Trixie loves Christmas. She loves everything about it – decorating her house and her diner, cooking, being with friends and family, the Christmas pageant, and the snow. The one thing she did not like this Christmas was falling down her front steps and breaking her leg and a few ribs. That did slow her down a bit, but with some help from her friends, she managed to fulfill her catering obligations and keep her diner running. Trixie even attended the pageant rehearsals on crutches, and when the director of the pageant was found dead – with Trixie’s knife in her back – Trixie steps in to run the pageant. From then on, she is poking her nose, and her leg in its cast, into places she has no right to be. Spurned on and helped by her friend Antoinette Cloe, she hobbles around, looking for clues, aggravating the local police to point of arrest (even though they are friends and share custody of a dog), and putting herself in danger. Likable characters in a plot that cleverly combines a murder with the true meaning of Christmas, this novel is a quick read and entertaining at any time of year. ( )