Death of a Gingerbread Man

by Lee Hollis

Overview

When Christmas comes to town in Bar Harbor, Maine, so does a killer with a real taste for revenge . . .

With the holiday season in full swing, food and cocktails columnist and restauranteur Hayley Powell has lots to check off her last-minute to-do list. Not included is the sudden arrival of her father, who hasn’t been in the picture since she believed in Santa Claus. Dwight Jordan’s presence in Bar Harbor might just be the unwanted gift that keeps on giving—especially after he becomes the top suspect in a case of yuletide murder . . .

As Hayley plans a New Year’s Eve bash while handling a hefty helping of family drama, she must lean into her closest friends to unravel a twisted mystery. Because the countdown is on to find out who killed the sore loser at the gingerbread house contest before Dwight disappears again—this time behind bars. And the more Hayley learns about the possible culprits, the more she knows it’s either crack the case ASAP or watch everything crumble like a stale cookie . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496743510
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Series:	Hayley Powell Series , #17
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	12,236
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lee Hollis is the pen name for the brother and sister writing team behind the Hayley Powell Mystery Series. Rick Copp is a veteran Hollywood writer/producer and also the author of three other mystery novel series. He lives in Palm Springs, California. Holly Simason is an award-winning food and cocktails columnist who lives in North Carolina. Please visit them online at LeeHollisMysteries.com.

Editorial Reviews

2024-08-03
The return of a deadbeat dad throws a Downeast Maine town into a tizzy.

Hayley Jordan’s father, Dwight, took off from Salmon Cove when she was just a girl, leaving her mother to raise Hayley and her brother, Randy, with no support. Hayley’s best friend Mona’s father, Bubba, stuck around to raise his family, satisfying his need for adventure with a yearly solo ice-fishing trip. But this year, Bubba’s forgotten his blood pressure medication, and when Mona and Hayley drive out to bring it, they get the shock of their lives: Bubba’s excursion isn’t a one-man jaunt after all. For the past few years, he’s invited his old friend Elmer Crawford—the amicably divorced dad of Hayley and Mona’s third best friend, Liddy—and Dwight Jordan, who is kinda-sorta hoping to worm his way back into the bosom of Salmon Cove society. None of these players are spring chickens (Hayley just had her first grandchild), but they react to Dwight’s surprising return the way a bunch of middle schoolers would treat a new kid in town. Some folks see him as the flavor of the month; others are still stung by the way he mistreated them before he left. After a lot of bickering and side-choosing, the stakes go way up when people start getting killed. Carroll Flood is poisoned shortly after losing the town’s gingerbread house contest to Dwight. Then someone starts taking potshots at Dwight. There’s no dearth of suspects who might want to harm him: Hayley assembles a list of more than 100 people he’s hurt. Though ultimately Hayley cracks the case, the biggest mystery is why folks remain so enamored of someone who has done nothing but harm his whole life.

A weird tale of crime without punishment.

Kirkus Reviews