Jolly Old St. Nick — Andie Peterson

A young widow, Laura Kjelstad is the first woman mayor of Birch Bay, a small town in northern Minnesota. She easily won a blistering re-election, but her opponents dont rest easily. Lauras fundraising idea for her small town is generating lots of enthusiasm and more than expected participants. A gingerbread house event is being held at The Raspberry Point Inn owned by Lauras friends, Gary and Molly Berg. Proceeds will go to area non-profits. The designs are outstanding: the Old Depot, the local high school, Enger Tower; so many entries that the Inn is displaying them throughout the building.

One of the visitors to the event is Tony Harrington, the man known throughout the state as having the golden touch, owner of restaurants and real estate. Tony generates excitement wherever he goes and people gather around him in clusters.
In the midst of the successful event, Tony Harrington is murdered while in his car near Birch Bay, gunshots to his head and back. One of the judges for the contest is found dead in her home in Superior, Wisconsin, gunshots to her head and back, just like Tony.

Although Laura easily won re-election, her opponents continue to deal in misinformation and outright lies. A friend has created a blogspot for her, but her rivals send out the Internet trolls. Laura can deal with the trolls, but murder in her midst is a whole different story.
Laura discovers that Tony has kept a host of secrets and she begins to connect the dots only to discover that the connections are shocking revelations.
Even when Laura becomes the damsel in distress, it is up to her to save herself and her future boss.