Eine Melange of Murder

IT'S CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA

Claire and Evelyn take Austria! What could possibly go wrong? (A couple of bodies, genau)

Culinary artisan, amateur sleuth, foster and dog mom—not to mention bed & breakfast hostess with the mostess—Claire Andersen has been snowbirding in idyllic Appalachian haven Galway, Maryland for about a year now. The smalltown life is quaint but vivid, the B&B biz is booming, and things are finally progressing with her longtime-crush-turned-official-sweetheart, Ray Hamilton. But, truth be told, the girl could use a break.

Courtesy of dear friend Ellen Winowski's airline miles … what better break than a European adventure and Christmas getaway to fairy-tale Vienna with her trusty galpal, Evelyn?

There are picturesque Christmas markets, museums and historical tourist attractions galore, classical music mainstays—and, of course, traditional Austrian culinary fare and Viennese café culture. But no sooner have the girls checked into the storied Hotel Schnüfflerhof Wien than their snooty fellow American traveler—a Texan hausfrau and oil-fortune heiress with several axes to grind—turns up murdered in cold blood (and with a safe of missing jewels, to boot).

Could the murderer-slash-thief be Wolfgang, the hotel concierge with a history of criminal activism? His lover, the stoic Birgit? Helga, the Norwegian chambermaid? The shady Irish Navyman, Edwin Hitchens? Or is Karl "Stubbs" Stübenaus, nicknamed "The Chameleon" by the Austrian Press—an infamous but retired and very much missing cat burglar—the ticket?

Meanwhile, back home in Maryland, Ray Hamilton has a mystery all his own to solve…

Is it possible the two cases are somehow connected—and that murder has literally followed Claire Andersen across the pond? It's a puzzle only Claire can solve. And she'd better hop to it. Because this murderous feind knows no (international) boundaries!