Liz McCall grew up in a playful winter wonderland but it was never her dream to manage her father´s vintage toyshop. However, after he sank his entire police pension into the business, someone needed to help him turn his dreams into reality--and keep him from sneaking off to patrol the not-so-mean streets of East Aurora, NY. The mood goes from nice to naughty when a nervous man, who was trying to have his antique toys appraised, is found in the shop with a lawn dart through his chest. Suddenly, Liz´s business plan is plunged into deep freeze, while she and her father find themselves toying with a cold-blooded killer who´s playing for keeps. Now, it looks like Christmas might be cancelled for the neighborhood kids if Liz can´t wrap up the case in Barbara Early´s delightful debut Death of a Toy Soldier.