Murder at the Christmas Market
(2026)(The second book in the Pip & Nora Paranormal Cozy Mystery series)
A Story by Caroline Ashby
A murder in a Christmas market. A ferret who knows things. And a mirror that shows danger.
Nora didn’t plan to become an amateur detective when she inherited an antique shop in the small, western Virginia town of Turtlehead Gap. She planned to catalog knick-knacks and books, perfect her tea, and figure out why the third floorboard creak had started to feel like a conversation.
The shop had other plans: Pip, a black-footed ferret with an uncanny sense for wrongness. A fogging mirror that forms images Nora can’t quite catch. And Pearl’s ghost, still lingering in the scent of rose-and-sandalwood whenever things get difficult.
When Leonard Clark, a Richmond dealer who asked very careful questions about a Victorian brooch, turns up dead in her alley on the first Christmas Market weekend, Nora finds herself at the center of a decades-old web of provenance fraud. Someone has been laundering stolen antiques through the trade for twenty years. Leonard knew. And now someone is watching the shop.
Guided by Pip’s instincts, antiques that give clues, and a police chief named Cade who keeps showing up in all the right moments, Nora must follow the trail through the glittering stalls of the Christmas Market — before she becomes the next thing that goes missing from Pearl’s inventory.
If you love paranormal cozy mysteries with animal companions, quirky small town characters, and the irresistible charm of a village at Christmas, you’ll devour Murder at the Christmas Market.
Book 2 in the Turtlehead Gap Mysteries. Slow burn, closed door romance. Reads beautifully as a standalone.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Nora didn’t plan to become an amateur detective when she inherited an antique shop in the small, western Virginia town of Turtlehead Gap. She planned to catalog knick-knacks and books, perfect her tea, and figure out why the third floorboard creak had started to feel like a conversation.
The shop had other plans: Pip, a black-footed ferret with an uncanny sense for wrongness. A fogging mirror that forms images Nora can’t quite catch. And Pearl’s ghost, still lingering in the scent of rose-and-sandalwood whenever things get difficult.
When Leonard Clark, a Richmond dealer who asked very careful questions about a Victorian brooch, turns up dead in her alley on the first Christmas Market weekend, Nora finds herself at the center of a decades-old web of provenance fraud. Someone has been laundering stolen antiques through the trade for twenty years. Leonard knew. And now someone is watching the shop.
Guided by Pip’s instincts, antiques that give clues, and a police chief named Cade who keeps showing up in all the right moments, Nora must follow the trail through the glittering stalls of the Christmas Market — before she becomes the next thing that goes missing from Pearl’s inventory.
If you love paranormal cozy mysteries with animal companions, quirky small town characters, and the irresistible charm of a village at Christmas, you’ll devour Murder at the Christmas Market.
Book 2 in the Turtlehead Gap Mysteries. Slow burn, closed door romance. Reads beautifully as a standalone.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Used availability for Caroline Ashby's Murder at the Christmas Market