Random House Publishing Group
December 2011
On Sale: November 29, 2011
Featuring: Vida Runkel; Sheriff Milo Dodge; Emma Lord
272 pages ISBN: 0345502590 EAN: 9780345502599 Kindle: B004W3IECC Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
The picturesque town of Alpine in Washington’s Cascade
Mountains is decked out in holiday finery, but family
troubles are brewing at the Alpine Advocate: Editor and
publisher Emma Lord is fretting over how her brother and her
son—both priests—will react when she confesses her
passionate affair with Sheriff Milo Dodge; House & Home
editor Vida Runkel realizes that her spoiled grandson has
gone off the rails; and Emma’s star reporter goes AWOL after
learning that his son has escaped from prison. And yet
another Alpine family is singing the Christmas blues when
Postmaster Roy Everson shows up with bones that may or not
belong to his mother, who’s been missing for the last
sixteen years.
But the most disturbing holiday dilemma is the body found in
the cave on Mount Sawyer. The decomposed corpse is that of a
mature male, so it can’t be Mama Everson. Is there a
connection between this long-ago disappearance and the
gruesome bones discovered earlier downstream on the
Skykomish River?
When Milo returns from his own family ordeal in the Seattle
suburbs, he and Emma find time away from the unnerving
investigation to reunite. Their all-too-obvious ardor evokes
not only Vida’s wrath but the attention of a dogged killer
who thinks the lovers’ bliss is to die for . . . literally.
Scandal, intrigue, desire, and untimely death are all pieces
to this tantalizing puzzle. If anyone can put it together,
it’s Emma . . . hopefully before a dangerous enemy tries to
stop her—permanently. Mary Daheim’s Christmas installment in
the Emma Lord mystery series is a deliciously chilling
holiday treat.