It's All Downhill

Winter is a time for many people to head to the hills. Skiing, snowboarding, and my favourite, tobogganing are great winter fun. Reading about it can be fun as well, as evident by these light hearted skiing mysteries:

Double Black: a Ski Diva mystery (M)
by Wendy Clinch

"First in a very cool (literally) skiing series that introduces a sleuth who has ditched grad school, along with her cheating fiancee, to become a ski bum Twenty-something Stacey Curtis is living the life she' s always dreamed about--until she finds a dead body in the ski chalet. And after her new landlord turns out to be the local sheriff, her life contains a whole lot more suspense than she bargained for. Populated with quirky characters, loaded with New England atmosphere, and co-starring a handsome young hunk with nerve, a sense of humor about it all, and an enormous trust fund, Double Black is an exciting run down some mysterious and treacherous trails." - Fantastic Fiction


The Body in the Snowdrift : a Faith Fairchild mystery (M)
by Katherine Hall Page

"When caterer Faith Fairchild learns of her father-in-law's plan to celebrate his seventieth birthday by treating his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren to a weeklong stay at the Pine Slopes resort, her reaction is mixed. Yes, she likes to ski and yes, she loves the kin of her husband, the Reverend Thomas Fairchild, but both in smaller and shorter doses. The Fairchilds have been coming to the ski area since Tom and his siblings were toddlers and are old friends of the owners, the Staffords. All starts well as the family settles into neighboring condos, until Faith discovers a body on one of the cross-country trails..." - Publisher

Too Rich and Too Dead (M)
by Cynthia Baxter

"Have suitcase, will sleuth... Mallory Marlowe, travel writer for the Good Life magazine, heads to Colorado to answer the question: Can nonskiers have fun in Aspen? It's also a chance to visit a now rich and famous high-school classmate, Carly Cassidy Berman. Cheerleader, homecoming queen, and class president, Carly had it all then and still does - a sprawling mountainside home, an adoring husband, and a multimillion-dollar business centered around her super-exclusive Tavaci Springs spa. But not all is what it seems in Carly's golden life, because within twenty-four hours of Mallory's arrival, Carly's corpse turns up in a mud bath. Against a dazzling backdrop of majestic ski slopes, ritzy boutiques, and slumming celebrities, Mallory suddenly discovers that Aspen's main attraction is a dazzling array of suspects - one of whom is eager to see this accidental sleuth's travels come to an end. As Mallory begins to uncover the secrets hidden amid Aspen's snow, will a desperate killer make this playground for the pampered and privileged Mallory's final destination?" - Summary