Available from Samuel French

Christmas Eve is no bed of roses for struggling private eye Cactus O'Riley, a fiery redhead with a bad case of the holiday blues. Being a P.I. is a tough business. Is she really cut out to be a detective? Should she try to scrape up the rent, or close up shop for good?

The last little surprise package she needs is a lovelorn deputy D.A., a pair of armed-and-goofy fugitives hunting some dead private eye, and her male secretary's overbearing mother -- who mistakes a tense hostage situation for the perfect little holiday murder mystery party. Just what she's always wanted! And just what Cactus didn't need this Christmas Eve.

It's a Dickens of a Christmas, as Cactus digs up long-buried mysteries, unwraps a few small miracles, and takes a second chance on love and luck -- and the life of a private eye.