Event organizer Ellie Avery has mixed feelings about the Christmas season. On the one hand she is ecstatic that her husband Mitch is home for the holidays with her and their two kids before deploying with his r Air Force Base squadron shortly. On the other hand she is unhappy that rival organizer Gabrielle Matheson has set up shop in North Dawkins, Georgia as the newcomer is stealing clients that Ellie thought would use her services. At a squadron party hosted by Ellie at her home, she and Gabrielle get into a public argument.

Feeling guilty for her childish display, Ellie meets Gabrielle at the home of the latter's sister Jean to apologize. When Ellie arrives for the rendezvous, she finds Jean's dead; her head smashed in.. Gabrielle arrives soon afterward and tells the Sheriff Ellie found the body. Making matters more suspicious is that the murder weapon was given to Ellie at her party as a gag gift. Shockingly Gabrielle teams up with Ellie in search of the real killer.

The latest Ellie Avery amateur sleuth (see Mint Juleps, Mayhem, And Murder; and Magnolias, Moonlight, And Murder) is an engaging whodunit that once again enables readers to see close up the lives of air force spouses and dependents living on a base in a military town. The storyline is filled with twists and a strong cast as Ellie investigates the murder with her competitor joining her.

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