A Christmas scrooge discovers a murdered librarian in this holiday
novel from an Edgar Award finalist known for her "witty, literate, and
charming" mysteries (Publishers Weekly).
Each December, the faculty of Balaclava Agricultural College goes wild
with holiday decorations. The entire campus glitters with Christmas
lights, save for one dark spot: the home of professor Peter Shandy. But
after years of resisting the school's Illumination festival, Shandy
suddenly snaps, installing a million-watt display of flashing lights and
blaring music perfectly calculated to drive his neighbors mad. Then the
horticulturalist flees town, planning to spend Christmas on a tramp
steamer. It's not long before he feels guilty about his prank and
returns home to find his lights extinguished--and a dead librarian in
his living room.
Hoping to avoid a scandal, the school's head asks Shandy, sometimes
detective, to investigate the matter quietly. After all, Christmas is
big business, and the town needs the cash infusion that typically comes
with the Illumination. But as Shandy will soon find out, there's a dark
side to even the whitest of white Christmases.