The Ember Ridge Christmas Case

Subsequently published as THE AMISH BONNETMAKER'S COLD-BLOODED STALKER-AND HER CHRISTMAS PROTECTOR WHO WON'T STAND DOWN UNTIL HE'S CAUGHT by McKenzie Boone, Author.

Amish bonnet-maker Christabel Zook was tired of caring for her siblings. The eldest of ten, she left Ember Ridge, a destination-Christmas town full of gingerbread, hot cocoa, and Christmas trees, for a bonnet-making apprenticeship miles away. For a year, she's ignored her mother's letters that pleaded with her to visit. But then, in the middle of a stitch, Christabel receives the news that will change her life forever. A beloved uncle has been murdered. Guilt-ridden that she's stayed away, and determined to find answers, Christabel boards a train for home. On that train ride, by startling chance, she discovers the villain who murdered her uncle, and once she does, he swears he'll make sure she never tells.

Jakob Preller is a successful fire investigator who carries secrets. At 16, an unsolved crime took his family from him. Disillusioned and in a terrible crisis of faith, he fled the Amish, vowing to never look back. He struck out on his own, still a teen, in the English world. Now, called back to Ember Ridge to investigate an Amish murder, he reunites with the world he ran from. With Christabel's help, Jakob works to untangle the complicated twists of the mystery, and the faith he turned his back on. Dead-set on protecting Christabel, he'll stop at nothing to shield her from the ruthless stalker hunting her at every turn. In the process, Jakob uncovers long-buried secrets that could shockingly link this crime to the one that destroyed his family all those years before.

Will Christabel and Jakob's forced proximity develop into romance? Will Jakob's dark past be too much for him to overcome? Will Christabel's gentle yet stubborn affection win him back to the Amish community that never stopped praying for him? If yes, the happily-ever-after in this cozy mystery will be hard-won, and their devotion will last a lifetime.