Winter Formal

The sixty-third annual Winter Formal was meant to celebrate community. Instead, it ends in silence.

When the event's talented coordinator collapses mid-speech at the Firehouse Social Hall, the town of Ridgeway Springs is stunned. What first appears to be a tragic medical emergency quickly begins to look like something far more complicated. And in a small mountain town where traditions run deep, complicated rarely stays quiet for long.

Innkeeper Eloise Stevens, former archivist turned reluctant amateur sleuth, has already learned that returning home means facing the past head-on. As co-host of the gala at the Ridgeway Springs Inn, she was close enough to notice the small details others missed: a removed auction item, tense conversations in shadowed hallways, and financial records that don't quite add up.

The deeper Eloise looks into the Community Fund's long history, the clearer it becomes that someone has been guarding secrets for years. With town officials under scrutiny and loyalties tested, Eloise must rely on her sharp eye for patterns, and her growing partnership with the local police chief, to untangle truth from tradition.

In Ridgeway Springs, everyone believes in the good of the community. But what if that belief is exactly what's been hiding the truth?