THE TWELVE BOOKS OF CHRISTMAS

A married couple with a long history of detecting travel to Scotland for a joyous occasion only to find themselves embroiled in murder and theft.

Former spy Derek Stone and his bookbinder wife, Brooklyn Wainwright, are hosting a big family Christmas dinner in California when their friend Claire phones to say that she and her Scottish beau, Cameron MacKinnon, are getting married and they want Derek, Brooklyn, and Brooklyn’s parents to attend their wedding in Scotland—on New Year’s Eve. Claire seems worried about 12 Christmas-themed books, some of them very valuable, that went missing from the castle library after the couple hired a librarian to organize it. Castle MacKinnon, located on the shores of Loch Ness, features lovely views and incredible food. But a major fly in the ointment is a local family who seems to think their oldest daughter, Bitsy, should be marrying Cameron and are doing everything in their power to make Claire’s life a misery. Scary noises at night hint at a haunting, but Brooklyn’s more concerned about Olivia, the librarian who left the library door locked and who has an odd taste in books and an interest in Wicca. Bitsy uses the Scottish New Year's tradition of welcoming neighbors as an excuse to move into the castle, forcing a postponement of the wedding. Soon after Bitsy's unwelcome arrival, a local lad is found murdered in a castle closet. Brooklyn naturally puts the missing books on the back burner, and the wedding is postponed a few more days to allow her to investigate. Even though another murder follows, all the castle’s problems may be tied together if the sleuths can only untangle the clues.

Pleasing characters and vivid descriptions of glorious Scotland overshadow the mystery in this quirky Christmas tale.