The Gingerbread Bump-off: A Fresh-Baked Mystery

At the start of Washburn’s engaging sixth mystery starring retired teacher and baker Phyllis Newsom (after 2010’s The Pumpkin Muffin Murder), an old friend of Phyllis’s, civic booster Georgia Hallerbee, drops in at Phyllis’s “lovely old house” in Weatherford, Tex., and asks her to participate in the annual Christmas Jingle Bell Tour of Homes. A reluctant Phyllis is busy preparing for a bridal shower and a wedding, but when her special friend, former basketball player Sam Fletcher, says he’ll lend a hand, she agrees to put her house on the tour. Meanwhile, gingerbread cookies may be burning in the oven. Shortly after this meeting, on Phyllis’s porch, someone smashes Georgia over the head with a ceramic gingerbread man dressed as Mrs. Claus, with fatal results. Once again, Phyllis turns sleuth in a cozy distinguished by its appealing characters and mouthwatering recipes. (Nov.)