Wreck the Halls — Sarah Graves

Christmas is just weeks away, but what Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree discovers at Faye Anne Carmody's house is far from festive: a dazed Faye Anne covered with blood. Her no-good husband, Merle-Eastport's butcher and least-liked citizen--is nowhere in sight. Nowhere, that is, until Jake finds his body--wrapped in his own butcher paper.

It looks like an open-and-shut case, but Jake isn't convinced. Too many details don't add up-and the answers may lie in a diary that Faye Anne's boyfriend claims is hidden in her house.

Then another resident turns up dead, and Jake knows the bloody trail doesn't begin--or end--with Merle. Jake had planned to spend the winter rehabilitating her old house but now she'll have to work on nailing a killer before her beloved town gets even smaller....