September 1, 2020
A Mackinac Island hotelier and fudge maker's Christmas spirit is challenged by a series of calamities. Even before discovering the corpse, Allie McMurphy is already dealing with serious problems. The roof of the McMurphy Hotel has caved in, and she can only hope that the renovation will be completed by Christmas. After she turns down wealthy bachelor Trent Jessop's offer to go to Chicago for the winter to make fudge in a commercial kitchen, Rex Manning, the police officer who invited her to share his house, is suddenly reclaimed by the wife who left him. So Allie uses retired hotel employee Frances Devaney's surplus apartment until her own place is ready. When someone leaves a mysterious note on the door, she follows the directions to a designated meeting place, where her dog, Mal, discovers someone buried in a snowbank. Kayla Cramdon, a newcomer to the island, later dies in the hospital of probable poisoning--with Frances' name on her lips. Allie, who has plenty of sleuthing experience, is not about to let her friend face a murder charge, and, encouraged by the series regulars, she starts digging for clues. Frances stubbornly refuses to say anything until Kayla's mother, Sally Cramdon, accuses Frances not only of murder, but also of being her own birth mother who gave her up for adoption. When Allie's neighbor dies in similar circumstances, she looks for the connections that will solve a perplexing case. Two nasty murders, charming surviving characters, plenty of Christmas cheer, and enough fudge recipes for a major sugar rush.
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