One Corpse Open Slay
by Dakota Cassidy
Welcome to Marshmallow Hollow, Maine, a holiday mystery, where it's all Christmas all the time and murder is hung by the chimney with care... Halliday Valentine here! It’s a week before Christmas, and my quaint holiday town, Marshmallow Hollow, is chock-a-block with seasonal activities. Some less fun than others…like the ice sculpting competition my bestie, Stiles, has talked me into. Let’s just say, as a pair, Michelangelo we ain’t. I’m secretly relieved when our epically awful ice display gets damaged. It gives me a chance to watch my new beau, Hobbs, compete in the sled race.But not five seconds in, and Hobbs’s sled-loving dog, Stephen King, escapes my grip to get in on the action—and boy, does he. He even manages to find himself a sled to ride. Too bad it’s already occupied. With the corpse of a renowned ice sculpting judge.True-crime lovers that we are, Hobbs and I jump right into the investigation. It’s not nosiness, I swear. A little kitten’s fate is on the line, after all (long story)! Only problem? A bajillion suspects. The victim was nothing if not an equal-opportunity jerk, universally hated by everyone he’d ever met. And every suspect has an air-tight alibi. Not to mention, the murder weapon is a giant mystery the police can’t solve.All this sleuthing would be a heck of a lot easier if I could just use my magic. But can I trust Hobbs with that reveal? Or more accurately, is he ready for that reveal?