Hard Candy Christmas

Liz Talbot is a retired private investigator. She lives in Stella Maris, a small town on the South Carolina coast, with her husband, Nate. For the last eight years the couple have run an environmental foundation, which Liz finds rewarding, though she misses the thrill of the chase. As Christmas approaches, her family is about to be separated for the first time: her brother is taking his wife and their two children to Italy to spend the holiday with his wife’s father. But as they wait to leave, Sonny, an old friend and an officer with SLED, a state law enforcement agency, arrives with news that Liz’s dad has been accused of a decades-old murder. The shock brings on a mild heart attack, and he is rushed to the hospital, while Liz and Nate decide that, retirement or not, they will investigate and uncover the truth.

The case is a tangled one. The killing took place more than twenty years ago, many potential suspects have since passed away, and the victim disappeared in 1988 but didn’t die until 2001. Adding to the difficulty, the accuser is Liz’s cousin, the victim’s daughter. Liz and Nate’s extended family is complicated and intricately connected, and its ties to the rest of the community run just as deep. The characters are well developed: by turns charming, deceptive, and sometimes hilarious. Boyer gets the South Carolina drawl exactly on pitch without sounding condescending. Liz and Nate follow every twisty rabbit trail the clues provide and savor every mouthwatering meal along the way, and the resolution is both satisfying and surprising.

Readers who have enjoyed Boyer’s earlier Liz Talbot books will welcome this addition to the series. With its vivid Lowcountry setting, enthralling action, Boyer’s distinctive voice, and Talbot’s equally memorable character, this cozy mystery makes for a fun and compelling read.