Discovering a Christmas Past to deliver a Christmas Present.

When an antique dealer asks Jayne Sinclair, genealogical investigator, to discover the provenance of a first edition of Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, she is faced with one of the most difficult challenges of her career.

How does she find the family of the mysterious man in the hand-written dedication, when all she has is a name, a place, Victorian Manchester, and a date, December 19, 1843?

She has just three days to uncover the truth before the auction. Even worse, she faces spending her own Christmas alone; her family having decided to visit relatives in Scotland.

Jayne is in a race against time to find the family of the man and the reason why Dickens wrote the dedication. Even more, she has to dig deep within herself to find the true joy of Christmas. A secret discovered by Charles Dickens many years ago.

Can she find the truth behind a Christmas past to deliver a Christmas present?

“They say you have to make sacrifices to follow your dreams. I just didn’t expect the sacrifices to involve an American tourist and a killer scone.” ~ Gemma ditches her high-flying job and returns to Oxford to pursue her dream of opening a traditional English tearoom. It means moving back in with her parents and coping with her bossy, matchmaking mother, but she’s sure it’ll all be worth it. In fact, business is already booming… that is, until an American tourist is found dead in her teas hop, killed by one of her signature scones!

Now Gemma is apron-deep in a murder mystery with unexpected links to Oxford University and her own past as a student there. And the situation only gets stickier when the handsome CID detective leading the case turns out to be her old college flame! With the meddling “Old Biddies” from the local village poking their noses into everything, and her cheeky cat causing chaos in the kitchen, Gemma is beginning to find herself in a real jam. After all, murder is bad for business, especially when customers start thinking your scones are more deadly than delicious…

With the body count rising and her tearoom going bust, can Gemma find the killer before her future turns to custard? Find out in this hilarious British cozy mystery filled with quirky characters, unexpected twists and a cat with a big personality. With a nod to the classic whodunits of Agatha Christie, this book is a treat you won’t want to miss!