When a beat-up suitcase full of bones washes up by the pier, the residents of the quaint resort town of Mermaid Bay are whipped into a hurricane-sized frenzy over the gruesome find in the middle of their Christmas in July festivities. The holly-jolly mood retreats like the tide, with everyone wondering who was in the suitcase.
Christmas shoppe owner, Jade Hicks, wades into the fracas when voodoo dolls and mysterious notes and posters about impending doom start popping up all over town, threatening to destroy the economy of a community that lives and dies by tourist dollars. Then tensions crest when the prickly bookstore owner is found strangled to death with a string of holiday lights.
Jade and her French bulldog Chloe, have to solve the crime before anyone else gets hurt, and her business and the festival are forever tainted.
Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones is the first in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries cozy series.
My Review
The first book in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mystery series is Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones by Heather Weidner. This is a strong start to what appears to be an entertaining series. I liked the small-town seaside location, the Christmas store, and the cat and dog’s role in the narrative.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book to review. I have reviewed this book voluntarily.
