by Jean Little
First published 2008
Harry Haristeen and her husband Fair travel to a Blue Ridge Mountains tree farm to select their Christmas tree. The farm operates under The Brothers of Love, a semimonastic group caring for AIDS patients. When they arrive, Harry discovers a dead body beneath the tree she chose. The farm connects to Christopher Hewitt, Harry's former high school classmate who joined the brothers after a scandal destroyed his reputation. Harry takes the murder personally since someone used her tree as a crime scene. More prominent Crozet men start turning up dead as Christmas approaches. Harry works with her detective cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, plus corgi Tee Tucker, to solve the case. The killer grows more aggressive with each murder. Harry must identify the murderer before becoming the next victim. The investigation threatens to turn her final Christmas into exactly that.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-detective, found-family
Setting: Blue Ridge Mountains, Crozet
Period: Christmas
240 pages · Hardcover · Bantam