Dead of Winter

As a murderer dumps a body into the lake, Bella Jordan just happens to be staring out her window, not really seeing anything. It's winter in Lily Dale and there are not many tourists in the town of mediums. In Dead of Winter by Wendy Corsi Staub, Bella notices something along the lake the next morning and discovers it is a body.

With a killer loose in Lily Dale, Bella worries about her six-year-old son Max and his pal Jiffy. Jiffy is a wandering child with a spirit guide; his mother Misty is a medium but not a very good one.

While Bella readies Valley View, the B&B she rents for visitors, she worries about the boys walking home from the bus stop by themselves. As they are wandering home on their own, Jiffy tells Max he is going to be kidnapped and he wants Max to tell the TV people that Jiffy is brave.

Bella tries to laugh it off, but she knows Jiffy has special abilities and wonders what he really knows.

When a blizzard threatens Lily Dale, and school is dismissed early, Bella wants to walk down the lane to meet Jiffy, but Max is home sick and she doesn't want to leave him. When Jiffy doesn't turn up, everyone is worried he is lost in the snow storm, which is raging.

While the police search, Misty is unable to wait for the police to find him, she wanders out into the snow to Inspiration Stump to "sense" what might have happened to Jiffy. There she encounters a desperate killer and a fight to save her life and find Jiffy.

I always enjoy the Lily Dale series and Dead of Winter gave me the chills each and every step of the way. The atmospheric air to Lily Dale and the many mediums present in the town hint at supernatural events. I very much enjoy this series.