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Mysteries of Blackberry Valley #7
Crooks and Christmas Cookies
Crooks and Christmas Cookies is the seventh book in the Mysteries of Blackberry Valley fiction series.
Hannah Prentiss is thrilled to see her new friend, Amelia Jacobsen, transforming her mother’s old house into the bed-and-breakfast of her dreams. Amelia’s mother, Sally, was locally famous for the desserts she made—and for refusing to share her recipes. Hannah is helping her friend in every way she can, but when things keep going wrong, Hannah wonders if someone is trying to thwart Amelia’s dream.
Can Hannah find the culprit before they take it one step too far?
Meanwhile, Hannah is reminded how a thriving career can make dating difficult. She and Fire Chief Liam Berthold have finally admitted their feelings for each other, but making plans to actually spend time together is a whole different story. How can they balance both their busy lives and their growing relationship?
Hannah Prentiss is thrilled to see her new friend, Amelia Jacobsen, transforming her mother’s old house into the bed-and-breakfast of her dreams. Amelia’s mother, Sally, was locally famous for the desserts she made—and for refusing to share her recipes. Hannah is helping her friend in every way she can, but when things keep going wrong, Hannah wonders if someone is trying to thwart Amelia’s dream.
Can Hannah find the culprit before they take it one step too far?
Meanwhile, Hannah is reminded how a thriving career can make dating difficult. She and Fire Chief Liam Berthold have finally admitted their feelings for each other, but making plans to actually spend time together is a whole different story. How can they balance both their busy lives and their growing relationship?
- GenresChristmas
269 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 2, 2025
6 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Coleman
15 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 5, 2025
About this book:
“Hannah Prentiss is thrilled to see her new friend, Amelia Jacobsen, transforming her mother’s old house into the bed-and-breakfast of her dreams. Amelia’s mother, Sally, was locally famous for the desserts she made—and for refusing to share her recipes. Hannah is helping her friend in every way she can, but when things keep going wrong, Hannah wonders if someone is trying to thwart Amelia’s dream.
Can Hannah find the culprit before they take it one step too far?
Meanwhile, Hannah is reminded how a thriving career can make dating difficult. She and Fire Chief Liam Berthold have finally admitted their feelings for each other, but making plans to actually spend time together is a whole different story. How can they balance both their busy lives and their growing relationship?”
Series: Book #7 in the “Mysteries of Blackberry Valley” series. Reviews of Book #1, Book #2, Book #3, Book #4, Book #5, and Book #6!
Spiritual Content- Romans 5:3-5 at the beginning; A few Scriptures are remembered, quoted, mentioned, & thought about; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Set during the Christmas season; Talks about God; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & spending time with Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a pastor, & sermons; A couple mentions of blessings; A mention of a godly man;
*Note: Someone comments that she knows people say “the Lord won’t give us more than we can handle”, but feels like she’s at capacity; A couple mentions of Santa Claus; A mention of being lucky.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘dumb’ and two ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling; Accidental eavesdropping; Many mentions of thieves, stealing, stolen items, burglars, & break-ins; Mentions of deaths, cancer, dementia, & grief (including Hannah for her mom & another for her parents); Mentions of car accidents; Mentions of a missing person (possible kidnapping); Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of threats; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A couple mentions of World War II; A couple mentions of fires;
*Note: A comment from a young girl that if she “bothered with” marriage and having children, she might teach her child how to bake (like she was taught); A young girl slams her bedroom door when upset; Mentions of car brands; Mentions of fictional characters, books, & authors (Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, & William Shakespeare).
Sexual Content- A few Touches, an Embrace, Warmth, & Winks (barely-above-not-detailed); Butterflies/Tingles, Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Going on dates; Many mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, relationships, break-ups, & interest in someone; A couple mentions of crushes.
-Hannah Prentiss, age 35
P.O.V. of Hannah & another
5 scenes set in the 1940s-1960s
269 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- One Star
New Teens- Three Stars
Early High School Teens- Four Stars
Older High School Teens- Four Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars
This was a really cute Christmas cozy mystery! Cute title aside (actually, speaking about the title, I’m shocked Hallmark hasn’t used this one for one of their Christmas mysteries), it took me a while to figure out the culprit and I also enjoyed seeing more of the business aspect of Hannah’s restaurant and her friend’s Bed and Breakfast. This book did have the most romance out of the series so far with many mentions of dates/dating and Hannah’s interest in Liam (and vice versa), but it was still squeaky clean and safe for teens with not even a kiss (just butterflies and wishing to go on a date).
Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
“Hannah Prentiss is thrilled to see her new friend, Amelia Jacobsen, transforming her mother’s old house into the bed-and-breakfast of her dreams. Amelia’s mother, Sally, was locally famous for the desserts she made—and for refusing to share her recipes. Hannah is helping her friend in every way she can, but when things keep going wrong, Hannah wonders if someone is trying to thwart Amelia’s dream.
Can Hannah find the culprit before they take it one step too far?
Meanwhile, Hannah is reminded how a thriving career can make dating difficult. She and Fire Chief Liam Berthold have finally admitted their feelings for each other, but making plans to actually spend time together is a whole different story. How can they balance both their busy lives and their growing relationship?”
Series: Book #7 in the “Mysteries of Blackberry Valley” series. Reviews of Book #1, Book #2, Book #3, Book #4, Book #5, and Book #6!
Spiritual Content- Romans 5:3-5 at the beginning; A few Scriptures are remembered, quoted, mentioned, & thought about; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Set during the Christmas season; Talks about God; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & spending time with Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a pastor, & sermons; A couple mentions of blessings; A mention of a godly man;
*Note: Someone comments that she knows people say “the Lord won’t give us more than we can handle”, but feels like she’s at capacity; A couple mentions of Santa Claus; A mention of being lucky.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘dumb’ and two ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling; Accidental eavesdropping; Many mentions of thieves, stealing, stolen items, burglars, & break-ins; Mentions of deaths, cancer, dementia, & grief (including Hannah for her mom & another for her parents); Mentions of car accidents; Mentions of a missing person (possible kidnapping); Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of threats; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A couple mentions of World War II; A couple mentions of fires;
*Note: A comment from a young girl that if she “bothered with” marriage and having children, she might teach her child how to bake (like she was taught); A young girl slams her bedroom door when upset; Mentions of car brands; Mentions of fictional characters, books, & authors (Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, & William Shakespeare).
Sexual Content- A few Touches, an Embrace, Warmth, & Winks (barely-above-not-detailed); Butterflies/Tingles, Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Going on dates; Many mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, relationships, break-ups, & interest in someone; A couple mentions of crushes.
-Hannah Prentiss, age 35
P.O.V. of Hannah & another
5 scenes set in the 1940s-1960s
269 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- One Star
New Teens- Three Stars
Early High School Teens- Four Stars
Older High School Teens- Four Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars
This was a really cute Christmas cozy mystery! Cute title aside (actually, speaking about the title, I’m shocked Hallmark hasn’t used this one for one of their Christmas mysteries), it took me a while to figure out the culprit and I also enjoyed seeing more of the business aspect of Hannah’s restaurant and her friend’s Bed and Breakfast. This book did have the most romance out of the series so far with many mentions of dates/dating and Hannah’s interest in Liam (and vice versa), but it was still squeaky clean and safe for teens with not even a kiss (just butterflies and wishing to go on a date).
Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
October 4, 2025
Another enjoyable addition to the Mysteries of Blackberry Valley. Coleman does a good job at keeping the reader guessing as to who might be the culprit in the various things that happen. The dual timeline doesn't take up as much of the story as in some of the other volumes, but has some good perspectives to add. Poor Hannah and Liam have more problems having dates - mostly due to helping friends when major and minor disasters occur.
December 28, 2025
Solid mystery with small town vibes
This installment had the best mystery yet. It wasn’t too hard to figure out who the perpetrator was but there were plenty of red herrings along the way. 😉 I also appreciated how the romance between the heroine and her squeeze progressed in this book. Overall one of the stronger stories in the series.
This installment had the best mystery yet. It wasn’t too hard to figure out who the perpetrator was but there were plenty of red herrings along the way. 😉 I also appreciated how the romance between the heroine and her squeeze progressed in this book. Overall one of the stronger stories in the series.
November 2, 2025
I really liked the faith component of this book. It was a nice story, although I figured out who it was pretty early on compared to some of the other mysteries in this series, this particular book was one of my favorite of the series so far.
November 29, 2025
If you want an easy read that's a mystery without a lot of blood and gore, this is a good series to follow.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews