Midnight Mass Heist: A Christmas Mystery Set in Historic St. Augustine

By Maris Quinn

When 27-year-old Clara Ellison, a meticulous but quietly bold historical archivist, returns to St. Augustine, Florida to spend Christmas with her grandmother, she expects nothing more dramatic than sorting old family photos and sipping coquito under palm-wrapped string lights. But during the packed Christmas Eve midnight Mass at the centuries-old Cathedral Basilica, a shocking event shatters the calm:
the church's priceless hand-carved 18th-century nativity figurine of the Christ Child suddenly vanishes-right in front of hundreds of stunned witnesses.

As panic ripples through the congregation, Clara notices something odd: an elderly usher clutching an old hymnal with strange ink sketches in the margins. When he collapses moments later, the hymnal falls into Clara's hands-and inside she discovers pages filled with coded illustrations, symbols she recognizes from her archival work. Soon more altered hymnals surface across the city, each containing a different piece of a puzzle.

Following the trail, Clara uncovers clues pointing to a long-forgotten network of tunnels and coastal pathways once used as a 19th-century smuggling route. Someone is using these symbols to reactivate the old operation, and the stolen figurine is far more than a religious artifact-it is a key designed to authenticate the smuggler's lineage and unlock a hidden cache.

With the city's historic district glittering under Christmas lights and tourists crowding every narrow brick street, Clara must navigate old secrets, local legends, and mistrustful townsfolk to uncover the truth. But the closer she gets, the more she realizes she isn't the only one deciphering the clues-
and the thief knows she's following.

As Christmas Day dawns, Clara races through St. Augustine's ancient corridors and forgotten smugglers' passages to stop a modern-day criminal from resurrecting a dangerous legacy. The mystery of the missing figurine becomes a confrontation between past and present-
and Clara must risk everything to protect the history she loves.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G3X6M43L
• ISBN13: 9798275966893
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 138 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"