Apparently, Ms. Dunnett has jumped ahead five years. This does give Pete and Sherri Campbell a four-year-old daughter, Amber, but also seems to be providing an excuse for Liss and Dan to have a discussion they should have had while they were still courting.

The stay at Simeon Snowe's Christmas Tree Farm, now owned by Chicago lawyer Gina Snowe, isn't the quiet vacation Liss was hoping for. Dan was never for Liss agreeing to evaluating the farm for her high school best friend (they've long since drifted apart), and the stay confirms his fears.

Gina's great-uncle disappeared seven years ago. Andy Dutton, his teenaged assistant at the time and the farm's caretaker since, knows about the business, but not what happened to its owner.

The Ruskins learn about a body found in a shipment of Christmas trees not long before Snowe disappeared. For some reason, the local Chief of Police and his sour mother are rather hostile to the visitors. The owner of the local dance studio is cold and rude, but there's no place at the farm for Liss to do the daily routine she needs to keep her weak knee limber. At least the owner of a local coffee, soup, and salad shop is nice. So is Rowena Luckenbill, the owner of All Things Mystical, an occult shop.

Why would Liss and Dan visit an occult shop? They've discovered a maze on the farm and Rowena knows about mazes. (Loved Liss' thought about Rowena's store versus the Magic Box from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See chapter four.)

It was also nice to learn, in chapter eight, that 'mountain ash' is another name for a rowan tree. (If you like ghost stories, may I recommend 'The Ash Tree' by M. R. James? http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8486/pg8486.html ) However, I disagree with Rowena about 'Monster High' (see chapter 12). I'm 60 and wish Monster High had been around when I was a kid, instead of just 'The Addams Family' and 'The Munsters'.

Then Dan is injured by an accident or 'accident'. Liss consults her friend, Sherri, about her worries. Sherri and Pete join Liss and Dan. There's a fire at the farm that leads to a gruesome discovery. That's two old murders -- committed by a local who's still living in nearby New Boston?

If so, is the killer trying to chase the two couples back to Moosetookalook? If they persist in trying to find out what happened, will the killer try to add them to the victim list?

It's a nice cozy that should allow readers to pleasantly while away [a.k.a. 'wile away'] a few hours.

Cat lovers, Liss and Dan's Lumpkin the male Maine Coone and Glenora the black cat are sadly missing from this entry, but there is a bit part played by Rowena's Scottish Fold, Gozer. (I got a smile out of why she named him for a movie demon. See chapter four.)

Dog lovers, there's a bit part played by Jonas, the beautiful golden retriever of a New Boston resident. See chapter four.)

Bad poety lovers: there's an example in chapter seven. ( )

When an old high school friend asks Liss MacCrimmon to spend a week at the Christmas tree farm she inherited from a great uncle, Liss happily accepts.
The ramshackle farmhouse isn't the idyllic vacation locale she hoped for especially when noisy neighbors raise questions about the farm's dark history. Whose body was found netted in a shipment of Scotch pine? Whey did the owner vanish into thin air? When a series of "accidents" strikes the farm, Liss will have to find the killer.
A great book for any cozy mystery reader. ( )