Death Goes Shopping — Jessica Burton

Being promotions director of a large shopping mall isn't the most stress-free job on the planet, but Jenny Turnbull enjoys it and is darn good at it. But her job becomes quite a bit more gruesomely stressful when an unseen gunman goes on a spree in a bloody food court massacre during her special Hallowe'en promotion. And the situation gets totally out of hand when it turns out that the surviving victim, whose life is hanging by a thread in hospital, is the deadbeat son of a powerful, vindictive and grudge-carrying local city councillor. Dark secrets hidden in the mall's back corridors come to light, rumours of drugs, child prostitution and infidelity, some involving the victims. Or was the murderer simply a crazed customer like the one that threatened Jenny on the very day of the murders? As Christmas nears, the mall Santa quits suddenly and the pressure is on for Jenny â€" protect the mall's reputation as a safe place to shop, find a new Santa two weeks before the big mall parade and help solve the mystery of the murder. The inner workings of a large urban mall make fascinating reading but don't detract from the central questions. How will Jenny find the time and resources to unravel the tightly wound skein of this mystery?