Bailey Briggs Faces a Christmas Season Murder in Emmeline Duncan’s New Cozy Mystery
Kirkus Reviews has highlighted Emmeline Duncan’s latest Bailey Briggs novel, set in Eylan Hollow, where a bookshop owner preparing for the holidays is pulled into a death at an escape room tied to the town’s hidden tunnel system. The setup blends seasonal atmosphere, family secrets, and local history into a locked-room-style puzzle that quickly becomes a murder investigation.
Kirkus Reviews is drawing attention to Emmeline Duncan’s new cozy mystery, which shifts the Bailey Briggs series from Halloween’s eerie afterglow into the bustle of Christmas prep at the Lazy Bones Bookshop. In Eylan Hollow, Bailey is trying to get through the holiday season with help from her staff and her large dog, Jack, but the town’s latest historical dispute soon drags her into another case.
A holiday setting turns ominous
The trouble begins at a reception where two rival historical societies are set to discuss mapping Eylan Hollow’s tunnel system. Bailey encounters bestselling horror author Rex Abbot there, a man she has recently discovered is her biological father after being raised by her grandparents. The event is already tense, and Bailey watches a series of arguments break out among the society members.
That tension follows her a few days later to the Museum of Peculiar Oddities, a gift shop run by Finn Thomas, a childhood friend and romantic interest. Finn has converted a bank vault in his building into an escape room and invites Bailey to see it before the attraction officially opens. What begins as a game turns deadly when Walter Reeves, who is connected to one of the historical societies, collapses with a head wound before the group can make much progress.