Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests

The time-honored Red Sox versus Yankees rivalry...bitter, divorced parents who can't stop bickering...a challenging teenage daughter who questions everything her mother tells her....These are the least of overworked homicide investigator Laurencia Rivera's troubles when she's stalked during an important case. A teenager turns up dead in the woods, brutally murdered, and it looks like it might be politically motivated....the short-handed homicide team can't seem to get a handle on the case...things just keep going wrong....Is someone trying to intimidate Laurencia Rivera and her investigators, to protect the killer and prevent him from being caught? Better known as Larry, the gutsy, romance-challenged Connecticut state trooper is desperate to avoid World War III when her parents announce they are both coming for the holidays. She thinks that renting a room for her father at the Four Acorns Inn will solve the problem, but it just makes everything worse. -- Larry's mother is offended that her ex-husband, a Boston Red Sox assistant coach, gets all the pampering; she's determined to kick up a fuss. When Mama's unhappy, everyone is going to hear about it! Sometimes the only thing for a good friend to do at a time like this is to offer respite from a quickly unraveling family life by stepping in and taking charge of the care and feeding of the entire Rivera family. Scarlet Wilson, innkeeper at the Four Acorns Inn and amateur sleuth, is the perfect person for the task. If only she stuck to guest services.... "Miz Scarlet" may not have Larry's professional cop training, but that doesn't stop her from going head to head with a killer bent on revenge! Her boyfriend, Kenny Tolliver, happens to be a public safety expert and he's got some tricks up his sleeve. But it's Larry's former partner, Max, who rallies the troops with an amazing effort to rescue the uncooperative damsel in distress....It's amazing what a guy in love will do to save the woman he adores, but will it be enough? Can love save the day? Before the Rivera visit to the Four Acorns Inn ends, not only will a killer be sent packing, everyone will learn the shocking reason for the bitter divorce of "The Spitball King" and the "Queen of Clean", and the mystery will finally be solved as to how the granddaughter of a Red Sox assistant coach came to be named after a famous Yankee center fielder. (Novella)