Peter Peter, Pumpkin Cheater

I know, I know, two book posts in a row.  But it turns out that sometimes -- okay, all the time -- I read faster than I photograph.  So Lee Hollis's Death of a Pumpkin Carver it is, in all its non-gory glory.

When Hayley Powell's good-for-nothing, too-good-looking-for-his-own-good ex-husband Danny blows back into Bar Harbor, she braces herself.  He says he's changed, but she knows otherwise, especially after she finds him partying with his moonshine-mongering Uncle Otis.  But then Uncle Otis turns up dead in a cemetery, and the cops suspect Danny of doing the deed to nab the forty grand that Otis stashed in his mattress.  Hayley finds herself in the unfortunate position of trying to clear her ex's name, an adventure that involves an aspiring horror novelist, an actual horror novelist, and yet another of Hayley's exes, a mild-mannered veterinarian who also happens to be her daughter's boss.  As if all of this isn't zany enough, Hayley discovers that Danny has a crazy ex of his own.  Now, if only she can catch the killer before her jack-o-lantern light is snuffed out for good.

If your idea of a good time is comic crime, then look no further than Death of a Pumpkin Carver.  It may be just the festive fracas you need once the candy runs out.