An Angel for Christmas (Thorndike Press Large Print Core)
The MacDougal clan is gathering to celebrate Christmas at the family home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The three siblings, usually at odds with one another, are expected to be present—and they come with great reluctance.
Oldest son, Shayne, is despondent and angry over his divorce from wife, Cindy. At the last minute, she allows him to take their children for the holiday, while she is due to take a jaunt to Europe with her new beau.
Middle child, Morweena, a high-powered executive in New York and romantically tied to Alex, wants to accompany him to Mexico where he has planned an office escape for the holiday. But Morweena is obligated to be with her family and is disappointed Alex would not join her.
Bobby, the youngest, is currently floundering through life trying to appease Mike, his father. His dad is trying to convince him to find a lucrative career when all he wants is to immerse himself in his music.
The siblings arrive during a blizzard and are outside feuding when they overhear someone groaning. They discover a man beaten and left to die in the frigid forest. Taking him in, Shayne uses his doctoring skills to tend to his wounds, finding the man is not critically injured.
The stranger soon regains consciousness and introduces himself as Gabe Lange, a state cop on the trail of escaped convict, Luke DeFeo. DeFeo had bested him by beating him then changing clothes with the cop while he was unconscious—effectively stealing his identity.
Gabe regains his strength determined to apprehend Luke, but they insist he remains to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner with them. A storm rages, the phone lines and Internet are down making contact with the outside world impossible; and the “children” soon become enamored with the stranger. But there’s something about the stranger that parents Mike and Morweena do not trust.
They all celebrate the holiday. On Christmas Day, the storm breaks, and they decide to make the trek to the tavern a mile down the mountain. A man dressed as a cop arrives there, claiming to be the real state police officer. Is he? Who is the criminal?
An Angel for Christmas captures the joy and warmth of the Christmas spirit even though family disharmony threatens to shatter it. Filed with mystery, intrigue, and romance, the novel suggests that it can often take a stranger or an outsider to lend a dysfunctional family the proper perspective when it comes to the true meaning of love and other important things in life.