The Alpine Christmas — Mary Daheim

THERE'S LITTLE CHEER IN THE HOLIDAY HEADLINES OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE.

The pretty little town of Alpine looks like a Christmas card: deep, fresh snow, carolers, Christmas trees, even a sleigh. Until the discovery of a woman's leg in the lake, along with that of another young woman's nude, half-frozen body, deflates everyone's high spirits, including Emma Lord's.

But for Emma, the editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, a great story is still a great story. Strongly abetted by her assistant, who is a bottomless well of local history, Emma goes for it. Who are these young women who keep turning up in bits and pieces? What brought them to snowy Alpine at Christmas? And incidentally, why is a local family of some stature being pestered by pranksters, peepers, and thieves? Emma's reckless hunt for answers gets results, including a close encounter with a killer that may very well land her on her own obituary page....