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This Northern Californian cozy thriller takes place between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a Victorian home at the gateway to Sonoma wine country in the quaint, riverfront city of Petaluma. The dark side of the holiday unfolds in an all-woman, multi-generational household on the brink of irreversible change. Widow, Admaria and her daughter Gracie, a single mom, are settling in for what they hope will be a quiet, uneventful holiday, with slow-pleasured, traditional Italian American festive preparations. In turn heartwarming and harrowing, unexpected events occur when a stranger disturbs their sleep in the early hours of Christmas morning. Put another log on the fire, make yourself a cup of tea and settle in for unforgettable and immersive storytelling as the past, present and future collide in the company of an unforgettable cast of characters. -
New Orleans native Mademoiselle Francesca Dumas is a kept woman. At age eighteen in the second year of the American Civil War, she is the concubine of a rich New Orleans banker, Joachim Buisson. Born a quadroon, Francesca leads a sheltered life of elegant jewels, gowns, lace, and lavish balls—until a bullet shatters her dream world.
An assassin murders “her man” as Francesca stood beside him among a throng gathered atop a Mississippi River levee on April 25, 1862. Bowed by Joachim’s body, rain-soaked and blood-spattered, she vows revenge. Francesca’s passionate desire for retribution drives her into a new life as a sleuth.
