A Killer Halloween — Dee Ernst

Ellie Rocca hated Halloween, but that didn't stop her from taking charge of the very first Mt. Abrams Halloween Scavenger Hunt. Mary Rose Reed, organizer extraordinaire, wanted to supply the entertainment, a juggling clown named Mr. Scarecrow, and Ellie knew it was easier to let Mary Rose have her way than even begin to argue. But when Mr. Scarecrow turned up dead, Mary Rose was more than willing to let Ellie take over.

Trouble was, Ellie had sworn off meddling in murder. She promised her boyfriend, police detective Sam Kinali, that she would never again put herself in danger by sticking her nose where it didn't belong. So when the main suspect was a friend of Ellie's daughter Cait, and Cait believed him innocent, Ellie deputized all her friends to do the snooping for her, and to help find out who killed Mr. Scarecrow

This novella is 30K words, the third in the Mt. Abrams Mysteries Series