Awful Advent — Karl Fieldhouse

'Tis the season to be jolly? Not for Pastor Abby Shaw, who finds a body in her Frederick County, Maryland, church four Sundays before Christmas. The dead woman, altar guild president Nancy Huff, has enough enemies to fill the pews at St. Luke's Church. When the state police arrest Nancy's husband, a longtime supporter of the pastor, Abby begins her own investigation to clear him.

But board president Alvin Porter plans to use the situation to get rid of Abby. As Christmas Eve approaches, Abby faces a bishop's inquiry into her competence as a minister, break-ins at both her church office and home, and threats to her safety. The season of hope has truly turned into an awful advent.

Can Abby find the hidden evidence and expose the killer before her quest costs her her job, her reputation, her budding relationship with a state trooper, and even her life?