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Christmas in Stickleback Hollow: A British Victorian Cozy Mystery
She has one shot to pull off the perfect village Christmas party. But bloodstains under the mistletoe hide a sinister surprise.Lady Sarah is unseasonably distraught. With her fiancé fleeing to grieve the death of their unborn child, the quick-witted woman has been left behind to set up the annual holiday feast for her excited guests. Yet she doesn’t hesitate to take on the investigation when a mysterious man carrying a letter addressed to her is found murdered in the churchyard.
With lives at stake and the fate of the festivities hanging by a thread, Sarah resolves to wrap everything up with a bow and smoke out the killer herself. But while the celebration seems to go off without a hitch, Boxing Day leaves the manor well and truly exposed…
Can she vanquish a vicious villain before her fête becomes fatal?
Christmas in Stickleback Hollow is the intriguing tenth book in The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow historical cozy mystery series. If you like powerful women, wintry settings, and heart-pounding whodunits, then you’ll love C. S. Woolley’s merry mission.
Buy Christmas in Stickleback Hollow to stave off a slaying song tonight!
With lives at stake and the fate of the festivities hanging by a thread, Sarah resolves to wrap everything up with a bow and smoke out the killer herself. But while the celebration seems to go off without a hitch, Boxing Day leaves the manor well and truly exposed…
Can she vanquish a vicious villain before her fête becomes fatal?
Christmas in Stickleback Hollow is the intriguing tenth book in The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow historical cozy mystery series. If you like powerful women, wintry settings, and heart-pounding whodunits, then you’ll love C. S. Woolley’s merry mission.
Buy Christmas in Stickleback Hollow to stave off a slaying song tonight!
- GenresChristmas
140 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 26, 2021
21 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
C.S. Woolley
120 books54 followersC.S. Woolley (Caroline Sarah Woolley) was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire and raised in the nearby town of Wilmslow. From an early age she discovered she had a flair and passion for writing. This was fuelled by winning local poetry and short story competitions during her years at Mottram St. Andrews Primary School.
During high school, she continued to write and found her time split between acting, writing and her studies. At 14 she began writing novels. University did nothing to change her love of writing. C.S. spent a year reading Law at Manchester Metropolitan University before changing her mind and moving to read English at Hull University. After graduating she moved to Nottingham where she now lives and stays for the cricket at Trent Bridge.
In 2010, C.S published her first novel, Nicolette Mace – The Raven Siren: The Kevin Metis Saga. Since 2010 she has published books in five series – The Chronicles of Celadmore, The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow, The Children of Ribe, The Children of Snotingas and Nicolette Mace: The Raven Siren.
More recently C.S has taken part in charity projects that include producing content for charity books such as Standing by the Watchtower: Volume 1. C.S has also acted in several plays and films including Weekend (2011).
Hobbies: horse riding, including show jumping and cross country, Formula 1, tennis, free climbing, singing, boxing, dancing, playing guitar, cricket and is also an avid PC and console gamer.
Favourite movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Chisum.
Favourite books: Sharpe’s Prey, Silverthorn and the Three Musketeers.
Favourite bands: Thin Lizzy, the Darkness and McBusted.
For more information please visit:
http://www.mightierthanthesworduk.com
During high school, she continued to write and found her time split between acting, writing and her studies. At 14 she began writing novels. University did nothing to change her love of writing. C.S. spent a year reading Law at Manchester Metropolitan University before changing her mind and moving to read English at Hull University. After graduating she moved to Nottingham where she now lives and stays for the cricket at Trent Bridge.
In 2010, C.S published her first novel, Nicolette Mace – The Raven Siren: The Kevin Metis Saga. Since 2010 she has published books in five series – The Chronicles of Celadmore, The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow, The Children of Ribe, The Children of Snotingas and Nicolette Mace: The Raven Siren.
More recently C.S has taken part in charity projects that include producing content for charity books such as Standing by the Watchtower: Volume 1. C.S has also acted in several plays and films including Weekend (2011).
Hobbies: horse riding, including show jumping and cross country, Formula 1, tennis, free climbing, singing, boxing, dancing, playing guitar, cricket and is also an avid PC and console gamer.
