Christmas Mystery Thriller

Stephen Pengelly, owner of Barton Manor, is detested by the local community. When he is found murdered, there are few tears - but many suspects. Soon, the police have their work cut out identifying a murder weapon like no other, capable of inflicting terrible injuries. When Adam Bailey is asked to help, he and Eve must discover who has most to gain - and who is prepared to kill, and kill again, to achieve their objective.

It’s time to deck the halls! The holidays have arrived in Friendship Harbor, Maine, and pub owner Sophie LaFleur is eager for the extra tourism money to save her struggling business. With her pet llama the star of the school Christmas pageant, Fleece Navidad, and a pub holiday party in the works, it’s going to be a holiday to remember. Especially when the out-of-town choral vocalist staying in Sophie’s guesthouse is found dead. She’s hit her last high note, and now it's up to Sophie to solve her murder while ensuring everyone in town is having a holly jolly good time.

It's Christmas! A year since their last case, and Adam and Colin are called out of semi-retirement when Stonebridge legend and regular town Santa, Gerald Agnew, is found dead in the snow. The police believe his death to be a drunken accident, but evidence that our amateur detectives uncover points to something more sinister. When DI Whitelaw dismisses their claims, Adam and Colin must navigate drug dealers, deception and department store Santas to get to the truth.

A week before Christmas, Aggie bumps into Officer Tom Wood, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, at a new exclusive restaurant. Unfortunately, Tom is not dining alone. A beautiful young woman accompanies him. Tom introduces her as an old friend. Even though Aggie plays it off as not being jealous, her friends Betty and Roger want to learn more about this mysterious woman. Will this beautiful old friend ruin Aggie's festive mood?

It's Christmastime, but not everyone is jolly - especially not Vonne Barnett. Her dead body has been found in Victoria Square. Katie Bonner, the manager of Artisan's Alley, happens to be at the tea shop Vonne's mother, Francine, owns when the news is delivered. Vonne left a trail of men behind her so the suspects are many - but the clues are few. A broken teacup leads Katie to one of the suspects, but before she can investigate, she's attacked. Katie may be closing in on a murderer, but time is ticking because the murderer is definitely closing in on her.

When former New South Wales District Court judge Duncan Munro is found lying unconscious in a hotel room surrounded by evidence incriminating him in an affair, his close-knit family is rocked to their core. Marguerite Munro is unwilling to believe her husband of 40 years has been cheating on her, but the evidence doesn't lie. Roses, champagne, massage oils, lingerie. It's obvious he was expecting a woman and she knows darn well it wasn't her.

After getting reassigned from the North Pole by a jealous Mrs. Claus, misfit elf Holly Hopewell is sent to work in the worst place imaginable - The North Pole Emporium Department store in Mistletoe, Oregon. The elves call it Mistletoe Row, a place so devoid of joy and Christmas spirit, that many a curly-toed folk has lost their poor mind working there. But just when Holly thinks things can’t get any worse, the store’s manager, who also happens to be Mrs. Claus’s nephew, is found murdered in his office.

Ainsley decides to set aside her search for answers to her past and enjoy her first Gooseberry Christmas by volunteering along with the rest of the gang for the Christmas festival on the boardwalk. Normally Ainsley didn’t bother much with Christmas and all its trappings, but this year she is excited to join in as most of the locals are prone to do. Of course it does put a bit of a damper on the festivities when a body is found in the tree lot where the gang had offered to help out.

Paisley Burger runs the best-known pet store in Wrangler’s Hill. She’s known as much for her clumsiness as her critters—snakes, turtles, and raccoons have a habit of escaping into the city, sometimes terrorizing schoolchildren. When Paisley is found dead in her store shortly before Christmas—having struck her head against the corner of a table—her friend Geneva Pomolo suspects foul play.

It starts with the Christmas bell, scratched and worn in one of Grandma Anne's boxes in the attic. Once they put it on the tree, Anne starts to say terrifying things and act strangely. Candace and her mother assume it's her dementia talking - until they start to have dangerous encounters with a fiendish being. As the secrets of Anne's past involving her twin sister rise to the surface, the women face sinister horrors from a dark force looking for revenge. Will any of them be able to survive, or will they fall prey to the malevolent secret Grandma Anne is harboring from her past?

As Melanie attempts to deck the halls in a house overrun by pampered poodles, her event planner friend, Claire, is busy playing Santa for the wealthiest clientele on Connecticut's Gold Coast. A personal shopper gig in the affluent town of New Canaan seems like business as usual. Except Claire's stylish stint comes at a higher price than she bargains for when she stumbles over her newest customer's dead body. Named a prime suspect for murder, she begs for Melanie's help, then vanishes like cookies and milk on Christmas Eve.

Trapped in Paradise, Washington by a snowstorm, Lily and Judy fear for their lives. A sudden blizzard confines a group of shelter seekers to a lodge that has been closed for the season. The scenery is breathtaking, but when bodies start to drop, it seems clear that one of their companions is a murderer.

Tick-tock, the hour is almost up. Can these two lovers who work for LAPD stop a psycho who seems to just slip away every time?

It’s Christmas in Salem, and Winter Allen isn’t just playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in the community theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, she’s actually seeing them. And this spirit is worried that the people responsible for her murder are now after her daughter. Somehow the ghost knows Winter is a witch, and her ice magic may be the key to saving the ghost’s daughter. Jackson Walker is a PI in Salem, but he’s also a werewolf, and his heightened senses give him an edge. When a witch from the Coven of Light contacts him asking for help in finding a missing woman, he’s quick to agree.

When Gavin’s son, Kenneth, followed him into the Police Service, neither of them thought that he would make the headlines (or the statistics) as a valiant officer killed in the course of his duty. However, only days before Christmas, a routine raid on a cannabis farm turns into tragedy when Kenny is mown down by a fast-moving motor vehicle while attempting to arrest one of the gang.

When Shandra Higheagle’s dog brings her a dead body in a sleigh full of presents, her world is turned upside down. The man is a John Doe, and within twenty-four hours, another body is found. Detective Ryan Greer receives a call that has them both looking over their shoulders. A vengeful brother of a gang member who died in a gang war is out for Ryan’s blood. Shandra’s dreams and Ryan’s fellow officers may not be enough to keep them alive to share Christmas.

Polly Parrett is juggling the care of her wheelchair-bound mother, her pet-sitting business, and the sale of the family home. On top of that she finds herself having to deal with an arrogant but really sexy realtor, and Christmas is coming! None of that seems important, though, when she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and must find the real killer before an innocent homeless man and his dog are wrongly convicted.

A Christmas party is punctuated by a gunshot under a policeman’s watchful eye. A jewel heist is planned amidst the glitz and glamour of Oxford Street’s Christmas shopping. And lost in a snowstorm, a man finds a motive for murder.... This collection of mysteries explores the darker side of the festive season, from unexplained disturbances in the fresh snow to the darkness that lurks beneath the sparkling decorations.

Christmas: a time for family and festivity. Unless you’re in Adder’s Fork, home of the Essex Witch Museum, where it’s a time for ghostly spirits and demonic visits. In these 12 short stories, menacing ghosts and supernatural terrors haunt Rosie Strange and Sam Stone, as well as characters past and present from beyond the Essex Witch Museum. Featuring stories from The Strange Casebook as well as original short stories.

Trouble's newly minted sheriff, Garrett Galloway, is determined to move on from his traumatic past. But when Laurel McCallister tracks him down and begs for help, he can't say no to the smart, beautiful CIA analyst. She's desperate to find the assailant who killed her niece's family - and now wants her dead.