A Miniature Sleigh And Eight Hundred Reindeer

It’s 1983. Christmas. Montana. A snow-choked mountain estate. A crumbling family empire. A body in a field. And twenty-four suspects trapped inside. When the wealthy and irascible Casper Klondike is found dead during the annual holiday gathering at Thorngate Manor — a sprawling, pine-entombed fortress straight out of a Gothic fever dream — the question isn’t who would want him dead… but who didn’t? Enter Samichlaus “Sami” Folks, a quiet fourteen-year-old mystery nerd with a tragic past and a stomach full of secrets. Alongside her sardonic sister-in-law Jessica, her lovestruck newfound friend Autumn, and a deranged (yet oddly functional) found family of siblings, twin cousins, widows, war vets, and vodka-soaked elders — Sami must navigate the mansion’s winding halls, bitter grudges, and eerie whispers to uncover the truth. But nothing is simple at Thorngate. There’s the mysterious brooch. The family chapel. The festive living room. The cryptic mausoleum. The reindeer. The dreams. The visions. The family curse. The haunting spirit. Oh — and the newly birthed Sisterhood. Don’t forget them. Blending the eccentric humor of P.G. Wodehouse, the snow-globe nostalgia of John Hughes, and the locked-room intrigue of Agatha Christie, this debut novel is equal parts dark comedy, holiday horror, and psychological whodunit. It’s a murder mystery. It’s a family drama. It’s a coming-of-age descent into grief, guilt, and girlhood — where secrets tangle like Christmas lights, and sometimes, growing up means figuring out who to trust… and who might kill again. A Miniature Sleigh and Eight Hundred Reindeer is the first in a multi-book mystery series featuring Sami Folks — a reluctant sleuth learning that even in the most joyful season, the truth can be colder than snow.