Toni L.P. Kelner - Laura Fleming 07 - Mad as the Dickens

Laura Fleming’s theater-loving husband, Richard, is getting an early Christmas present—he’s been asked to direct Byerly’s production of A Christmas Carol. To Richard’s annoyance, the play is beset by practical jokes and glitches, and Seth Murdstone makes an unconvincing Scrooge. Unfortunately, he makes an all-too-convincing corpse. When Seth is found murdered backstage, Laura agrees to investigate.This time, she has an unexpected sidekick: Byerly’s police chief Junior Norton, who’s determined to solve the case before her ambitious deputy does. Junior’s inside information is a definite boon—for one thing, she knows that Seth was a longtime moonshiner. And the man had a veritable stockingful of secrets.Between grudge-filled rivals and feuding family members, there are plenty of likely suspects. But which one decided to bring the curtain down on Seth, and can Laura and Junior stop the culprit from staging an unwanted encore performance?