Hard Candy Christmas

It’s Christmas on Stella Maris, and Liz Talbot and her partner Nate Andrews have hung up their PI shingles—at Mamma’s insistence. Carolyn Talbot has made it abundantly clear that her daughter and son-in-law’s investigative days are behind them.

That is, until someone discovers human remains in the marsh at low tide—bones that have been hidden for thirty-five years.

The victim is Paul Miller, a surfer with a shadowy past who disappeared in 1988 after marrying into the Talbot family. Now, Paul’s daughter Marci—locked away in prison for her own crimes—is pointing fingers at Liz’s father, Frank, claiming he threatened Paul the day before he vanished. The stress of the accusations triggers a frightening health scare, and suddenly Mamma is singing a different tune. She shows up on Liz’s doorstep with a new directive: find out who really killed Paul Miller and clear Frank’s name. Yesterday.

With her father’s health and reputation hanging in the balance and the holidays closing in, Liz and Nate race to uncover the truth about what really happened all those years ago. Their investigation will take them from the sun-splashed beaches of Stella Maris to the Florida Keys, unearthing old secrets and confronting a killer who’s kept one buried for over three decades.