Mistletoe and Murder (Century Cottage Cozy Mystery 2.75)

Mistletoe and Murder is a novella in the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. Set in December 1983, a couple of months after The Heritage Heist ends, find out what happens when Marge shows her friend Lois how to celebrate a small town Christmas.

A swanky soiree, festive friends and foes, a murder under the mistletoe: Marge Kirkwood gets more than she bargained for at the Fenwater Association Christmas party: a bothersome blast from the past, and a corpse under a chandelier.

Marge Kirkwood’s friend Lois Stone is usually the one who stumbles across crimes that need solving. But, not this time. Despite having to dodge a roomful of mistletoe, Marge has high hopes for the Fenwater Association Christmas party. It has the makings of a great evening. One that she is spending in the company of her friends Lois and Bruce. Then an old high school admirer gets a bit too friendly before he drops dead under the mistletoe. It’s a sad end to the party and a worrying development for her ex-husband. Ted is suspected of the murder, and since Marge will not let her children’s father spend Christmas in jail, she will have to find the real killer.

And so begins the season of holiday bonhomie, hay bales and heavy hooves, spiked eggnogs and hot whiskys, stained sweaters and damaged dresses, Perry Como serenading merry marketgoers, and mounds of mistletoe set against the backdrop of crisp white winter days, the sweet delights of hot apple cider and gingerbread cookies, Christmas lights twinkling in a chilly neighbourhood night, and a festively-dressed foyer in a quaint old hotel.

The Century Cottage Mystery series is mainly set in rural Ontario, Canada during the early 1980s.