Miss Frost Series Review

So, just in time for Christmas, here we have a review of the “Miss Frost” series by Kristen Painter. First of all, though, I have to point out that the series itself is a spin-off to her main series - the “Nocturne Falls” novels.

The “Nocturne Falls” novels are romance novels all set in the town of Nocturne Falls and all starring at least one supernatural being as part of the romance in question. The town is set up as a tourist attraction where it’s Halloween around the year, every hour of every day. That means that all supernatural beings living there can just walk around as they are without having to worry - all humans will simply think they’re living ‘in character’ and be cool with it.

Jayne Frost, the main character of the “Miss Frost” series (currently 7 books), fits well into that setting, being the only child and heir to Jack Frost, the Winter King (and brother-in-law of Santa himself).

In the first novel (“Miss Frost Solves the Cold Case”), Jayne is sent to Nocturne Falls to find out what happened to several of the employees in the local Santa’s Workshop - a series of shops throughout the world where real North Pole toys are sold alongside regular merchandise. She goes undercover as a regular winter elf and gets to the bottom of the problem. While doing so, she also meets up with the two men who become her love interests for the first three novels: broody and dark vampire Greyson and fiery and helpful summer elf Cooper (with whom she had a relationship in college already). With their help, she solves the cold case and decides to stay in Nocturne Falls for a while (mainly because she doesn’t really feel useful up north).

The following two novels (“Miss Frost Ices the Imp” and “Miss Frost Saves the Sandman”) draw Jayne back into crime solving mostly because she has unwillingly created the problem (her cat Spider has let the imp out) or it’s an extension of her tasks (she is responsible for keeping Tempus Sanders aka The Sandman happy and he’s not). She continues to go out with both Greyson and Cooper, still happily caught in-between them and not really striving to solve the question of ‘whom will I choose?’ any time soon.

Things go off in a completely different direction in the fourth novel (“Miss Frost Cracks the Caper”), when just before a big social event both Greyson and Cooper have to leave town (separately and for good reasons) and Jayne finds herself without a date while the woman whose lies broke the relationship between her and Cooper the first time is the DJ for the event. Jayne meets with Sinclair Crowe, a man who makes perfect doughnuts (all winter elves are addicted to sugar and need lots of sweets) and sometimes raises the dead - Sinclair is a necromancer. Yet, he’s also a nice guy she goes out with before the event, finding they have a lot in common (right down to both being cat owners). During the event, important jewellery is stolen and Jayne has to get to the bottom of this, not just for the family jewels, but also because it seems her former best friend (and lying relationship-breaker) has been set up. In the end, the love triangle resolves itself: Cooper has to stay with his parents and Greyson refuses to share her with a necromancer (because those are the only supernatural beings who have it easy to kill a vampire).

Sinclair, however, is not going anywhere. He’s staying with Jayne, continues to spend a nice time with her and Spider (bringing his own cat Sugar around, whom Spider likes very much), and proves an invaluable support during the next novel (“Miss Frost Braves the Blizzard”). When a suspicious snow globe is broken and North Pole weather invades Nocturne Falls (together with a large pack of yeti), Jayne is very glad to have Sinclair’s support and help, be it as a driver, someone who can send a spy into the enemy fortress (he’s on good terms with a ghost from his house and nothing can threaten a ghost), or someone who can produce a huge amount of sweets (yetis are just as hot on sweets as winter elves). At the end of the novel, he proposes to Jayne, who insists he needs to see what he’s getting into first before she answers him.

This brings them back to the North Pole in the sixth novel (“Miss Frost Chills the Cheater”). All Jayne wants is to show Sinclair what life at the North Pole and as a member of the royal family is like, but then strange things happen at the tinker contest and people blame Sinclair (who was never at the North Pole before, but happens to be a necromancer). There’s no way Jayne will just stand by and wait, so she dives into the next case, Sinclair by her side, and uncovers a lot more than she had bargained for. Yet, at least in private everything goes well for Jayne - Sinclair is not shocked by her royal life and prepared to adapt to his position as her consort. At the end, Jayne’s answer to the question from the last novel therefore is ‘Yes.’

The seventh novel (“Miss Frost Says I Do”) starts with Jayne being stressed out with the wedding preparations and inviting Birdie Caruthers (her long-time partner in sleuthing and a werewolf) for more help. There are additional problems, however, when a skeleton turns up in the royal Crystal Coach - which hasn’t been used since Jayne’s christening ceremony thirty years earlier. With this barely solved, there’s also the question of Sinclair’s parents - there’s only two ways to be born as a necromancer: two necromancers for parents or a zombie parent; in Sinclair’s case it’s the second option, his mother is a zombie. Nevertheless, there’s less drama about that and all’s well that ends well - even if the marriage turns into a double marriage with lots of drama.

What I love about the series is the great blend of romance (which is present from the first novel onwards, even if the love interest changes later) and mystery. A lot of cosy mysteries which try the same end up being less and less believable over time, at least on the crime side, because how can a regular person stumble upon so many crimes? Drawing out the romance until no tomorrow also doesn’t help believability much. The fact that not all of Jayne's cases are murders and a lot of the time it seems logical for her to investigate because she has high stakes in them, works to her advantage. The fact that there’s always a lot going on beside the mystery does as well. Jayne has a host of interesting and weird friends (stands to reason in Nocturne Falls) and there’s more to her life than just solving the cases. As the daughter of Jack Frost she’s also not your regular person - she is a winter elf whose powers are only second to his, so she’s also suited to doing more daring things. She’s not had a regular upbringing either, which is mostly shown in the last two novels set at the North Pole, so in her future kingdom.

The Miss Frost series ranks high on my list of Christmas reads (together with Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather” and Charlotte McLeod’s “Rest You Merry”) and promises nice stories to read while it’s cold, stormy, and wintery (or rainy as at the moment, so much for white Christmas). If you like a mix of romance and mystery, you should give it a look as well.