Favourite movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Chisum.
Favourite books: Sharpe’s Prey, Silverthorn and the Three Musketeers.
Favourite bands: Thin Lizzy, the Darkness and McBusted.
For more information please visit:
http://www.mightierthanthesworduk.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 6, 2026
Very nice Christmas short story !
It's part of a light mystery-romance series set in the Victorian England.
Even though it's installment #11 in the series, this is readable as a standalone.
And no worries, despite the numerous characters (I say too many for a short story, but they're all part of the series and obviously manage to celebrate Christmas Eve all together), I didn't feel lost in the intricacies of their relationships and roles.
The author managed to pique my interest in their lives and my curiosity about past and future events so much that I decided to start reading the entire series, starting with book 1 !!!
__ GENERAL PLOT IN BRIEF ___
Lady Sarah, an orphan, grew up in India and is now in England under the tutelage of the owner of Grangeback Estate, currently absent due to political and military commitments.
It falls to her to direct the house staff and organize everything for the Christmas party. This is emotionally difficult, not only because of her guardian's absence, but also because of her lover's escape after she sadly lost the child they were expecting.
Throughout all this, the characters of the house and the nearby village of Stickleback Hollow gather around her, not only out of friendship, but also to try to discover the fate of two missing girls... until the investigation stumbles upon a murder linked to politics, old enemies of Lady Sarah, and the disappearance of the two girls.
____ **************** _____
MY OPINION :
___ THE MYSTERY PART ___ If you've had the patience to read the general plot, you'll have realized there's a lot going on, too much to be fully developed in a short story, and the Christmas party is just a brief interlude between the mysterious and adventurous events of the previous book and those that will unfold in the next.
The mystery itself isn't very developed, but the author's cleverness lies in presenting us with a small mystery that is solved here (the murder of a man), but which is part of a much larger conspiracy, of which she gives us many small clues and a small glimpse, making us want to know much more.
__ THE CHARACTERS AND THE ROMANTIC SUBPLOT __ The characters, being numerous, are also not fully developed, but we are shown the most distinctive side of each one that distinguishes them and the emotional bond that binds them to the others. Here too, even without knowing them in depth, we readers cannot help but develop an opinion, a small like or dislike, and a small hope for their future.
Even in a few lines, we manage to enter their world, thus longing to get to know them better, to rejoice and suffer, and rejoice again with them.
We glimpse the past love story between Lady Sarah and the gamekeeper, and we glimpse a future suitor, and we cannot help but wonder who Lady Sarah will choose.
In the background, other love stories appear among the young people of the village and the drama some of them are experiencing.
At the end of the story, I went looking for all the previous titles because the author's cleverly scattered crumbs weren't enough for me; I'm hungry for the adventures of this series.
__THE AUTHOR'S HISTORICAL NOTES__
I love historical notes, and in a short story from a light-hearted series, I really wasn't expecting them.
Instead, the surprise was that at the end of the story, the author took care to explain, albeit quickly, something about the European political situation and the resulting migration of Irish and Eastern Europeans to England.
We also have a real-life character in the book, an ambassador, and Mrs. Wolley explains something about him too.
Nothing is left to chance, and so the vicar is inspired by historical research conducted by the author.
I also liked the references to the Victorian Christmas tree tradition, imported from Germany and made "a real tradition" by Queen Victoria and her husband Albert (who was German).
Anyone who's English will certainly already know this stuff, and I discovered it by watching the TV series Vittoria, but it's still nice that even light-hearted, entertaining books are connected to true history. This boosted my score.
__ CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE __ I hate books that put the word Christmas in the title and then have nothing really Christmassy about them... But don't worry, here you can breathe a lively and engaging Christmas atmosphere, with a thousand preparations of various typical seasonal foods, the search for mistletoe, the children busy with decorations alongside the adults, a friendly wagging dog that makes everything even more "family-like and cozy."
So 10 out of 10 for the Christmas atmosphere, which I care so much about when I read a book set at Christmas.
