Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison

Reminiscent of British TV dram Midsomer Murders, this series is set in the seemingly idyllic town of Thornford Regis. Adultery and incest are among the devious residents' darkest secrets, and Father Christmas, a sarcastic vicar with a strange hatred of thermometers, pounds the town's cobblestones to solve its many crimes. In this second book of a projected 12, historical grievances come to a head with the most recent in a long line of murders. C.C. Benison tosses in so many red herrings, we're sure you'll be kept guessing until the very end.

Eleven Pipers Piping, C.C. Benison, $30.