The Christmas Cookie Killer

It's Christmastime in Weatherford, Texas, and retired teacher-cum-amateur sleuth Phyllis Newsom is looking forward to finishing up what has been one unlucky year. But she won't be hanging up her apron quite yet, because this year's Christmas bake-off is going to be cutthroat. Phyllis would like to think she's just entering the Christmas cookie contest for fun. But that's not exactly true. She's can't imagine anyone beating her delicate, snowflake-shaped lime sugar cookies--although her friend Carolyn's pecan shortbread, along with her neighbor Mrs. Simmons's gingerdoodles, might give her a run for her money. Then, after her annual Christmas cookie exchange, Phyllis heads over to elderly Mrs. Simmons's home and finds the poor thing in a pile of lime sugar cookies, strangled by the belt of her own bathrobe. With a number of names on Santa's naughty list, this case is a cookie Phyllis means to crumble...