The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

Maggie cannot sleep that night, so she heads to the library and runs into Ethan. He asks her why she doesn’t like him, and she says that she doesn’t know him. However, he claims that they’ve known each other for five years, and she counters that he couldn’t have picked her out of a lineup until a few months ago. He reacts with incredulity. Suddenly, they hear Cece banging on Eleanor’s door; she has brought Eleanor the tea tray, but the door is locked. Cece calls out that she found a box of Eleanor’s favorite tea tucked away in the cupboard. Eleanor doesn’t respond, other than to turn up the volume on her classical music. Cece leaves the tray, saying that Eleanor is not to stay up too late: doctor’s orders. Ethan tells Maggie that he could always pick her out of a lineup, then walks away.

A year ago, Deborah called Maggie to tell her that her most recent novel was a finalist for a popular national book club. If the title were to be chosen, the exposure and resulting sales would be life-changing. The house was being prepared for a big Christmas party that Maggie didn’t want to have, but she went in search of Emily and Colin to tell them the good news. She could not find them at first, but then she walked in on them both together in her bedroom.

Two days before Christmas, the snowstorm hits Mistletoe Manor. Ethan flirts with Maggie at breakfast before Kitty announces that she has planned some Christmas activities for them all. Cece rushes in, asking if anyone has seen Eleanor this morning, but no one has. Cece says that Eleanor is not in her bedroom or the library; she’s gone.

Everyone rushes to Eleanor’s study, which is still locked. Eleanor always keeps the only key with her. The group bickers while Maggie and Ethan look on. She sees him make a decision, and then he kicks the door open.

Eleanor isn’t there, and Maggie finds the key on the floor. Rupert suggests that there must be two keys and that his aunt must have locked the door from the outside when she left. However, Ethan points out that the slide bolt was engaged; the door could not have been locked from the outside.

Ethan suggests that they split up to search for Eleanor. A few minutes later, he and Maggie stand alone in the study, and Maggie realizes that they don’t know for certain that Eleanor was in that room; they only heard her record playing. Ethan starts the music again, but it’s not the same music they heard last night. This time, it’s a song that Maggie recognizes from one of Eleanor’s books. She recalls her boss Deborah saying, “Something is coming next year. Very big. Very hush-hush. And I think you’re the person for the job” (81). Then Maggie thinks of Eleanor’s comment upon their arrival that she likes “a twist.” Remembering how Colin always told her that she was imagining things, Maggie suggests that she and Ethan split up. (She wants to test her theory in private.)

Maggie races to the library and locks the door behind her. She reaches for the copy of Eleanor’s book, Roses Are Dead, Violets Are Blue and opens it to find a sprig of mistletoe tucked inside. She reads the novel’s epigraph, which states that “a murder isn’t a murder when there is no death. And a mystery isn’t a mystery when [….]. It’s only a test” (84). Reading this, Maggie realizes that Eleanor is testing them all. She also thinks that Deborah knew what was going to happen and that this is not just a test but a contest. And Maggie wants to win.

Maggie asks James if she can make a phone call, but he says that the phone lines are down. He admits that it is sometimes possible to get a cell signal in the dilapidated tower of the east wing. A few minutes later, Maggie gets a weak signal and calls Deborah, leaving a voicemail outlining her suspicions. Ethan suddenly appears behind her, but she ignores his questions about what she’s doing and goes to look for the others.

Maggie and Ethan find the other guests eating lunch in the dining room. Ethan asks Maggie what’s going on with her. He pulls the mistletoe sprig from behind her ear and says he can make an exception and kiss her, though the mistletoe should be over her head. He can tell that she is up to something. Maggie wants to win Eleanor’s contest, and she thinks of how Eleanor invited three authors to her Christmas game—Ethan, Maggie, and Sir Jasper. However, none of the others yet realize that this is all a game. Ethan asks her to share what she knows, but she refuses. She needs time to herself to think things through and figure out the next clue. She looks out the window to the grounds and spots a garden maze, just like the one in Eleanor’s first bestseller.

Maggie is so engrossed in following the maze that she doesn’t realize how cold it is outside. Ethan follows her, and she claims to be checking to make sure that Eleanor didn’t wander into the labyrinth and get lost. Ethan has brought her Eleanor’s favorite coat, hat, and mittens. He overheard part of Maggie’s phone call: the part where she stated that this is a test. When he asks why Eleanor would devise such a test, Maggie guesses that the author is retiring and preparing to pick a successor. Ethan flirts a little more, asking if Maggie wants to “make out”; this time, she is tempted. Eventually, though, she storms away, and he asks her why she hates him. She insists that they both hate each other, but he claims that he could never hate her. He begs her to tell him what he did wrong.

