Naughty On Ice

The Discreet Retrieval Agency is doing a brisk business at Christmas, but society matron and owner of the Agency Lola Woodby and her stalwart Swedish cook, Berta find themselves at loose ends. In Naughty on Ice by Maia Chance, Lola receives an anonymous Christmas card inviting them to Maple Hill, Vermont to retrieve a missing antique ring. (Naughty on Ice will be released on November 13 by Minotaur Books.)

Lola and Berta jump at the chance to go to Vermont and are soon on the case. Several of the estranged Goodard family are assembled in the home and it is not a pleasant experience.

The card says they will find the ring on the "thieving" finger of Aunt Daphne. Once they remove it from Aunt Daphne, they are to leave the ring in the breadbox and expect a check in the mail.

But things go horribly wrong. Fifteen minutes after their arrival, Judith Goddard keels over after drinking a poisoned Negroni. Then Lola and Berta are caught in the act of removing the ring from the very drunk Aunt Daphne's hand.  They finally have to explain to the police about the anonymous Christmas card they received and their Agency business.  Of course they do not have the card with them, so the police are skeptical of their story.

Before they can go to the police with the dossier Berta compiled on the case, it goes missing as well. This doesn't sit well with the police and they decide to keep Lola and Berta close at hand.

As Lola and Berta investigate the family, they discover the family is not a happy group. The more they dig, the more mysteries they find including the legend of a hairy beast roaming the area.

Another fun Prohibition-era mystery involving lots of illegal booze and many strange and wonderful characters.

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