Iced, with Sprinkles

It's late 1990s Oregon. Portland's magenta bookmobile and its intrepid "Miss Marple Librarian," Hester Freelove McGarrigle, and plain-spoken, Aloha-shirt-wearing driver Ethel "Pim" Pimala return for another careen into the world of murder and mayhem. Christmas is coming to the Rose City. Vividly lighted boats parade up and down Portland's rivers, bringing happy families to the shoreline to sing carols and roast marshmallows after the children enjoy a holiday story hour aboard the elaborately decorated bookmobile. But "ho-ho-ho" turns to horrible when one skipper ends up dead in the middle of a Christmas parade. It's no accident, concludes Hester and her longtime beau, dishy Detective Nate Darrow. But how do Pim's beautifully iced Christmas cookies play a part? Are the dead man's trophy wife and her Brazilian pool boy to blame? What of the curmudgeonly crew of liveaboard boaters who were about to lose their homes? Grab a Christmas cookie, pour some eggnog and savor the season with this third installment of the Portland Bookmobile Mysteries. P. S. Don't miss the bonus holiday recipe in the back of the book.