Avon Authors Anthology, Sugarplums and Scandal

Sugarplums and Scandal

Assorted Authors

Avon, November 2006, $6.99, 336 pp.

ISBN 0061138956

"All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" by Lori Avocato. Medical insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol is determined to get the dentures an elderly man paid for to his dentures for the holidays. She believes the dentist is practicing fraud, but there is more to the story than meets the eye.

"The Lords of Misrule" by Dana Cameron. Christmas Eve in London 1722 is chaotic to say the least. A missing gift, a murdered footman and an attack on a maid put the daughter of the house in the position of finding what links these events and to whom.

"The Ghost of Christmas Passed" by Mary Daheim. B&B owner Judith McMonigle Flynn is having her whole eccentric extended family over for Christmas dinner. Her only worry is that her mother insists she saw a ghost, her who disappeared decades ago. The truth is the best gift of all.

"Partners in Crime" by Cait London. Someone is breaking into Cecilia's home messing it up and preventing her car from working. She's afraid to go to the sheriff because she thinks he's behind these crimes, but a stranger in town attaches himself to her as her protector, even though he might be the one she needs protecting from.

"Holly Go Lightly" by Suzanne MacPherson. Holly is a ghost who won't pass on until she undoes a great wrong. Somehow she must find a way to get Nick to travel to the house of her best friend Carol, where a great surprise is waiting for him.

"A Very Vampy Christmas" by Kerrelyn Sparks. Vampires have their own television network, Digital Vampire Network, and one of the shows produced on it is As A Vampire Turns starring Maggie O Brien and Dan Orlando. When Maggie realizes her leading man is not a Don Juan but a man suffering from amnesia, her heart opens up to him and she vows to find out who he was before he turned.

Avon authors from the mystery, romantic suspense, romance and paranormal genres give readers a special holiday treat with tasty tales that demonstrates each author's considerable talent.