Personal chef and caterer Allie Catt combines her love of fiction with her love of food in the scenic North Carolina mountains-but amid her latest themed event, based on Dickens's beloved classic, A Christmas Carol, a rare-book expert's goose is cooked...

In the charming town of Bramblewood, not far from Asheville, Allie's preparing for a special seasonal soiree: a literary-themed dinner party that's a tribute to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. It'll take place at the Amber Lantern, the quaint inn recently opened by her best friend's mother, Noeline-and the holiday spirit has even led a Scroogelike local businessman to lend his prized first edition of the nineteenth-century novella for the event.

With the voices of carolers ringing in the air and the community theater staging a special performance, it looks like it will be a happy Christmas-until the priceless book disappears and someone murders the expert who authenticated it. And if the police have their way, Allie's lawyer friend Freddy will be dragged away in chains like Marley's ghost...

The crime has also cast a shadow over Noeline's fledgling business, so Allie feels doubly obliged to find the real killer among the gathered guests and local visitors-and put an end to this nightmare. It's time to investigate them all, every one . . .