Midwinter in the Yorkshire village of Scrafton Bank, and Prudence Bulstrode, the former TV chef, has been hired to provide the menu for a feast for all the residents, despite the village being divided by the plans for fracking nearby. On the night of the feast, though, things seem to be going well, except for someone who seems to have had the temerity to put a roman coin in one of Prudence’s figgy puddings.

The next morning, as Prudence is standing in her kitchen, she is baffled by the fact that a post box has appeared amongst the snow on the village green. This soon becomes a mere bafflement when a body is discovered frozen inside the snowman built on the middle of the green. The victim had an argument a week ago with his brother – the same man who built the snowman. But would he really have hidden the body in the snowman he was building with his two young children?

I’ve been saving this one, the second book in the series, since reading the first and third (not in that order) and really enjoying them. I figured I should leave the obviously Christmassy one until Christmas. So a quick warning – despite the cover, this isn’t a Christmas story. I think there’s one mention of a home being decorated for Christmas, but that’s it. So if you’re after murder under the Christmas tree, look away now.

But don’t because, like the other two, this is more that just a bog-standard cosy mystery. Rosemary Shrager has a clear eye for plot construction and clues, and while I think this is the weakest in the series due to a third act where there’s lots of running around and not much happens, as well as some of the suspects not being given much page time, there’s a lot to admire here.

First of all, there’s lots of fun to be had with Prudence. While the fact that everybody seems to know who she is does seem to elevate her beyond a real celebrity chef, as well as the sheer number of different TV shows she’s done over the decades, there are some decent chuckles there. She’s a nice character to be in the company of – oh, and in case you’re concerned, this is NOT the sort of cosy mystery that contains recipes!

Also, there’s not nice puzzles to solve. The appearing post box, while a bit obvious to me, is still clever and Shrager is smart enough not to let that bit dangle throughout the book as its solution would make Prudence look a bit daft if it took her much longer to sort it out. There is a question as to how easy it is to do what the murderer did without anyone noticing, but it’s not the first time someone’s done the same thing.

So, as I said, the weakest of the three so far, but still a lot to like. A very comfortable read and while not Christmassy, there is plenty of snow laying all around, deep and crisp and even.