MURDER ON MISTLETOE LANE

An arranged marriage creates a sleuthing couple with very different backgrounds.

Ever since a horse-loving Kentucky girl with a wealthy controlling father married the wild son of an aristocratic family in need of a cash infusion, Stella, Lady Lyndhurst, and Lyndy, Lord Lyndhurst, have slowly forged a loving marriage. Although Stella’s been forced into the mold for upper-class ladies in the early 1900s, she still manages some freedom to pursue her interests, which have recently involved solving murders. Christmas at Morrington Hall is not as cheerful as Stella would like, and she’s uneasy when some of her trinkets go missing and she receives love notes from an unknown person. The infusion of Stella’s money has enhanced the Lyndhursts’ lifestyle, and Lyndy’s mother, Lady Atherly, is so busy hiring more servants and improving the house that she has little time to pick on Stella and even approves of her charity, Triple R Farm, which rescues and rehabilitates horses. It seems odd to Stella that their Christmas guests, Sir Edwin, Lady Isabella, and their son, Freddy, who’s in love with Lyndy’s sister, Alice, are not particular friends, and indeed the two ladies snipe at each other. When Mrs. Nelson, the housekeeper, is found deathly ill and delirious, Stella springs into action, moving into high gear when the new veterinarian arrives with the news that he’s found Mrs. Nelson dead on Mistletoe Lane.

Manages to find a happy Christmas ending despite murder and mayhem.