Eleven months ago, Deborah called Maggie to say that the book club had selected the other finalist. Deborah tried to reason that Maggie didn’t need all that pressure in the midst of the stress of her divorce. Maggie wanted to know which book beat hers, and Deborah admitted that it was Ethan Wyatt’s.

Now, two days before Christmas, Ethan asks Maggie why she hates him. She says that she overheard him say that he wasn’t surprised Colin left her. She storms off, and although Ethan pleads with her to stay, she ignores him. He doesn’t follow her. Fuming, she reflects that his book beat hers, and he was right about Colin. She won’t let him win this time. If Maggie can win this contest, she feels that everything else she’s lost will have been worth it. Suddenly, she hears a loud bang, then another. Ethan dives on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She tells him to get off of her, and he promises to do so just as soon as the shooting stops.

Maggie thought she’d feel smothered, but she just feels warm underneath Ethan. He grows serious and asks if she was hit. Maggie can’t really answer, so Ethan checks her over for injuries. He pulls her up and tells her to run for the house, promising that he has her. When they reach the building, Maggie accuses him of overreacting, but he insists that someone was shooting at her. She doesn’t believe him because this is all supposedly a test. He assures her that the rifle he heard is very real. Maggie asks how he could possibly know what kind of gun it was, and he explains that his knowledge comes from the fact that he is “the guy who takes the bullet” (107). They argue about whether to call the police, but when they hear someone scream, they run to Eleanor’s study and find Cece standing over Sir Jasper, who is lying unconscious on the floor.

Ethan confirms that Sir Jasper is alive, and Kitty and Dr. Charles rush toward him. He needs an ambulance, but the phone lines are down. Maggie says she got a faint signal in the east tower earlier, and Freddy runs off to try. Sir Jasper vomited before passing out, so Maggie suspects that he has been poisoned. Kitty says his heartrate is too slow, and Maggie says it’s probably wolfsbane and asks if there is any activated charcoal in the house. James goes to check. Ethan tells everyone to leave the room, but Maggie is in shock. He speaks softly, asking her if she knows what this means, and she says that this is not a test.

Freddy can’t get a signal, but the duke says he drove his Range Rover to the manor; they could use the vehicle to get Sir Jasper to the hospital. Rupert says they don’t need the police and insists that he won’t have “nonsense” in his house. Ethan reports that someone shot at Maggie outside. Cece is concerned, but Rupert accuses Ethan of lying. Then the front doors fly open, and a burly man announces that the bridge is out; he had to walk from his car. He searches the group for Eleanor’s face and asks what he missed.

The man is Inspector William Dobson. He says that he just twisted his ankle, which is now swollen and purple. He asks Maggie why she thinks someone was shooting at her. She theorizes that it might be because she was wearing Eleanor’s coat and hat; given the poor visibility, she looked like Eleanor in the snow. They surmise that someone is trying to kill Eleanor and mistakenly shot at Maggie instead. Dobson points out Maggie’s observation that someone gave Sir Jasper a deadly poison. He asks why the writer isn’t dead, and Maggie explains that it’s a question of how much Sir Jasper ingested, as poison and medicine often vary only in the dosage. Ethan points out that the amount would have killed the much smaller Eleanor. Maggie realizes that she is leaning on Ethan; she is surprised by how quickly their relationship has changed. Dobson says he can think of only two people who would benefit from the deaths of Eleanor and Sir Jasper: Maggie and Ethan.

Sir Jasper’s condition stabilizes, and Kitty says the charcoal saved him. At Dobson’s pronouncement, Maggie starts to panic, but Ethan reminds her that they have alibis for when Sir Jasper was poisoned. Maggie is sure that Dobson doesn’t believe them. Ethan asks if she believes him, and she says she does. Maggie startles when he calls her by her real, full name, and he says that he has been “paying attention” to her because she’s “the best” (123). He even knows that she started using three pen names in the past year; he doesn’t know why, but he is determined to find out.

Together, they find a gun case with a broken lock, as well as an empty spot from which the rifle was taken. He tells Maggie that they can only trust each other and no one else in the house. They return to the library, and Maggie is shocked to realize how grateful she is for Ethan’s presence. She now depends on him and finds comfort in him. Dobson confirms that everyone is still under suspicion for Sir Jasper’s attempted murder.