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Book Club Night Kit
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder

Ally Carter
Cozy night

A small-town Christmas mystery wrapped in a slow-burn, enemies-to-something-else romance, where the girl everyone suspects is the only one who can clear her own name. It is twisty enough to keep you guessing and warm enough to read under a blanket.

Someone Is Missing, The Cider Is Hot

Come for a small-town Christmas mystery, a shepherd's pie, and a cookie-decorating station. Wear something you could fall asleep in, because we intend to stay a while.

Reading level: Easy Pages: 296

Best for: A club that wants a December page-turner, plenty of laughing, and no homework

Discussion

Warm-up

  1. 1.Where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did you have a blanket, a drink, or a holiday candle going while you did it?
  2. 2.What is the most dramatic thing you have ever witnessed at a holiday party, and how does it stack up against the Montgomery Christmas party?

Digging in

  1. 1.Ella grew up on the staff side of a family that owned the town. When did that gap make you ache for her most, and did any of it echo something from your own life?
  2. 2.This book keeps twinkly lights and genuine dread in the same room. Did the Christmas setting make the mystery feel safer and more comforting, or did it make it creepier?
  3. 3.Small towns remember everything. How did it feel watching a whole town decide who Ella was ten years ago and never update the file?
  4. 4.Which moment in this book felt the most like being handed a warm mug, a small kindness, a quiet gesture, someone showing up? Tell us about the one that landed for you.

Going deep

  1. 1.By the time you closed the book, had your feelings about Liam shifted from where they started, and what was the moment your heart began to move?
  2. 2.Without giving anything away, what did this story leave you believing about whether people can be forgiven for who they were at seventeen?

On the table & to sip

To eat

Housekeeper's Shepherd's Pie
The kind of generous, feeds-everyone casserole that comes out of the family kitchen, not the catered mansion menu. Make it ahead, scoop it warm.
Leftover Christmas Party Grazing Board
Cheeses, good crackers, sugared pecans, cold ham, red grapes, and a dish of cranberry jam. A nod to the party of the year, repurposed for people in sweatpants.
Frosted Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with a Decorating Station
Set out icing and sprinkles and let guests decorate while they talk. Hands busy, conversation looser, and it suits a book that is one-third holiday nostalgia.

To sip

Slow Cooker Spiced Cider (non-alcoholic) (no alcohol)
Apple cider with cinnamon sticks, orange slices, and cloves, left warm all night so people can refill without asking. The scent does half the hosting.
Fireside Hot Toddy Bar
Hot water, honey, lemon, and bourbon or dark rum alongside, so guests can build their own. Fits the snowy, small-town chill of the book.
Mansion Mulled Wine
Red wine warmed with orange peel, star anise, and a little sugar. A touch of Montgomery indulgence, with none of the effort.

Run of show

7:00
Doors, mugs, and slippers
Cider is already warm. Hand everyone a drink before they take their coat off and point them at the grazing board.
7:20
Warm-up circle
Ask the two warm-up questions while people settle. No raised hands, no order, let it wander.
7:40
Cookie decorating and theme questions
Move to the table, put out icing, and work through the theme questions while everyone frosts. Busy hands make shy readers talk.
8:15
Shepherd's pie and the deep questions
Serve the hot dish, then go to the two deep questions. Warn the one person who has not finished so they can plug their ears happily.
8:45
Holiday trivia and scorecards
Low stakes, teams of two, winner picks the next book or takes home the leftover cookies.
9:10
Soft landing
Refill mugs, put the playlist back up, and let people linger. Send leftovers home in foil.

Host tips

  • Make the shepherd's pie and the icing the day before so you are sitting down when the first guest arrives. A visibly relaxed host sets the whole tone.
  • Say out loud at the start that nobody has to have finished the book, and that the group will flag before any late-book talk. It keeps the half-finished readers in the conversation instead of silent.
  • Keep a stack of blankets by the couch and lamps on instead of the overhead light. The room should feel like the inside of a mug.

Playlist

Soft holiday jazz and hushed acoustic covers, twinkle-light warm with just enough minor key to remember somebody is missing.

  1. 01 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
  2. 02 River - Joni Mitchell
  3. 03 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
  4. 04 The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
  5. 05 Winter Song - Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson
  6. 06 Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
  7. 07 White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
  8. 08 It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Michael Buble

Trivia

  1. 1.Who wrote It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder? (Ally Carter.)
  2. 2.What earlier holiday mystery by the same author is this book connected to in spirit and title style? (The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.)
  3. 3.Which bestseller list is Ally Carter known for topping? (The New York Times bestseller list.)
  4. 4.Which beloved YA spy series did Ally Carter write before her adult holiday mysteries? (The Gallagher Girls series, beginning with I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.)
  5. 5.Ally Carter also wrote a YA series about teenage art thieves. Name it. (The Heist Society series.)
  6. 6.The book's title riffs on which classic Christmas standard? (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, written by Meredith Willson.)
  7. 7.Roughly how long is the book? (About 296 pages.)
  8. 8.What three genres does this book blend? (Romance, mystery, and holiday fiction.)

Bookmarks

Print, cut, and tuck one at every seat, a small keepsake from the night.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder

Rate the book

Coziness☆☆☆☆☆
Swoon factor☆☆☆☆☆
Holiday atmosphere☆☆☆☆☆
Mystery grip☆☆☆☆☆
Comfort reread potential☆☆☆☆☆
One word for how this book made me feel: ______________________
The scene I would reread under a blanket: ______________________
Rating out of five mugs of cider: ______________________
That's a wrap
Thank you for coming

We hope the company was good and the conversation even better. Until the next chapter.