Murder on the Candlelight Tour: A Holiday Homes Tour Cozy Mystery with Hidden Stairwells and Deadly Inspections

About Murder on the Candlelight Tour: A Holiday Homes Tour Cozy Mystery with Hidden Stairwells and Deadly Inspections

The Candlelight Homes Tour is Bramble Cross’s most elegant night of the year. Historic houses glow with lanterns. Guests wander candlelit halls. And Delia Finch is busy supplying pastries for the event while trying to keep her bakery—Proof & Pastry—on solid ground. Then the lights go out. Moments later, a body is discovered in a hidden servant stairwell. The victim is a powerful restoration consultant who had been preparing building-code violations that could shut down several historic properties—including Delia’s bakery. By morning, anonymous complaints and surprise inspections begin piling up against Proof & Pastry. Someone wants Delia’s business closed. And someone was willing to kill to keep their secrets hidden. With Detective Ben Calder under pressure to keep Delia out of the investigation, she begins asking questions of her own. The suspects include wealthy homeowners on the tour, preservation lawyers, contractors, a city permit clerk, and members of the historic grant committee—all with reputations and fortunes on the line. But as Delia follows the trail of permits, inspections, and falsified records, she uncovers something far more dangerous. The murder is tied to a decades-old cover-up…one connected to the courthouse annex fire that killed Delia’s mother. Now the truth someone buried years ago is starting to surface—and the closer Delia gets to it, the more dangerous the Candlelight Tour becomes. Because the killer isn’t finished protecting the past. And this time, Delia may be the next problem that needs to disappear.

Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries filled with small-town secrets, clever clues, and amateur sleuths who refuse to back down