A Fatal April Shower — Dee Ernst

Ellie Rocca tapped the best party-planning company in the state, Luxe, for her mother's seventy-fifth birthday party, and she's not disappointed. The food is perfect, the wine and beer are flowing freely, and all the guests are having a wonderful time. In fact, everything is going along just perfectly until one of the guests turns up dead, strangled with her own scarf. Ellie's police detective boyfriend, Sam, is at the party, so he's off the case. Ellie doesn't have much faith in the two officers in charge, and neither does Enza Biondi, the co-owner of Luxe, who discovered the body. Ellie may have sworn off snooping, but Enza's curiosity is peaked, and she keeps drawing Ellie deeper and deeper. Just when the two of them think they've got the whole thing figured out, new and more chilling facts come to light, and Ellie discovers the real killer is much closer to home than she ever imagined. This is the sixth and final novella in the Mt. Abrams Mystery Series. 29K words long.