Title: Finding Christmas

Author: Gail Gaymer Martin

Publisher: Steeple Hill

ISBN: 0-373-81123-3

Genre: Inspirational/Romantic/Suspense

Joanna Fuller has lost it all. Her husband, Greg, and three-year-old daughter, Mandy, died three years earlier when Greg’s car slid off the road into the icy waters of Lake St. Claire, Michigan. Joanna has struggled to get on with her life, but she’s never had closure about her daughter’s death. And now, someone is calling, claiming that her daughter is alive . . .

Benjamin Drake has loved Joanna since he met her. He struggled with this love, since Joanna was married. But now Greg is dead, and Joanna should be ready to move on. The only trouble is, Joanna seems to be fixated on her deceased daughter.

When threatening emails start haunting Joanna at work and the phone calls continue to come to her house, Benjamin calls the police. But Joanna starts sleuthing on her own. Did someone kidnap her daughter? Or did Mandy really die that fateful day in Lake St. Claire?

Finding Christmas is Gail Martin’s first romantic suspense, and I liked it much better than her sweet romances. There was intrigue. Excitement. The characters are well developed, and only a little bit flat at times. I had to keep reading because I wanted to see what happened next in this story.

I enjoyed the snowy Christmassy Michigan setting and the holiday feel about the book. Finding Christmas is a great book to pick up for the suspense lover during the upcoming holiday season. Discussion questions are included at the end. $5.99. 186 pages.