Welcome to Gull Bay — a picture-postcard harbour village in the Channel Islands where the sea sparkles, the cakes are legendary, and secrets lie buried beneath the golden sand.

Meet April Hart. Gull Bay resident, café owner . . . and reluctant amateur sleuth.

It’s nearly Christmas, and April is back home after six weeks away planning a TV cookery show.

She’s delighted to find the little harbour transformed into a glittering Christmas market — wooden cabins strung with fairy lights, an ice rink, and a giant tree outside the village’s cosy pub.

But the festive magic soon turns deadly when a local reporter is crushed beneath a stack of fallen timber — identified only by her sequinned Christmas-tree earrings.

The police think it a tragic accident, but April’s not convinced.

Then the market claims its second victim . . . and the evidence points straight to April as the killer.

Her reputation on the line, April must unwrap the truth before the murderer strikes again — because in Gull Bay this December, not everything waiting under the tree is a gift.

Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Fiona Leitch, the Rev Richard Coles, M.C. Beaton, Lucy Connelly and Ellery Adams.