New Bites: Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison

Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison comes out today.



Father Tom Christmas, the recently widowed vicar adjusting to life in
the English village of Thornford Regis, would do almost anything to
avoid attending the annual Robert Burns Supper at the local hotel. But
as chaplain to a traditional Scottish pipe band, Father Tom must deliver
the grace—and contend with wailing bagpipes, whiskey-laced parishioners
reciting poetry, and the culinary abomination that is haggis.


As snow falls to unprecedented depths, the revelers carry on—briefly
interrupted by an enigmatic stranger seeking shelter. Then Will Moir,
proprietor of the hotel and a dedicated piper, inexplicably goes
missing—only to be found later in the hotel’s dark tower, alone and dead
from what appears to be a heart attack.

Father Tom’s own
heart sinks when he learns the actual cause of Will’s demise. When word
gets out, the flurry of innocent speculation descends into outlandish
gossip. And, for all its tranquil charm, Thornford Regis has plenty to
gossip about—illicit trysts, muted violence, private sorrows, and old,
unresolved tragedies. The question is: Who would benefit most from the
piper’s death? Suspicion swirls around many, including Will’s beautiful
widow, their shadowy son, Will’s obnoxious brother-in-law, and even the
mysterious party crasher, who knows more than she lets on about the
grudges she left behind—but never forgot.

Brimming with wit,
full of genuine surprise, and featuring one of the most memorable (and
unlikely) detectives in mystery fiction, C. C. Benison’s second Father
Christmas mystery will delight readers with a puzzle that truly defies
solution.