Deadly Promise: A Novel of Suspense

In this cozy Yuletide mystery, young, newly widowed Molly and teenage daughter Joy visit her late husband's relatives for the holidays in the small town of Harmony, Ga., where they'll enjoy neighborly church events, caroling parties and seasonal goodies. But the festivities soon take a sinister turn: a poisoned fruitcake, a dead mouse left on a car seat and an inappropriate funeral wreath are just a few of someone's gruesome pranks. Molly also feels that her husband Ethan's death in a car wreck was foul play. Did Ethan know too much about the mysterious disappearance of charming hussy Rowena, who fled with a guitar-playing handyman? As Molly investigates, assisted by Ethan's boyhood chum, Ty Duncan, she herself is being stalked. Ethan's time capsule, buried under the gazebo, is dug up, yielding mysterious objects. A moldering skeleton is found in a backyard. By now everyone in Harmony looks suspicious. Ballard ( Cruise of a Deathtime ) deftly wraps up a plot full of surprises. (Nov.)