite a few. Dixon has given each person their own very different personality - great job at it 😊.
The characters of Muddy Creek, Kansas:
Ivy originally went to Muddy Creek to help her aunt with her diner upon her aunt getting into a car accident and breaking her leg making it near impossible to work. Ivy planned to only stay 2 weeks, but then things happened - namely a murder - and Ivy wound up inheriting her aunt’s diner and rather than s selling it she decided to stay in Muddy Creek.
Ivy is super curious and completely nosy. She will not leave a mystery unsolved even if that means she has to break into a building or someone’s house for answers. The mysteries she gets herself into tend to be murders she is bound and determined to discover the whodunnit of. She tends to bring “protection” in the form of Jose and/or Boyd along with her when diving headfirst into her sleuthing situations.
And there’s Jose the cook who is super cool and has had Ivy’s back since the moment he met her a little over a year prior. Jose is always ready to be Ivy’s sidekick, but not as much as Boyd. Boyd needs to always have something to be doing any time of the day and night. This has sometimes meant getting woken up by Ivy in the middle of the night so she could chase a lead. And Boyd has always got a story to tell you - only 3% true - and always ready to babysit animals while their people are unavailable.
At times it has been Boyd and Jose tagging along for Ivy’s escapades. Boyd is the one to get into precarious situations, such as getting stuck in a tree while Ivy was breaking into a suspect’s house or getting his noggin greased with butter to pull it out of the stairwell of Barbra’s house.
Jose is the calm one never becoming angry with Ivy even when she is being frustrating and unable to let things go.
Brian… Brian is the librarian Ivy met soon after arriving in town. He has always been helpful with his researching information that Ivy needed for a case. He does things in the background to help Ivy, but has gone with her a time or two when she wanted to check for clues at a place that may have been dangerously for her to be alone at.
And then there’s the sheriff, Jett. Ivy met him early on and would blush due to her crush on him. Jose and Boyd oftentimes teased her about this. Ultimately Ivy and Jett wound up together as a couple after working some cases together and often spending time together. The friendship morphed into love and then engagement. I’m sure the next book will have their wedding since they decided to get married in January and this book takes place in December.
Ivy began teaching a Zumba class where she met elderly ladies in town like Barbra with purple or blue hair and a zest for life and Opal who complains about anything and everything to anyone who will hear her. Both ladies are spry movers and shakers despite their age.
We also meet Jett’s parents, Ivy’s parents and many other people.
It has been wonderful experiencing this town with everyone and finding out about their lives. ♥️ I thought this was the last book of the series, but there is already book 10 due to release in only 2 months! Heck, this book was only released 3 days ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn the next book is so near - that is Book 10 “Murder With a Sliver of Cake”, publication date December 2, 2025.
While I wait for that book, I’m going to read many others, but my next book is by Carolyn Brown because I haven’t read a book by her in too long. So, that book is the first of a two book series and it’s called “Meet Me in the Orchard (The Paradise Book 1)".
See you in my next review!
Deuces to your cabooses!!
The characters of Muddy Creek, Kansas:
Ivy originally went to Muddy Creek to help her aunt with her diner upon her aunt getting into a car accident and breaking her leg making it near impossible to work. Ivy planned to only stay 2 weeks, but then things happened - namely a murder - and Ivy wound up inheriting her aunt’s diner and rather than s selling it she decided to stay in Muddy Creek.
Ivy is super curious and completely nosy. She will not leave a mystery unsolved even if that means she has to break into a building or someone’s house for answers. The mysteries she gets herself into tend to be murders she is bound and determined to discover the whodunnit of. She tends to bring “protection” in the form of Jose and/or Boyd along with her when diving headfirst into her sleuthing situations.
And there’s Jose the cook who is super cool and has had Ivy’s back since the moment he met her a little over a year prior. Jose is always ready to be Ivy’s sidekick, but not as much as Boyd. Boyd needs to always have something to be doing any time of the day and night. This has sometimes meant getting woken up by Ivy in the middle of the night so she could chase a lead. And Boyd has always got a story to tell you - only 3% true - and always ready to babysit animals while their people are unavailable.
At times it has been Boyd and Jose tagging along for Ivy’s escapades. Boyd is the one to get into precarious situations, such as getting stuck in a tree while Ivy was breaking into a suspect’s house or getting his noggin greased with butter to pull it out of the stairwell of Barbra’s house.
Jose is the calm one never becoming angry with Ivy even when she is being frustrating and unable to let things go.
Brian… Brian is the librarian Ivy met soon after arriving in town. He has always been helpful with his researching information that Ivy needed for a case. He does things in the background to help Ivy, but has gone with her a time or two when she wanted to check for clues at a place that may have been dangerously for her to be alone at.
And then there’s the sheriff, Jett. Ivy met him early on and would blush due to her crush on him. Jose and Boyd oftentimes teased her about this. Ultimately Ivy and Jett wound up together as a couple after working some cases together and often spending time together. The friendship morphed into love and then engagement. I’m sure the next book will have their wedding since they decided to get married in January and this book takes place in December.
Ivy began teaching a Zumba class where she met elderly ladies in town like Barbra with purple or blue hair and a zest for life and Opal who complains about anything and everything to anyone who will hear her. Both ladies are spry movers and shakers despite their age.
We also meet Jett’s parents, Ivy’s parents and many other people.
It has been wonderful experiencing this town with everyone and finding out about their lives. ♥️ I thought this was the last book of the series, but there is already book 10 due to release in only 2 months! Heck, this book was only released 3 days ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn the next book is so near - that is Book 10 “Murder With a Sliver of Cake”, publication date December 2, 2025.
While I wait for that book, I’m going to read many others, but my next book is by Carolyn Brown because I haven’t read a book by her in too long. So, that book is the first of a two book series and it’s called “Meet Me in the Orchard (The Paradise Book 1)".
See you in my next review!
Deuces to your cabooses!!
October 9, 2025
boyd is so freaking funny with his one liners… Jett & Ivy are so cute. and the change of scenery was kind of fun. this investigation was the most entertaining so far!!!!
November 3, 2025
Ivy takes us on another fun journey, this time into Arizona, where she deals with family, overbearing neighbors, and embarrassing Christmas traditions.
November 13, 2025
This one was different and very good. It's a great series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews