Mistletoe and Malice: Death Beneath the Christmas Tree

A Christmas tree lighting. A treasured heirloom. A murder no one wants to call murder. When Maplebrook's annual tree-lighting celebration ends with Festival Committee chair Harmon Peck dead beneath the town spruce, everyone is quick to call it a tragic accident. But bookseller Claire Bennett saw Harmon arguing with a mysterious figure only minutes before the countdown-and the heavy vintage star that killed him should have been locked safely away. With the holiday festival threatened, Claire follows a trail of family resentments, missing evidence, padded invoices, and a long-buried financial secret. The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous Maplebrook becomes-and the harder it is to keep Detective Nathan Hale at arm's length. As Christmas Eve approaches, Claire must expose a killer before another "accident" silences the truth for good. Mistletoe and Malice is a charming, twisty small-town cozy mystery filled with holiday atmosphere, a bookshop sleuth, community secrets, and a slow-burn romance.