Merry Christmas & Murder

With the holidays approaching, amateur sleuth Geneva Pomolo takes a minor role in a community theatre's musical stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol. A lifelong Dickens fan, Geneva is hoping for a calm respite from the rigors of crime-solving, but her stage debut proves anything but calming. The cast is stacked with powerful egos who have deluded themselves into thinking they deserve a career in Hollywood-such as Peter Vankirk, who lands the starring role of Ebenezer Scrooge against his rival, Reginald Overt, and Annie Rigbee, a young actress who spends her ample free time practicing her autograph. When Peter is found lying dead in a garden, every person involved in the play becomes a suspect. In spite of Peter's theatrical gifts (or perhaps because of them), everyone had a reason for wanting him dead. As Geneva and her partner Iris investigate the killing, they uncover a trail of secrets suggesting that this Scrooge led a double life. As tempers flare and bad spirits fester, Geneva senses that Christmas is going to be anything but cheerful. But even she can't foresee how bad things will get...