__ JUST ONE SMALL NEGATIVE POINT:
I'm Italian, so I could be wrong, but sometimes while reading, I felt like I was in an American TV show rather than England.
Even the name of the village, Sticleback Hollow, doesn't sound like a real English name to me...it reminds me of Stars Hollow, the village from the famous American TV series "Gilmore Girls."
Another thing that made me a little sad is that despite the story having a happy ending, the dialogue hints at a character's future death. And since this character is positive in every way and endears himself to the reader...that saddened me. The author didn't start the series in chronological order, so she'd already announced his death in previous books, so there's no hope of seeing him again.
__IN CONCLUSION__
I found it a pleasant story and would recommend it for its Christmassy atmosphere. As for the mystery, I'd recommend it only if, like me, you're eager to discover new historical mystery series with a touch of romance. If you're looking for a story of true suspense and thrills, it's best to choose the longer novels in the series; you'll have a better chance of experiencing a gripping adventure.
Thanks for reading my opinion and as always, please be lenient with my English, since it's not my first language.
It's part of a light mystery-romance series set in the Victorian England.
Even though it's installment #11 in the series, this is readable as a standalone.
And no worries, despite the numerous characters (I say too many for a short story, but they're all part of the series and obviously manage to celebrate Christmas Eve all together), I didn't feel lost in the intricacies of their relationships and roles.
The author managed to pique my interest in their lives and my curiosity about past and future events so much that I decided to start reading the entire series, starting with book 1 !!!
__ GENERAL PLOT IN BRIEF ___
Lady Sarah, an orphan, grew up in India and is now in England under the tutelage of the owner of Grangeback Estate, currently absent due to political and military commitments.
It falls to her to direct the house staff and organize everything for the Christmas party. This is emotionally difficult, not only because of her guardian's absence, but also because of her lover's escape after she sadly lost the child they were expecting.
Throughout all this, the characters of the house and the nearby village of Stickleback Hollow gather around her, not only out of friendship, but also to try to discover the fate of two missing girls... until the investigation stumbles upon a murder linked to politics, old enemies of Lady Sarah, and the disappearance of the two girls.
____ **************** _____
MY OPINION :
___ THE MYSTERY PART ___ If you've had the patience to read the general plot, you'll have realized there's a lot going on, too much to be fully developed in a short story, and the Christmas party is just a brief interlude between the mysterious and adventurous events of the previous book and those that will unfold in the next.
The mystery itself isn't very developed, but the author's cleverness lies in presenting us with a small mystery that is solved here (the murder of a man), but which is part of a much larger conspiracy, of which she gives us many small clues and a small glimpse, making us want to know much more.
__ THE CHARACTERS AND THE ROMANTIC SUBPLOT __ The characters, being numerous, are also not fully developed, but we are shown the most distinctive side of each one that distinguishes them and the emotional bond that binds them to the others. Here too, even without knowing them in depth, we readers cannot help but develop an opinion, a small like or dislike, and a small hope for their future.
Even in a few lines, we manage to enter their world, thus longing to get to know them better, to rejoice and suffer, and rejoice again with them.
We glimpse the past love story between Lady Sarah and the gamekeeper, and we glimpse a future suitor, and we cannot help but wonder who Lady Sarah will choose.
In the background, other love stories appear among the young people of the village and the drama some of them are experiencing.
At the end of the story, I went looking for all the previous titles because the author's cleverly scattered crumbs weren't enough for me; I'm hungry for the adventures of this series.
__THE AUTHOR'S HISTORICAL NOTES__
I love historical notes, and in a short story from a light-hearted series, I really wasn't expecting them.
Instead, the surprise was that at the end of the story, the author took care to explain, albeit quickly, something about the European political situation and the resulting migration of Irish and Eastern Europeans to England.
We also have a real-life character in the book, an ambassador, and Mrs. Wolley explains something about him too.
Nothing is left to chance, and so the vicar is inspired by historical research conducted by the author.
I also liked the references to the Victorian Christmas tree tradition, imported from Germany and made "a real tradition" by Queen Victoria and her husband Albert (who was German).
