DYING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND

An upstate town with year-round Christmas spirit gets a visit from the Grinch.

Although Rudolph, New York, features a number of successful stores devoted to Christmas shopping all year, Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, is at her busiest on the morning of Christmas Eve. But not the way you think. She’s agreed to help plan Luanne Ireland’s wedding, and when bridezilla arrives on Dec. 24 to tell her that she’s moved the date up from next summer to Valentine’s Day and wants Merry to break the news to the families, Merry is furious. Luanne seems more enamored of the wedding itself than of her intended, Jeff Vanderhaven. She throws herself so hard at Merry’s brother, Chris, her high school squeeze, that he barely manages to escape her clutches. The wealthy Vanderhavens are working on a business deal with Luanne’s father, who’s desperate for money. So when Jeff is found dead at the wedding venue after he punches Chris and accuses him of trying to steal his fiancee, the deal is in even greater peril than Chris. Merry, who recently saved her father from a murder charge, goes into full sleuthing mode on behalf of her brother, who’s duly warned not to leave town. She has plenty of friends who keep her clued in to town gossip, but it won’t be easy to decide if the reason for this murder was love or money.

Plenty of suspects, likable characters, and lots of possible motives add up to a cheery holiday cozy.