The first-ever Christmas mystery in the beloved New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series! San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright and her hunky security-expert husband, Derek Stone, face a puzzling murder mystery during the holidays in Scotland. In the middle of a wonderful Christmas holiday in Dharma, Brooklyn and Derek receive a frantic phone call from their dear friend Claire in Loch Ness, Scotland. The Laird of the castle, Cameron MacKinnon, has just proposed to her! Cameron and Claire plan to be married on New Year’s Day, and they want Derek and Brooklyn to be their witnesses. And while they’re visiting, Claire hopes that Brooklyn will be able to solve a little mystery that’s occurred in the castle library—twelve rare, very important books have gone missing. Once in Scotland, Brooklyn starts working on the mystery of the missing books but is soon distracted by all of the thumping and bumping noises she’s been hearing in the middle of the night. You’d think the Ghost of Christmas Past had taken up residence. But when one of the guests is poisoned and another is killed by an arrow through the heart, Brooklyn and Derek know this is not the work of any ghost. Now they must race to find a killer and a book thief before another murder occurs and their friends’ bright and happy future turns dark and deadly. Praise for the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mysteries “Kate Carlisle never fails to make me laugh, even as she has me turning the pages to see what's going to happen next."—Miranda James, New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries “Another superb entry....Quirky characters and an intriguing cookbook with a fabulous history add to the fun. Highly entertaining.”—Carolyn Hart, New York Times bestselling author of the Death on Demand Mysteries “A gently paced, intelligently plotted tale that educates while it entertains.”— Crimespree Magazine “Another suspenseful and humorous mystery full of quirky characters [who] you'll want to visit again and again.”—Fresh Fiction Kate Carlisle is the New York Times bestselling author of the Bibliophile Mysteries, including The Twelve Books of Christmas and The Paper Caper , as well as the Fixer-Upper Mysteries, including Dressed to Drill. Chapter 1 I stared out the wide kitchen window as a black stretch limousine pulled to a stop in front of our new second home in Dharma. Less than two minutes later, another limo arrived, and I had to take a few bracing breaths. "Have we done the right thing?" My darkly handsome husband Derek quirked an eyebrow. "Regrets already, darling?" "God, yes." I tried to laugh, but the sound bordered on hysterical. "We couldn't settle for a cozy dinner for four, could we? No way. We had to invite thirty-four people for dinner on Christmas Eve. Thirty-four people! Or is it thirty-five?" Did it really matter? Either way, we were about to be besieged in our brand-new house. With family and friends, but still. "Are we crazy?" "Of course not," he said, his distinguished British accent lending extra credibility to the statement. "It's a perfectly respectable thing to invite favorite friends and family members over for Christmas Eve dinner." "Is it?" I wondered. "We're likely to cause a frenzy." He laughed. "Would that be so bad?" I gaped at him. "Maybe they won't all show up," he said, but he was still laughing. "Oh, please," I said. "You know they'll all be here." He gently rubbed my shoulders. "All the people we love best." His kind words calmed me down a smidge, as they usually did. It would all work out and we would have a good time. After all, this was the reason we'd built our second home in Dharma, the small town in the Sonoma wine country where I'd grown up. We wanted to be close to family, so now we were about to welcome my parents, two brothers, three sisters, various spouses, and lots of children to spend Christmas Eve with us. Derek's parents were coming, too, along with several of his brothers, their wives, and more children. We were also expecting our good friends Gabriel and Alex, along with my parents' guru, Robson Benedict, and Derek's aunt Trudy. It was going to be an interesting evening. "It'll be lovely," Derek insisted. "It'll be chaos." He chuckled and rubbed his hands up and down my arms. "As it should be, darling. After all, it's Christmas." I tried to remember to breathe. "Christmas. Right." I watched another limo drive up and park. It sounded extravagant, but we had gone ahead and ordered a number of limousines so our friends wouldn't have to drive through the hills after a long night of good food and lots of wine. It just made sense. Derek kissed me, then slowly let me go and gazed out the window. "Look on the bright side. At least you don't have to cook." "Good point." I was the absolute worst cook in the world, and everybody knew it. Happily the entire evening was being catered by my sister Savannah's fabulous restau