Have yourself a deadly little Christmas

The denizens of the Lake Ontario town of Rudolph, New York, must cope with a murder that threatens the excellent living they make promoting Christmas all year round. Now that it's actually the Christmas season, the Rudolph Community Theater Players are hard at work getting ready to present a musical version of A Christmas Carol. Their last play bombed, costing them money, but luckily newcomer Catherine Renshaw is underwriting the new production. Unfortunately, her demands for creative input put her at odds with director Desmond Kerslake and other cast members, whose amateur status doesn't prevent them from having their own ideas. One performer is no amateur: famous retired opera singer Aline Steiner, whose daughter, Merry Wilkinson, owns the gift store Mrs. Claus's Treasures and has a history as a sleuth. Merry's skills are called into play when Paula Monahan, a troublesome member of the cast, is strangled in her store, and Merry's shop assistant, Jackie O'Reilly, another enthusiastic thespian, is a suspect. It's true that Jackie was Paula's understudy, but a better part hardly seems a compelling motive for murder, especially when almost everyone in the cast and crew is angling for changes, and the nastiness is ratcheting up. With her diva mother deeply involved and the reputation of the town, where her dad is the year-round Santa, at stake, Merry ignores warnings and taps into the local gossip network in an attempt to pick out a killer from a bunch of wannabe stars. A modest mystery with an amusing touch of theatrics and plenty of Christmas spirit. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.