Crimson Mistletoe
(2026)(Book 12 in the Small Town Charm, Paranormal, Cozy Mystery series)
A novel by Ileana Munoz Renfroe
Christmas in Hawthorne Corneris supposed to sparkle. Nobody mentioned the dead man in the window.
When the SantaMaria family arrives at Evermore House for Christmas, they expect snow-covered streets, small-town charm, and enough holiday treats to keep their enormous Great Dane, Don Turrón, happily occupied.
They should have known better.Hawthorne Corner’s annual Crimson Mistletoe Christmas Window Competition has transformed downtown into a glittering wonderland, complete with elaborate displays, fiercely competitive shopkeepers, and one very coveted trophy. During the Christmas Window Walk, however, someone notices something peculiar about an elegant old-fashioned holiday display.
The gentleman sitting beside the Christmas tree is not a mannequin.
He is one of the competition judges, and he is very dead.
Sheriff Angelica López is left with an impossible puzzle. The shop was locked, nobody saw the victim enter, and photographs prove he somehow appeared inside the display while half the town was standing nearby.
Then the investigation takes an uncomfortable turn toward Evermore House.
One of the SantaMarias had secretly met with the victim shortly before his death and lied about it. Evidence places that same family member near the shop during the narrow window in which the murder must have occurred. Worse still, the victim had discovered an old handmade Christmas ornament containing something that should have meant absolutely nothing to the visiting family.
Instead, it contains the name SantaMaria.
Suddenly, this is no longer a Christmas vacation interrupted by murder. One of their own may be Sheriff López’s strongest suspect.
When a second competition judge turns up dead, the evidence once again circles dangerously close to the SantaMarias, and what first looked like a vicious rivalry over Hawthorne Corner’s coveted Crimson Mistletoe Cup begins to unravel into something far older and considerably more dangerous.
Psychic Luna Bloom is convinced the answers are tangled somewhere in Hawthorne Corner’s past, while Lila Marigold Evermore quietly points toward secrets the living have overlooked. The SantaMarias have their own questions to answer, especially when old Christmas traditions, missing evidence, suspicious townspeople, and decades of carefully guarded secrets begin colliding beneath the mistletoe.
Fortunately, they also have Don Turrón.
The enormous Great Dane witnessed something on the night of the first murder, and he is absolutely certain he knows who did it.
According to Don Turrón, Santa killed him.
While everyone tries to determine what on earth the dog is talking about, Don Turrón faces an equally disturbing Christmas mystery of his own. The people of Hawthorne Corner keep discussing something called turrón, and apparently they intend to eat it.
He has concerns.
With two victims, one increasingly suspicious SantaMaria, an impossible crime scene, a mysterious ornament, and a killer hiding behind the sparkle of Christmas, the SantaMaria family will have to uncover what really happened before Sheriff López arrests the wrong person or someone else ends up beneath the mistletoe.
Perfect for readers who enjoy the charming small-town mysteries of Ellery Adams, the paranormal coziness of Amanda Flower, and the quirky humor and amateur sleuthing of Jana DeLeon, Crimson Mistletoe delivers murder, ghosts, family, laughter, and a little Cuban flair wrapped in one deliciously mischievous Christmas mystery.
Genre: Horror
When the SantaMaria family arrives at Evermore House for Christmas, they expect snow-covered streets, small-town charm, and enough holiday treats to keep their enormous Great Dane, Don Turrón, happily occupied.
They should have known better.Hawthorne Corner’s annual Crimson Mistletoe Christmas Window Competition has transformed downtown into a glittering wonderland, complete with elaborate displays, fiercely competitive shopkeepers, and one very coveted trophy. During the Christmas Window Walk, however, someone notices something peculiar about an elegant old-fashioned holiday display.
The gentleman sitting beside the Christmas tree is not a mannequin.
He is one of the competition judges, and he is very dead.
Sheriff Angelica López is left with an impossible puzzle. The shop was locked, nobody saw the victim enter, and photographs prove he somehow appeared inside the display while half the town was standing nearby.
Then the investigation takes an uncomfortable turn toward Evermore House.
One of the SantaMarias had secretly met with the victim shortly before his death and lied about it. Evidence places that same family member near the shop during the narrow window in which the murder must have occurred. Worse still, the victim had discovered an old handmade Christmas ornament containing something that should have meant absolutely nothing to the visiting family.
Instead, it contains the name SantaMaria.
Suddenly, this is no longer a Christmas vacation interrupted by murder. One of their own may be Sheriff López’s strongest suspect.
When a second competition judge turns up dead, the evidence once again circles dangerously close to the SantaMarias, and what first looked like a vicious rivalry over Hawthorne Corner’s coveted Crimson Mistletoe Cup begins to unravel into something far older and considerably more dangerous.
Psychic Luna Bloom is convinced the answers are tangled somewhere in Hawthorne Corner’s past, while Lila Marigold Evermore quietly points toward secrets the living have overlooked. The SantaMarias have their own questions to answer, especially when old Christmas traditions, missing evidence, suspicious townspeople, and decades of carefully guarded secrets begin colliding beneath the mistletoe.
Fortunately, they also have Don Turrón.
The enormous Great Dane witnessed something on the night of the first murder, and he is absolutely certain he knows who did it.
According to Don Turrón, Santa killed him.
While everyone tries to determine what on earth the dog is talking about, Don Turrón faces an equally disturbing Christmas mystery of his own. The people of Hawthorne Corner keep discussing something called turrón, and apparently they intend to eat it.
He has concerns.
With two victims, one increasingly suspicious SantaMaria, an impossible crime scene, a mysterious ornament, and a killer hiding behind the sparkle of Christmas, the SantaMaria family will have to uncover what really happened before Sheriff López arrests the wrong person or someone else ends up beneath the mistletoe.
Perfect for readers who enjoy the charming small-town mysteries of Ellery Adams, the paranormal coziness of Amanda Flower, and the quirky humor and amateur sleuthing of Jana DeLeon, Crimson Mistletoe delivers murder, ghosts, family, laughter, and a little Cuban flair wrapped in one deliciously mischievous Christmas mystery.
Genre: Horror