It’s Christmas at The Shores. There’s no snow yet, but there are so many outdoor lights that the tiny coastal village can be seen from space. Apart from Ian Simmons’ place, and he was considered odd, there was only one house in the village that wasn’t lit up. It had been dark for years. That was about to change. Wild Rose Cottage was about to come to life, and death, once again. Meanwhile, the villagers wished for snow to complete the Christmas portrait. When it came, they would regret it. With the snow comes the body of newcomer, Fitz Fitsimmons, a former acrobat turned bully and drunk. Mountie Jane Jamieson has seen murder here before, but none where she’d rather not catch the killer. She has to decide whether Fitz fell during a flip – or was pushed, so that his chain became tangled in a tree limb. Either is possible. Jamieson does a lot of questioning, but no one’s talking, all protecting each other.

Hilary MacLeod is a writer and former journalist and broadcasterwho divides her time between a cabin in the woods near Ameliasburgh,Ontario, and a house in Sea View, Prince Edward Island -- ahouse that was once inhabited by the hired hand on L. M. Montgomery’sUncle George Campbell’s farm. She is a retired professor ofMedia Studies at Loyalist College, and now spends her time plottingwhat her next murder will be. She is the author of three other booksin the Shores’ series: Revenge of the Lobster Lover, Mind Over Musselsand All is Clam. Revenge of the Lobster Lover won the CBC BookiePrize for Best Mystery.

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