Death by Peppermint Cappuccino

by Alex Erickson

Overview

A smart, well-crafted mystery set in a charming small-town Ohio, where bookstore-cafe owner Krissy Hancock has a sideline in sleuthing—just right for fans of Leslie Meier, Cleo Coyle, and Carolyn Hart.
 
Christmas has come to Pine Hills, and Krissy’s blooming relationship with Officer Paul Dalton has her in an especially festive mood. The café’s new seasonal signature drink is a hit too. But not everyone shares the same holiday spirit. There are some loud complaints about businesses profiting off the season and losing focus on what Christmas is really about. And as if on cue, a shop owner who’d been price-gouging his customers is found dead after receiving a mysterious gift . . .
 
Krissy doesn’t want to let the troubling events put a damper on the holiday, especially with her father and his girlfriend in town. But when other shop owners are targeted
she has no choice. She needs to wrap up this case quickly before one of her friends—or even Krissy herself—ends up on a Grinchy killer’s deadly gift list . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496736703
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Series:	Bookstore Café Series , #12
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	81,994
File size:	800 KB

About the Author

Alex Erickson has always wanted to write, even at a young, impressionable age. He’s always had an interest in the motive behind murder, which has led him down his current path. He’s always ready with a witty—at least in his opinion—quip, and tries to keep every conversation light and friendly. Alex lives in Ohio with his family and resident felines, who provide endless amounts of inspiration. You can visit him on Twitter at twitter.com/AEricksonbooks and on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/alexericksonbooks.

Editorial Reviews

2023-07-26
The Christmas spirit is threatened by malice and murder.

Krissy Hancock’s bookstore café is serving up Christmas cheer, but not everyone is pleased. While she’s decorating a local church for a meeting of a writer’s group that meets there, she’s verbally attacked by Doris Appleton and a few other women, who think Christmas is being ruined by commercialism and that only they are entitled to use the church hall. Fortunately, Krissy’s father, James Hancock, a famous author and mystery maven, arrives with his girlfriend, Laura Dresden, just in time to lift Krissy’s spirits. Krissy’s boyfriend, Officer Paul Dalton, adds joy to the holiday even though a short-staffed police department is keeping him busy. When Krissy stops into a new gift shop looking for an artificial tree, she finds owner Andrew Carver harassing a young man dressed in black, telling him to leave. Stung by the owner’s off-putting manner and high prices, she departs—just before Carver is killed, as it turns out. Later, she’s alarmed to see that a mysterious box left at her pal Jules Phan’s candy store looks identical to another she’d spotted at Carver’s shop. Although the police want her to mind her own business, Krissy, her father, and friends can’t help but do some sleuthing on their own, and they manage to turn up a good deal of information they think could catch a killer.

A Christmas treat with realistic characters and plenty of suspects.

Kirkus Reviews