Publisher's Weekly Review
Haines's light as a snowflake 19th mystery featuring Zinnia, Miss., PI Sarah Booth Delaney (after Charmed Bones) finds Sarah Booth looking forward to celebrating Christmas with her new love, Sheriff Coleman Peters. Meanwhile, Sarah Booth's journalist friend, Cece Falcon, needs her help. Cece has received a ransom note demanding $130,000 for the safe return of her pregnant cousin, Eve Falcon, whose delivery date is Christmas Eve. Eve is estranged from her parents, which may explain why the kidnapper, who threatens to kill Eve if Cece brings in the law, approached Cece instead. Sarah Booth and assistant PI Tinkie Richmond resolve to rescue Eve and bring the kidnapper to justice-without telling Coleman. Sarah fears her relationship with her beau will suffer as result, but she can always rely on her family home's ghost, Jitty, to keep up her spirits. Amid the holiday frivolity, Haines touches on such themes as family loyalty, reconciliation (or not), and acceptance. Fans of cozies with a paranormal slant will be rewarded. Agent: Marian Young, Young Agency. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A tale infused with Southern charm of an amateur detective trying to locate a pregnant kidnapping victim before her due date.In all of Zinnia, Mississippi, there's nowhere more Christmassy than Dahlia House, whose resident haint, Jitty, has taken to enacting scenes from The Nutcracker, sorely trying the patience of resident owner Sarah Booth Delaney (Sticks and Bones, 2017, etc.). Jitty is an acquired taste with a mischievous sense of humor that Sarah Booth suspects may have gotten her in trouble when she was the nanny to Sarah Booth's great-great-great-grandmother. But Sarah Booth can't be too bothered by the spirit's spiritedness when this is the first holiday in quite a while in which she and her animal companions, Sweetie Pie the coonhound and Pluto the black cat, are joined by Sheriff Coleman Peters. Any seasonal dreams of sugarplums are interrupted when Sarah Booth's friend Cece Dee Falcon shows up at the door with awful news: Cece's pregnant cousin, Eve, has been kidnapped by someone demanding a substantial ransom. As the proprietor and staff of the Delaney Detective Agency, Sarah Booth is on the case. Since she can't involve the law, aka her boyfriend, she relies on her friend Tinkie Richmond, whose husband, Oscar, can finance Sarah Booth and Tinkie's quest to get to the bottom of things. Searching from high-end country clubs to seemingly deserted shacks, the two resolve to find Eve before her baby is born. That's not Sarah Booth's only Christmas wish: She also hopes Jitty will connect her with her long-dead parents as a special Christmas gift from beyond.A stocking stuffed with something for everyone: a friendly house-ghost, cats and dogs, a hunky romantic lead, and the requisite crime. Perhaps that's why this parcel seems a bit bloated. But hey, it's Christmas. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Christmas preparations are underway in the small Mississippi Delta town of Zinnia, and Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Bellcase Richmond, owners of a private investigation firm, are looking forward to the festivities. Then their transgender friend Cece Dee Falcon calls, ransom note in hand, beseeching them to find her cousin Eve, who has disappeared but is due to deliver her first baby on Christmas Eve. The ransom note asks for $130,000 and no police involvement a hard option for Sarah Booth, whose relationship with the sheriff is heating up. Cece's aunt, Eve's mother, has disowned them both and is singularly uncooperative. The search leads them to Cece's place of work, her home in the next county, into country bars, and down muddy roads along the rivers, finding the barest of clues. Sarah Booth and Tinkie use all their family connections and are helped in their endeavors by their dogs and Sarah Booth's cat, as well as the Delaney family haint, Jitty, this time appearing as characters from The Nutcracker. Fans of Rita Mae Brown's Sneaky Pie series and Carolyn Hart's Bailey Ruth Raeburn series will enjoy returning to eccentricities of the rural South.--Karen Muller Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The newest title of this well-established series features happy couple Sarah Booth and Sheriff Coleman Peters at Christmastime as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young woman. The missing person is Cece Dee Falcon's cousin Eve, who seems to have been kidnapped for reasons unknown. Time is of the essence as the ransom note includes a photo of a very pregnant Eve. VERDICT Haines's longtime admirers will be thrilled to spend the holidays with their favorite characters. New readers looking for an engaging story can start here or work their way backward, if they don't mind reading out of order. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
