Former lawyer and herb-shop owner China Bayles has too many things piling up on her this holiday season: her friend and partner, Ruby, has undergond a radical and unexplained personality change, her mistletoe supplier has turned up dead, and one of her herb producers is suspected of having a finger on the trigger. And she’s still trying not to neglect her husband, who’s recovering from a gunshot wound, or her teenaged stepson.


Albert comes up with a likable bunch of characters, a victim who probably needed killing anyhow, and treats her subplots with sensitivity. This is a good addition to the long-running China Bayles series.