Lady Osbaldestone And The Missing Christmas Carols: 2 (Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles)

#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens brings you a heartwarming tale of a long-ago country-village Christmas a grandmother three eager grandchildren one moody teenage granddaughter an earnest young lady a gentleman in hiding and an elusive book of Christmas carols. Therese Lady Osbaldestone and her household are quietly delighted when her younger daughters three children Jamie George and Lottie insist on returning to Thereses house Hartington Manor in the village Little Moseley to spend the three weeks leading up to Christmas participating in the villages traditional events. Then out of the blue one of Thereses older granddaughters Melissa arrives on the doorstep. Her mother Thereses older daughter begs Therese to take Melissa in until the family gathering at Christmas--otherwise Melissa has nowhere else to go. Despite having no experience dealing with moody reticent teenagers like Melissa Therese welcomes Melissa warmly. The younger children are happy to include their cousin in their plans--and despite her initial aloofness Melissa discovers shes not too old to enjoy the simple delights of a village Christmas. The previous year Therese learned the trick to keeping her unexpected guests out of mischief. She casts around and discovers that the new organist who plays superbly has a strange failing. He requires the written music in front of him before he can play a piece and the churchs book of Christmas carols has gone missing. Therese immediately volunteers the services of her grandchildren who are only too happy to fling themselves into the search to find the missing book of carols. Its disappearance threatens one of the villages most-valued Christmas traditions--the Carol Service--yet as the book has always been freely loaned within the village no one imagines that it wont be found with a little application. But as Thereses intrepid four follow the trail of the book from house to house the mystery of where the book has vanished to only deepens. Then the organist hears the children singing and invites them to form a special guest choir. The children love singing and provided they find the book in time theyll be able to put on an extra-special service for the village. While the urgency and their desire to find the missing book escalates the children--being Thereses grandchildren--get distracted by the potential for romance that buds burgeons and blooms before them. Yet as Christmas nears the questions remain: Will the four unravel the twisted trail of the missing book in time to save the villages Carol Service? And will they succeed in nudging the organist and the harpist theyve found to play alongside him into seizing the happy-ever-after that hovers before the pairs noses? Second in series. A novel of 62000 words. A Christmas tale full of music and romance. Praise for the works of Stephanie Laurens Stephanie Laurens heroines are marvelous tributes to Georgette Heyer: feisty and strong. Cathy Kelly Stephanie Laurens never fails to entertain and charm her readers with vibrant plots snappy dialogue and unforgettable characters. Historical Romance Reviews Stephanie Laurens plays into readers fantasies like a master and claims their hearts time and again. Romantic Times Magazine