Original Sin

Kori Brichter, a young wife and mother raised by a cruel uncle in the family mansion near Denver, has asked her last living relative, long-lost elderly cousin Evelyn Biggins, to spend Christmas in the house where Evelyn, too, was raised. Invited to help Kori solve some of the mystery of her background, Evelyn arrives with a mystery of her own: her sister Inez disappeared 50 years ago and was never found. A blizzard snows in all the guests, including an older neighbor who is greatly disturbed by Evelyn's presence; the power fails; and Evelyn is found murdered. Kori's policeman husband takes charge of puzzling out the murder and in the process brings out other skeletons from the family closet. Despite its conventional plot and romance novel setting, Pulver's fourth novel provides a perfect way to occupy an afternoon. (Jan.)