A WEE CHRISTMAS HOMICIDE
by Kaitlyn Dunnett
A little Maine town is brought to its knees by the frenzied pursuit of a popular Christmas toy.
Tiny Teddies are one hot item. One of the few stores in New England that seems to have any available is Moosetookalook’s Scottish Emporium, the shop run by Liss MacCrimmon and owned by her aunt. Even after she becomes aware of their scarcity, Liss sells her bears at the normal price, while her greedy rival merchants Gavin Thorne and Marcia Milliken continue to raise their prices at a meteoric rate. The bear mania gives Liss an idea for promoting the whole town of Moosetookalook: to arrange a Twelve Days of Christmas celebration in the hope that frantic bear hunters will spread their money around town. When Gavin is found shot dead in his store, Liss’s friend, police officer Sherri Willett, and Liss’s sometime love interest, state cop Gordon Tandy, think the motive is robbery plain and simple, but Liss is sure that those bears are a motive. Despite objections from Gordon’s romantic rival, Dan Ruskin, Liss can’t help but stick her nose into the mystery. Her plan brings plenty of business to Moosetookalook, along with plenty of trouble and a death-defying chase that ushers in Christmas.
Dunnett’s third is a wee bit complicated (Scone Cold Dead, 2008, etc.). But the blend of romance and cozy mystery will please lovers of all things Scottish.