The Edelweiss Brooch

When a glamorous chalet owner vanishes during a blizzard, a sharp-witted journalist discovers that nothing in this Alpine village is what it seems.

Elodie Marchand is having a bad year. Fresh from a brutal breakup in Paris, she arrives in the snow-dusted Austrian village of Sankt Anselm with a simple commission: write a puff piece about a luxury ski resort. Fondue, fireplaces, two thousand words, go home. Easy.

Then she meets Margaux Fleischer - the magnetic, secretive owner of Chalet Fleischer - and everything gets complicated.

When Margaux disappears during a savage blizzard, leaving behind a blood-soaked jacket on the slopes, smashed goggles at the edge of a ravine, and no body, the local police call it an accident. Elodie calls it wrong. Armed with nothing but a journalist's instinct, a battered notebook, and a stubborn refusal to leave questions unanswered, she begins asking the questions no one else will.

The suspects are plentiful: a sharp-tongued resort manager hiding financial secrets. A charming ex-husband drowning in gambling debts. A village priest with a thirty-year grudge and a crumbling church. And a silver-haired property developer whose patience, ambition, and impeccable cashmere conceal something far more dangerous than a business proposal.

As Elodie digs deeper into the Fleischer family's tangled legacy - the inherited fortune, the bitter land disputes, the village torn between tradition and development - she finds allies in unlikely places: a quiet mountain doctor carrying secrets of his own, a shy cable car attendant who sees more than anyone believes, and a gregarious barman whose warmth and loyalty may not be exactly what they appear.

But someone doesn't want Elodie asking questions. A threatening note slipped under her door. A near-miss on the slopes. The danger is escalating, and the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes that the mystery she's investigating may not be the mystery she thinks it is.

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Austrian Alps - where the snow is deep, the secrets are deeper, and a cup of Glühwein can't solve everything - The Edelweiss Brooch is a cozy mystery with a twist you won't see coming, a cast of characters you won't forget, and an ending that will make you want to start all over again from page one.

Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Lucy Foley, and anyone who has ever wanted to solve a murder over fondue.