When faced with a drastic life change, some people reinvent themselves. A friend of mine got bangs after a breakup. Another went blonde after she got laid off.
I, Kelsey Hendricks, moved from Boston to Christmasville.
It’s a cozy little tourist town in Maine where we celebrate Christmas year-round. Why would a single, twenty-eight-year-old woman pack up her life in the city and move here? Four reasons. One, my life imploded. But that’s a long story. Two, I saw an opening for the town’s social media manager, and that’s a dream job for me. Three, my family vacationed here every year when I was growing up, so I have nostalgic feelings for the town. And four, I already tried bangs. They did nothing for my face.
The people here are delightfully eccentric but mostly sweet. I enjoy working at the Town Hall with Mayor Carol, filming festive events, highlighting the town’s charming shops, and helping to keep Christmasville thriving one viral post at a time. I’m temporarily staying at The Christmas Creek Inn, a beautiful three-story Tudor style building outlined with elegant white lights, while I search for my own apartment.
Two men have caught my eye, though they’re quite different from one another. Ellison is the gorgeous owner of Snow Village Books here in town. While Aaron is a handsome out-of-towner whose family owns a chain of hotels. They’ve both been flirting with me, and I don’t quite know how to feel about either one of them. Between the two attractive men and this twinkle-lit town that smells perpetually of pine and cinnamon, I sometimes feel like I’ve wandered into the world’s cheesiest Christmas romance movie.
Except…bad things have been happening.
Christmasville always seemed like its own little snow globe. A place where nothing truly terrible could happen. But lately, it feels like someone’s picked up that snow globe and started shaking.
A knock sounds at my office door, and I glance up to see my boss, Mayor Carol, with two cups of hot cocoa.
I brighten. “Is one of those for me?”
“Yeah,” she says as she steps inside. “We need to talk.”
A tiny icicle slides down my spine. Mayor Carol doesn’t look very merry.
A KILLER FOR CHRISTMAS
Genre: Mystery Romance
Release: September 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Wrapped in red has a bloody new meaning in this contemporary holiday romance with a murderous twist, perfect for readers who enjoyed The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.
Christmasville, Maine, is the only place where Kelsey Hendricks has ever felt happy. When she loses both her job and her boyfriend, the move is a no-brainer, especially when she sees a listing for a position as Christmasville’s social media manager. Surrounded by twinkling lights and candy canes and with the perfect job, this tinsel town is working its magic on Kelsey. With two heartthrobs vying for her attention, her life is now just like a Christmas movie.
Except for the murders.
The first one is dismissed as an accident. But after the second, and definitely the third, it becomes abundantly clear that Santa is leaving coal in someone’s stocking this year.
Determined to bring back the holly jolly spirit to the town before tourists begin canceling their reservations, Kelsey must sleuth her way out of a chilling murder mystery and back to a holiday rom-com.
This charming and clever mystery-romance where a cozy winter wonderland warms the heart while suspense chills the bones is the perfect read for the holiday season.
Meet the author
Kim Harrington is the author of A Killer for Christmas, her adult debut, as well as Clarity, Perception, The Dead and Buried, and Forget Me for teens and Revenge of the Red Club, the Sleuth or Dare series, and Gamer Squad series for younger readers. Her books have been sold to ten countries and optioned for television. She lives in Massachusetts with her family where she’s hard at work on her next mystery novel.
Connect with Kim at kimharringtonbooks.com, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Bluesky.