Trafalger, British Columbia is a quiet resort town. The big attraction is the variety of magnificent ski slopes and that’s exactly what attracted a group of young, upper-crust sports enthusiasts to the area during the Christmas break.

Constable Molly Smith finds herself working on this particularly snowy Christmas Eve and the weather is keeping her busy indeed. The slippery road conditions are causing minor traffic accidents all over town. And then a call comes in for a serious situation when a large SUV skids off of the road and plunges through the ice and into the river. When the car is retrieved, authorities discover the bodies of two young men inside, apparent drowning victims.

The driver of the SUV, Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth, and his buddy Ewan were part of a group visiting from Ontario, their skiing vacation coming to an abrupt and tragic end. A routine autopsy done on the bodies uncovers the puzzling fact that Ewan, the passenger in the SUV, had been dead for about twenty-four hours prior to the accident. Constable Molly suddenly has a suspicious death on her hands.

Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth’s parents, with their constant interference, only make the investigation more difficult and his sister Wendy muddies the water even further. And then there’s Lorraine LeBlanc, a local girl from a troubled family who claims to be Jason’s true love. Lorraine doesn’t seem to fit in. She looks like a piece from a different puzzle.

Molly and her partner, Sergeant John Winters, look into the background of the victims and uncover some less than wholesome facts about the two young men. And all the while Molly’s mother, "Lucky," keeps looking over her shoulder and offering her motherly advice.

To complicate matters, Molly also has to deal with a recently paroled sexual predator with revenge on his mind.

This is not a typical mystery full of sinister characters with evil motives. All of the main characters are normal suburbanites who have been thrown into a non-typical set of circumstances. None of the suspects are career criminals and there doesn’t appear to be any clear-cut motive for murder. I feel that this adds a great amount of believability to the plot because the players are all behaving like real people and Author Vicki Delany makes sure that they come across that way. This book gives the reader the sensation of being part of the story because the cast is made of people just like the folks next door. I give it a high recommendation.