Anyone who's English will certainly already know this stuff, and I discovered it by watching the TV series Vittoria, but it's still nice that even light-hearted, entertaining books are connected to true history. This boosted my score.
__ CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE __ I hate books that put the word Christmas in the title and then have nothing really Christmassy about them... But don't worry, here you can breathe a lively and engaging Christmas atmosphere, with a thousand preparations of various typical seasonal foods, the search for mistletoe, the children busy with decorations alongside the adults, a friendly wagging dog that makes everything even more "family-like and cozy."
So 10 out of 10 for the Christmas atmosphere, which I care so much about when I read a book set at Christmas.
__ JUST ONE SMALL NEGATIVE POINT:
I'm Italian, so I could be wrong, but sometimes while reading, I felt like I was in an American TV show rather than England.
Even the name of the village, Sticleback Hollow, doesn't sound like a real English name to me...it reminds me of Stars Hollow, the village from the famous American TV series "Gilmore Girls."
Another thing that made me a little sad is that despite the story having a happy ending, the dialogue hints at a character's future death. And since this character is positive in every way and endears himself to the reader...that saddened me. The author didn't start the series in chronological order, so she'd already announced his death in previous books, so there's no hope of seeing him again.
__IN CONCLUSION__
I found it a pleasant story and would recommend it for its Christmassy atmosphere. As for the mystery, I'd recommend it only if, like me, you're eager to discover new historical mystery series with a touch of romance. If you're looking for a story of true suspense and thrills, it's best to choose the longer novels in the series; you'll have a better chance of experiencing a gripping adventure.
Thanks for reading my opinion and as always, please be lenient with my English, since it's not my first language.
December 21, 2023
Lady Sarah is all alone at Christmas. Hunter has taken himself off to lick his imagined wounds and the Brigadier is on official business but with the help of the staff and all her friends at Stickleback Hollow, Lady Sarah manages and arranges the festivities to the best of her abilities and no one is disappointed with her efforts. I do enjoy the continuing saga of Stickleback Hollow and its inhabitants - lovely read.
June 25, 2025
Lady Sarah is all alone and grieving. It's Christmas. And she has to set up the perfect village Christmas party. When a mystery man is found murdered on the steps of the church, Lady Sarah, once again, steps up to find a killer.
October 13, 2025
I actually took the time to mark / notate the typos and grammatical issues in the ebook of this, it didn't have as many as the others have had. Less than 10, but still more than there should be.
I've come to the conclusion that these books are self published without the use of any sort of editor, neither a person or even a word processing program as I'm rather confident that half of these issues would be caught by the grammar/spell check in Microsoft Word.
I've come to the conclusion that these books are self published without the use of any sort of editor, neither a person or even a word processing program as I'm rather confident that half of these issues would be caught by the grammar/spell check in Microsoft Word.
January 19, 2024
This was a real slog. In addition to the writing being somewhat clunky, the egregious number of typos, editing errors and grammatical errors was inexcusable.
reviewed
January 5, 2026This is book 11 of The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow. Here’s my review of book 10.
Genre: Historical cozy mystery
Setting: Victorian England, Christmas
Writing style: Multiple POV, third person, past tense
Tone: Measured, then tense
Character- or plot-driven: Plot-driven
Romance: Yes
Clean level: 1 mouth kiss with minimal description
Sensitive aspect: Miscarriage (of out-of-wedlock pregnancy)
*There are explicitly Christian elements, in keeping with the time period.
Someone we meet at the end of the last book is a character in this book and will presumably be a fixture moving forward, at least for the foreseeable future. As usual, she is quickly absorbed into the household, and I enjoyed having her there. We also meet in this book a Russian ambassador who may become another primary character for a bit. There is plenty of action once you get far enough into the story.
____________________________________
Hear, hear!
What would she know of Sylvia’s talents? She doesn’t actually know her at all.
So is he honorable or not? An honorable person doesn’t harm people for simply “getting in his way.”
Favorite Quotations:
• Wilbraham winked and marched over to his mother to find out what such an unholy alliance of mischief-makers had been doing on such a holy day.
