Holy Cow!
(2026)(The fourth book in the Haunted Farmhouse Mysteries series)
A novel by Kathryn Johnson
Cozy and merry with a murderous chill, Holy Cow! is a small-town Christmas paranormal cozy mystery featuring a café poisoning, a haunted Vermont farmhouse, and an amateur sleuth determined to save the holiday—and catch a killer before a blizzard traps them all.
This year, the deadliest thing in Evansfield isn’t the weather.
Verity Cade loves everything about Christmas. Fate, unfortunately, seems bent on ruining it—for her and for everyone in quaint Evansfield, Vermont. The trouble arrives with chocolatier Denise Delaney'''s family from California: an emotionally abusive mother, bickering siblings, and Mom’s much-younger boyfriend in tow. Then Mrs. Delaney announces she’s cutting off the money owed to her children from their father’s will—and, in the middle of the mounting tension, the boyfriend drops dead while dining at the beloved Cat’s Cradle Café.
Sheriff Bailey first suspects natural causes: no wound, no weapon, no attacker, and dozens of witnesses. But forensics tell a darker story—poison. If it proves to be the café’s food, he may have to shut down Sunny Whitaker’s kitchen for good. Verity can’t believe Sunny’s cooking is to blame, and as she and her friends help the sheriff dig, they uncover motives and secrets uglier than anyone imagined—and a killer who isn’t finished.
Then a record blizzard buries the county, threatening Verity’s farm animals and sealing the town off from the world. Worse, the one man to interest her since her husband’s death—FBI Special Agent Michael Reeve, tangled in a dangerous hostage standoff in Arizona—has gone silent. With her town snowbound, a murderer still loose, and her heart in limbo, it’s shaping up to be another Christmas alone… if she can outsmart a desperate killer first.
Perfect for readers who love:
– Paranormal holiday cozy mysteries
'' A Christmas-loving amateur sleuth and her sheriff
– Cozy, wintry, haunted-farmhouse charm
– Café poisonings, family secrets, and a slow-burn spark
Genre: Cozy Mystery
This year, the deadliest thing in Evansfield isn’t the weather.
Verity Cade loves everything about Christmas. Fate, unfortunately, seems bent on ruining it—for her and for everyone in quaint Evansfield, Vermont. The trouble arrives with chocolatier Denise Delaney'''s family from California: an emotionally abusive mother, bickering siblings, and Mom’s much-younger boyfriend in tow. Then Mrs. Delaney announces she’s cutting off the money owed to her children from their father’s will—and, in the middle of the mounting tension, the boyfriend drops dead while dining at the beloved Cat’s Cradle Café.
Sheriff Bailey first suspects natural causes: no wound, no weapon, no attacker, and dozens of witnesses. But forensics tell a darker story—poison. If it proves to be the café’s food, he may have to shut down Sunny Whitaker’s kitchen for good. Verity can’t believe Sunny’s cooking is to blame, and as she and her friends help the sheriff dig, they uncover motives and secrets uglier than anyone imagined—and a killer who isn’t finished.
Then a record blizzard buries the county, threatening Verity’s farm animals and sealing the town off from the world. Worse, the one man to interest her since her husband’s death—FBI Special Agent Michael Reeve, tangled in a dangerous hostage standoff in Arizona—has gone silent. With her town snowbound, a murderer still loose, and her heart in limbo, it’s shaping up to be another Christmas alone… if she can outsmart a desperate killer first.
Perfect for readers who love:
– Paranormal holiday cozy mysteries
'' A Christmas-loving amateur sleuth and her sheriff
– Cozy, wintry, haunted-farmhouse charm
– Café poisonings, family secrets, and a slow-burn spark
Genre: Cozy Mystery