Christmas Mystery Thriller

It’s December in Cornwall, and Mousehole harbour is illuminated with its famous Christmas lights. Ally Bright is among the crowd listening to the carol singers—and then to the piercing screams that rip through the darkness. A body has been found, brutally murdered and dumped in a fisherman’s boat.

After her kids announce they won’t be home for Christmas, Sally is ready to drown her sorrows in a bottle of Cabernet. Then, she receives an unexpected phone call, and soon she and her spunky best friend Pearl are off to the idyllic mountain village of McKenzie Bridge.

The holidays are a time for magic, cheer, and making memories. Brandon and Erin begin a new family tradition by introducing The Elf on a Shelf to their young children. When Erin brings home their newly purchased elf, little do they know the horror that awaits. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, incidents occur around the house, some innocent, some sinister. As the days become less jolly, Brandon suspects an evil spirit haunting their home. Questioning his own sanity, he recognizes a pair of crazy gray plastic eyes always watching.

Christmas, the happiest time of year. Plum puddings, candy canes, carols by the fireside. But outside, the mist lies deep and still. Frost gnaws at your fingertips. Shadowy forms lurk in the evergreens. It’s the season for ghost stories.

With Christmas around the corner, Izzie Jenkins is ready to kickstart the new Snowflakes and Christmas Cakes course at Villa Limoncello with chef and business partner Luca Castelotti. However, secrets are stirring with their latest guests, and when nasty accidents keep befalling the group, it looks like Izzie will have to turn detective once more to protect the Villa’s fledgling reputation.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and for Heather Andrews, security manager at Timberwoods Mall, undoubtedly the busiest. But this Christmas, Heather has more to contend with than frazzled parents and disgruntled Santas. Angela Steinhart, a young woman who designed the mall’s spectacular holiday displays, has had a premonition that tragedy will strike on Christmas Eve. And Angela’s visions have a habit of coming true. Heather would love to dismiss the warning as holiday stress. But the more she gets to know the quiet, lonely Angela, the more she trusts her.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A locked-room mystery that will delight Agatha Christie fans. Dramatist Trevor Lowe and his friend Detective Inspector Shadgold board the Western Express to spend Christmas in the little Cornish village of St Merryan. Heavy snowfall forces their journey to an abrupt halt and, after seeking refuge in a local pub, one of their fellow passengers is found stabbed to death, clutching half a Christmas card. Is the murderer in their midst?

Cringe with embarrassment, as Lady Amanda Golightly acts like a bad-tempered five-year-old in the face of a family crisis. Cheer her on, as she and her live-in friend at Belchester Towers, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton Crump, plan a new business venture for the old place. Join them for Christmas, then wish them luck as they embark on a trial run of their new enterprise. Then gasp at Lady Amanda's reaction (delight!) at the discovery of the body of a dead guest, found slumped on the library table, murdered FIVE TIMES!

USA Today best-seller Debbie Mason's Christmas short story featuring characters from the Harmony Harbor series.

When Mayfair’s newly minted Chamber of Commerce goes off the rails, and decides to build an ice skating rink, a decades-old skeleton is uncovered. The secrets it reveals threaten more than the town’s Christmas plans. Feeling responsible since the let’s-attract-more-tourists idea was hers initially, service dog trainer Marcia Banks is determined to help her police detective boyfriend solve the mystery - whether he wants her help or not. Maybe she can wheedle more out of the townspeople than he can.

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?

Don't make an enemy of the mob. Still recuperating after being shot, Alexander Fairhaven has a new challenge to deal with - his brother's gambling addiction. As Alexander and Elizabeth settle into their new lives together, the shadows of Nick's problems linger. Will Nick find a way to escape his demons? Or will New Year's bring an end to Alexander and Elizabeth's happiness?

The small Christmas obsessed town of Kissing Bridge is thrown into a holiday mystery when the famous Landers ladies' blue ribbon winning cookie recipe is stolen. All of the Christmas Eve Silver Bells cookie contestants are possible suspects. If that isn't worrisome enough, they also have the curse to contend with. Meanwhile, their neighbor has gone Hollywood crazy and is accosting innocent men all over the town with her wanton, unwanted kisses under the mistletoe. It seems as if all may be lost, but miracles and magic occur in Kissing Bridge all the time, so anything can happen....

Finding a severed hand at a client's house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won't let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge's pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again - this time much too close to home.

Thirteen-year-old Jack and his 12-year-old sister Amanda visit their Grandma Jenny in the mountains over the Christmas holiday. They hear the story of a mythical cavern that Grandma went searching for 50 years earlier with her little brother Bill and their best friend Mike. Her brother was lost, never to be seen again. Drawn to the mystery, Jack and Amanda meet up with Daniel Madsen, a local boy diagnosed with Leukemia and only months to live.

Detective Scott Webster receives an ominous warning that his holiday is about to be ruined. Unfortunately, the warning was short on specifics. With so little to work with, Scott is forced to remain on his toes. He has to be prepared for anything. Even so, he worries that disaster will strike. Will he be able to make it through the holidays unscathed?

Lisa Williamson worries that she's doomed to have a lonely holiday. So, she decides to set out for a night out on the town to take her mind off of her situation. When danger sneaks up on her, suddenly loneliness is the last thing she has to worry about. Before she knows it, her safety is at risk. Will she make it through the night?

Charles Dickens' classic tale of Christmas hauntings, reimagined in a new world. It is the winter of 1882, and the wizard, Merlene, has had his eye on the Captain of the Watchmen, Ambrosius Baltus. As wrathful and mean as Ebenezer Scrooge, he is in even more of an advantageous situation to affect the people of London for good. But as Merlene’s foul-mouthed horse companion The Nag warns, this armoured, firecasting duart proves to be a stubborn and dangerous choice for this Christmas Eve project, and their ethically questionable scheme may result in more harm than it does help. A short novella from the creator of Tiger's Eye and Arlington, featuring the characters of The Princess Thieves, and blending Dickens’ words with a new perspective.

Stuck at work on Christmas Eve, Mark Stevens plans to make the best of it. He may even wrangle a date with a co-worker he's loved since fifth grade. But his plan quickly goes awry when the night turns creepy with strange noises and a broken vase. And when a corpse vanishes, the question becomes whether he'll make it through the night without losing his sanity... or his life.

As Christmas approaches and the snow falls deep, a malevolent force stalks the ancient corridors of Castle Kintochlochie. Someone, or something, is determined to derail Lady Ophelia's love affair with estate manager Hamish, so ruggedly handsome yet wildly unsuitable. She must call upon her wits—not just to discover the culprit...but, perhaps, to escape murder.