Sugarplum Dead

Christmas is coming on the island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina, and mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling's Yuletide preparations must be put on hold. When the annual birthday and Christmas gala hosted by a onetime movie star at her spacious and spooky mansion turns deadly, Annie has to prove the innocence of the most disturbing suspect: her own deadbeat dad. It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions -- including murder. Across the windswept isle, in the spacious, spooky mansion of Marguerite Dumaney Ladson, a motley crew is gathering for the onetime movie star's gala Xmas/birthday bash. And when it turns deadly, it's Annie who has to prove the innocence of the most disturbing suspect: her own deadbeat dad.