Part of The Appeal
First published 2023
The Christmas season brings festive cheer to Lower Lockwood, where the Fairway Players amateur theater group prepares their holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk. The troupe hopes their show will raise funds for a new church roof. Lawyers Femi and Charlotte watch rehearsals unfold amid petty disputes, a potentially dangerous asbestos-filled beanstalk prop, and actors who frequently skip practice. The holiday spirit sours completely when someone discovers a dead body on the stage. The murder threatens to shut down their production permanently. Femi and Charlotte must act quickly to save the show. They dig through Christmas correspondence, scrutinize email exchanges, and study police documents. The legal duo races to uncover both the victim's identity and the killer's motive. Someone in Lower Lockwood clearly added the victim to their naughty list. The lawyers must solve the case before the final curtain falls on the Fairway Players' Christmas dreams.
Genres: christmas, mystery, crime, contemporary, comedy, legal-thriller
Vibes: clever, festive, lighthearted, suspenseful, witty
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family, locked-room-mystery
Setting: Lower Lockwood, Fairway Players
Period: Christmas season
191 pages · Hardcover · Atria Books
Content warnings: death, murder