Silent Knife — Shelley Freydont

Celebration Bay is full of yuletide cheer --
but it's hard to remain festive when someone's out to slay Santa.

It's Liv Montgomery's first Christmas out of Manhattan and in Celebration Bay. They've got a tree to rival Rockefeller Center's, but this year's holidays are turning out to be a disaster. As the small town's event planner, Liv wants everything to be perfect. Unfortunately, the local Christmas shop has been replaced by the gaudy Trim a Tree -- complete with tacky ornaments and a new replacement Santa who isn't spreading any cheer.

At the town's annual Celebration of Lights, Trim a Tree is the only shop left unlit. Liv, furious, goes to investigate, and discovers something even less festive -- the store's new Santa has been murdered. Small-town gossip begins to stir, and Liv must clear the name of the previous town Santa just in the nick of time before the real killer ruins Christmas.