• “Stay here,” Wilbraham whispered and looked over at Arwyn. The policeman pulled his truncheon out from under the sofa and held it heavy in his hand. “What is going on?” Lady Sarah asked slowly. “It would take too long to explain, but in short, there are men who want you dead, and today is the day that afforded them the best opportunity,” Wilbraham explained quickly[...Sarah] picked up her bag from the table in the corner of the drawing room. She flicked open the clasps and reaching in, pulled out a small pistol[...She] moved swiftly to the bureau in the corner of the room and pulled spare powder and ammunition for her pistol out of a hidden drawer. "Do you always expect to be in the drawing room when you require any extra shot or have to you secreted it throughout the house?" Wilbraham asked dryly. “What kind of fool doesn’t hide ammunition and powder throughout their home for the pistol they carry in their purse?” Lady Sarah said dismissively as she loaded the pistol and primed it. "Sarah, you do realise that you are not in the wilds of India anymore?" Wilbraham asked with exasperation. “Forgive me for believing that it was necessary after the last few years, but I am not the one hiding truncheons in the drawing room of my host,” Lady Sarah replied tartly.
(I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am gratefully—voluntarily—leaving a review.)
Genre: Historical cozy mystery
Setting: Victorian England, Christmas
Writing style: Multiple POV, third person, past tense
Tone: Measured, then tense
Character- or plot-driven: Plot-driven
Romance: Yes
Clean level: 1 mouth kiss with minimal description
Sensitive aspect: Miscarriage (of out-of-wedlock pregnancy)
*There are explicitly Christian elements, in keeping with the time period.
Someone we meet at the end of the last book is a character in this book and will presumably be a fixture moving forward, at least for the foreseeable future. As usual, she is quickly absorbed into the household, and I enjoyed having her there. We also meet in this book a Russian ambassador who may become another primary character for a bit. There is plenty of action once you get far enough into the story.
____________________________________
[Arywn] knew that Lady Sarah would be feeling far worse about Mr Hunter’s departure, but the pain she felt did not invalidate his own pain.
Hear, hear!
“Miss Sylvia seems to have charmed Richard into never leaving the floor,” Wilbraham chuckled. “Then I promise that I shall return you to the doctor.” “Of course. Sylvia is a woman of many talents and charms, I am surprised she has only caused Richard to become infatuated,” Lady Sarah replied as she took Wilbraham’s hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.”
What would she know of Sylvia’s talents? She doesn’t actually know her at all.
“Carlo is an honourable man, but not a man to be crossed. There are those within his embassy that are merciless with political ambitions that drive them to despicable deeds. Whatever has caused you to become known to the ambassador, I do not know, but I know that if you get in his way, he will harm you.”
So is he honorable or not? An honorable person doesn’t harm people for simply “getting in his way.”
Favorite Quotations:
• Wilbraham winked and marched over to his mother to find out what such an unholy alliance of mischief-makers had been doing on such a holy day.
• “Stay here,” Wilbraham whispered and looked over at Arwyn. The policeman pulled his truncheon out from under the sofa and held it heavy in his hand. “What is going on?” Lady Sarah asked slowly. “It would take too long to explain, but in short, there are men who want you dead, and today is the day that afforded them the best opportunity,” Wilbraham explained quickly[...Sarah] picked up her bag from the table in the corner of the drawing room. She flicked open the clasps and reaching in, pulled out a small pistol[...She] moved swiftly to the bureau in the corner of the room and pulled spare powder and ammunition for her pistol out of a hidden drawer. "Do you always expect to be in the drawing room when you require any extra shot or have to you secreted it throughout the house?" Wilbraham asked dryly. “What kind of fool doesn’t hide ammunition and powder throughout their home for the pistol they carry in their purse?” Lady Sarah said dismissively as she loaded the pistol and primed it. "Sarah, you do realise that you are not in the wilds of India anymore?" Wilbraham asked with exasperation. “Forgive me for believing that it was necessary after the last few years, but I am not the one hiding truncheons in the drawing room of my host,” Lady Sarah replied tartly.
(I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am gratefully—voluntarily—leaving a review.)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews