In the fourteenth installment of Eva Gates’ beloved series, an unexpected Christmas visit from an old friend turns deadly when a body and a stolen necklace appear in the Lighthouse Library.
Librarian Nichelle Gilcrest is preparing for a quiet Christmas at the Bodie Island Lighthouse until she receives an unwelcome visit from her old high school friend, Samantha Westenbrook. Having not seen her in almost 30 years, Samantha’s arrival comes shrouded in suspicion.
Nichelle’s tiny apartment above the library is unfit for guests, but Samantha shows no signs of leaving. Rumors from back home in Rochester soon point to the reason: Samantha is accused of embezzling funds from the foundation she and her husband Jason, a renowned artist, set up to introduce underprivileged youth to art. Eventually, Jason arrives accompanied by his agent, his PA, and his… girlfriend?
Upon Jason’s arrival, Samantha abruptly moves out, leaving behind a valuable stolen necklace. But before Nichelle can send Samantha’s suitcase after her, library director Lucy McNeil discovers a body at the bottom of the lighthouse’s spiral staircase.
Meanwhile, the library book club is reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Blue Carbuncle and Agatha Christie’s The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. Is it pure coincidence that both stories feature stolen jewels?
Coincidence or not, Nichelle races to connect the dots between suspected art fraud, the murder, and the necklace before a killer closes the book on her quiet Christmas.
