Maggie Crozat is back home in bayou country during the most magical time of the year. In Pelican, Louisiana, Christmastime is a season of giant bonfires on the levee, zydeco carols, and pots of gumbo. Except, this year, the Grinch has come to stay at the family-run Crozat Plantation B&B. When he floods travel websites with vicious reviews, Maggie thinks she’s identified him as rival businessman Donald Baxter. That is, until he’s found stabbed to death at Maggie’s workplace. And Maggie and her loved ones become top suspects.
The Crozats quickly establish alibis, but Maggie’s boyfriend, Detective Bo Durand, remains under suspicion. With Bo sidelined during the investigation, Maggie finds herself forced to work with an unlikely ally: longtime family enemy Rufus Durand. Her sleuthing uncovers more suspects than drummers drumming, and lands her in the crosshairs of the murderer.
The sleigh bells are jingling, and the clock is ticking for Maggie and Rufus, who must catch the killer or it will be the opposite of a Joyeux Noël.
Christmas, a time of goodwill to all men ..... or (sadly) a time for a Troll to try and smear the Crozat Plantation B&B, a time for murder and a time for the Ghost of Christmas Past to arrive in the form of Maggie's ex from New York.
Something is not right with Tug Crozat (Maggie's Dad), when he collapses at the building of the Christmas Eve bonfire (which, by the way, takes from Thanksgiving to prepare!), in the hospital (where it turns out his blood pressure is way too high), he admits that there could be a problem with the keeping the plantation, someone is muscling in and trying to take over PPC (this is a company that Tug's twin brother is part of, they rescue old buildings and turn them into hotels etc - Crozat has become part of their portfolio in order to get some ready cash for repairs), Tig is being forced out by Steve Harmon of Harmon Equities, and the same thing seems to have happened before. If Tig is right and Harmon takes over the Crozat's will be out of their family home before you can say HO HO HO.
When Maggie gets home from the hospital she has one of the guests complaining, she has to head to work at Doucet where that has been a change at the top and a new manager (Tannis) seems determined to ruin everything. But nothing can ruin things as fast as Maggie taking a tour round (trying not to gag at the badly written script for a Living History Tour that Tannis wrote) and discovering Donald Baxter aka Steve Harmon dead as a doornail in one of the rooms!
Now Maggie has to team up with Rufus Durand (who seems to have had a sea change and no longer hates the Crozats) to find out who killed Harmon (Bo is off the case) and make sure that Crozat Plantation survives to see another Christmas.
Comments