A Mysterious Christmas Collection – Michele Pariza Wacek

I had a sister. But Daphne is an only child.” I put the dish down and reached over to give Claire a clumsy hug. “We’ll figure it out,” I said. “You’re not alone. And Daphne isn’t alone. I promise.” Claire nodded a little. “I just … I get so scared, Charlie. And when I get scared, I don’t want to see anyone.

I just want to crawl into a hole and disappear.” “I get it,” I said. “Truly I do. But I’m not just any person, I’m your friend, right?” Claire smiled a tiny smile and nodded. “You are.” I gave her one last squeeze, then reached for the next wet dish to dry. “Tell you what. I’ve got loads of cookies at my house, and you know how I love baking …

so why don’t you come by next week and bring Daphne? We can overdose on sugar and get caught up. Okay?” Claire laughed a little, sounding almost like her old self. “That’s all I need … a hyped-up toddler on sugar.” She raised her head and looked me in the eye, and in that moment, the years fell away, and she was the same Claire who had welcomed me to Redemption.

“I’d like that.” *** “Charlie, got a minute?” Wyle stood by the kitchen door, his pose casual. At least, it looked like he was trying very hard to appear casual. Instantly, my senses went on high alert. Had something happened? Had Anastasia somehow disappeared? Claire nodded at me. “Go on. I can finish up here.” “I’ll see you next week?” I asked. She grinned. “Absolutely. I need a Christmas cookie sugar rush.”

“Then you’re coming to the right place,” I said with a smile before hanging up the dish towel and following Wyle out of the kitchen. He led me through the house, toward the family room.

A Mysterious Christmas Collection Copyright © 2025 by Michele Pariza Wacek. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in a review.

For more information, contact Michele Pariza Wacek, PO Box 10430 Prescott, AZ 86304. [email protected]. ISBN 979-8-89351-033-1 books included in this compilation: Secret Santa Murder Copyright © 2025 by Michele Pariza Wacek ISBN 979-8-89351-035-5 The Mysterious Case of the Dead Elf Copyright © 2025 by Michele Pariza Wacek ISBN 979-8-89351-037-9 . . 1kitap1.com/en For my family, for always believing in me. 1kitap1.com/en Secret Santa Murder Chapter 1 “Charlie, thank goodness you’re here.”

Pat immediately ushered me into her foyer, taking my coat off before she had even shut the front door. “It’s already falling apart, and the party has barely even started.” “How can a Secret Santa party fall apart?” I asked, trying to juggle the three Tupperware containers full of homemade Christmas cookies and my wrapped Secret Santa present. The sounds of laughter and holiday music floated in from the back of the house, and I grimaced. I didn’t like to be late, especially to one of Pat’s parties, but at the last minute, I had decided to bake a batch of gingerbread cookies to go along with my famous Merry Christmas Butter Cookies and Pecan Fingers, and it took longer than I anticipated.

“It’s just friends and family members, right?” Pat gave me a frazzled look. “That was before half the guest list bailed on me. Now, I have people here I barely know, and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to feed them. I already burned the baked brie.” “You made baked brie?” As far as I knew, Pat had never even attempted to bake before. She was more into eating food than in preparing it. Pat looked at me in exasperation. “What part of ‘burning’ don’t you understand? No, I didn’t make baked brie!

It’s burnt! That’s why I need your help!” Pat was a good decade or so older than me, and the best way to describe her was round—plump, with a round face, round black-rimmed glasses, and short, no-nonsense brown hair that was turning gray. She had been one of my first tea customers and had become a good friend. “Of course. Whatever you need,” I said as soothingly as possible while simultaneously wondering if there was time for me to run home to get some of my extra-strength calming tea.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 8585abc96f971aca
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,802,045 bytes (3.626 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9798893510331, 9798893510355, 9798893510379
• Pages: 152
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 250.79 minutes
• Total Words: 50,158
• Total Characters: 272,589
• Average Words per Page: 329.99
• Average Characters per Page: 1793.35

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