Contents

Title page

Copyright Notice

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Also by Donna Andrews

About the Author

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Thanks, as always, to everyone at St. Martins/Minotaur including (but not limited to) Matt Baldacci, Anne Brewer, Hector DeJean, Kymberlee Giacoppe, Lauren Hesse, Andrew Martin, Sarah Melnyk, Matthew Shear, and my editor, Pete Wolverton. And thanks again to the Art Department for yet another fabulous (and very Christmassy) cover.

More thanks to my agent, Ellen Geiger, and the staff at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency for handling the boring (to me) practical stuff so I can focus on writing, and to Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown for taking Meg abroad.

Many thanks to the friends—writers and readers alike—who brainstorm and critique with me, give me good ideas, or help keep me sane while I’m writing: Stuart, Elke, Aidan, and Liam Andrews, Renee Brown, Erin Bush, Carla Coupe, Meriah Crawford, Ellen Crosby, Kathy Deligianis, Laura Durham, Suzanne Frisbee, John Gilstrap, Barb Goffman, Peggy Hansen, C. Ellett Logan, David Niemi, Alan Orloff, Valerie Patterson, Shelley Shearer, Art Taylor, Robin Templeton, Dina Willner, and Sandi Wilson. Thanks for all kinds of moral support and practical help to my blog sisters and brother at the Femmes Fatales: Dana Cameron, Charlaine Harris, Dean James, Toni L.P. Kelner, Catriona McPherson, Kris Neri, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Mary Saums, Marcia Talley, and Elaine Viets. And thanks to all the TeaBuds for years of friendship.

Three characters in the book were named in honor of real people. Charlie Gardner’s sister, B. G. Ritts, made a generous donation to benefit literacy at the Bouchercon auction to win the right to have her brother in the book. Robyn Smith, the Episcopalian rector, is named after a longtime reader who could recite plots, characters, and dialogues from the Meg books. About the time I was starting this book, Robyn died after a long illness, and her friend and fellow reader Ginnie Schoepf asked if there was any possibility I could mention Robyn in a future book. As luck would have it, I was just looking around for a name to give Caerphilly’s new Episcopalian rector. And my friend Joni Langevoort answered all my questions about things Episcopalian—I still wish I could have seen the look on Father Rick’s face when she asked him what he’d do if they found a dead body in the basement of Holy Comforter. In return for all her help, and at Joni’s suggestion, I named the retired rector of Trinity Episcopal Dr. Rufus J. Womble in honor of the priest who baptized her. As always, any resemblance between the characters and the real people after whom they were named is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1