Why was it fancy Valentine's Day drinks were always tinted red? Reminded me more of gore and mayhem than anything to do with romance. Which said a lot, I suppose, for my state of mind when it came to relationships and dating.

No bitterness in Fiona Fleming toward the opposite sex or anything.

I sipped carefully at the mimosa the bartender smilingly handed me and shrugged off the sweetness. It had alcohol in it, so I guess it would do. A few of these and I might even find a way to enjoy myself tonight. Yeah, right.

Fiona Fleming would rather be home, at her bed and breakfast with her pug Petunia snuggled up to her while everyone else celebrates Valentine's Day without her, thank you very much. Instead, she's been recruited to attend another of Mayor Olivia Walker's Reading, Vermont tourism promotion events. But when the young majority stakeholder in the White Valley Ski Lodge ends up dead, she's ready and willing to help Sheriff Crew Turner and her father uncover who killed their victim while a snowstorm cuts them off from the rest of the world.