Christmas Mystery Thriller

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.

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.

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.

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?

When Eric and his friend Robbie decide to spend Christmas at Eric's aunt's hotel, they were expecting mince pies and brandy. However, one of the guests at Eve Manor has something entirely different planned for Christmas: murder. As Eric and Robbie attempt to unravel the mystery and find the killer, who can they trust from the other guests, and can they keep Eric's aunt Patricia alive until Boxing Day?

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....

Rediscover your inner child! Rediscover your inner child in this magical Christmas mystery as you follow the lonely Emma Harper through the enchanting town of Pottsville during the height of Christmas merriment. When Emma's mysterious new friend, Penelope, convinces her to break into the old cookie factory, her life is instantly filled with adventure and purpose. Emma soon becomes captive to Penelope’s spunky personality, but when strange, enchanting things begin to happen around Penelope, Emma suddenly begins to question the reality of her new friend.

It's Christmas Eve in Santa Fe, but among the revelers on Canyon Road, a decidedly unholy scene is taking place. A desperate man, dressed all in black, feverishly seeks refuge for himself and the squirming bundle he holds tightly against his chest. Agent Paul Kagan's bundle is a baby who has the power to change the course of global events. His pursuers are his former colleagues -- members of the Russian mafia who will stop at nothing to accomplish their mission.

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.

After more than a decade away, Mira James isn’t keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren’t particularly jolly. Even less festive is the news of a serial killer on the loose. With only ten shopping days till Christmas, the Candy Cane Killer has been very busy slashing through the snow. Eager to earn her official PI stripes, Mira is anxious to track him down. But when the latest victim is a woman from her high school graduating class, the investigation hits a little too close to home.

Miles O'Malley wants out of Christmas in the city. He rents a primitive cabin in the north woods of New York State, looking for peace quiet away from the incessant bell-ringing and endless ghastly songs. He's not expecting to stumble on a heinous crime, but when he does, his special forces training takes over. He's not expecting to find the love of his life, either, and he's much less efficient at dealing with that. Not a cozy mystery!

Christmas is a time for family and giving, and a wealthy woman in Adelaide, Oklahoma, is about to embrace both. Discovering that she has a young grandson, the dowager decides to change her will to leave the bulk of her fortune to the young boy, an alteration that stuns the rest of her family. But a scrooge of a determined heir makes sure she never signs the new document. When she is found dead, it's up to that irrepressible spirit Bailey Ruth to save Christmas.

Christmas in New Orleans—a city brimming with cheery jazz, red and green bulbs lighting the streets, the spicy aroma of gumbo, and the cold chill of spirits asking Santa for the gift of redemption. After a string of challenging cases, paranormal investigator Kimberly Wantland is looking forward to spending the holidays quietly with her friends in the Big Easy. But ghosts don’t rest at the Cardinal Hotel.

When financial executive Bob Vanags takes a job at ominous Turaida Bank in Latvia, he hopes to learn of his heritage and to fight economic fraud in Eastern Europe. Instead, Bob finds himself pulled into a world of political intrigue, blackmail, and murder. Aided by his son David, his beautiful colleague Agnese, and a fearless Latvian journalist named Santa Ezeriņa, Bob begins to unravel his employer’s darkest secrets, discovering their sins and conspiracies beyond his wildest fears. Secrets that Turaida wants to keep hidden, even at the cost of Bob’s life.

Christmas should be the happiest time, but at Pennington’s dramas are seething beneath the surface. For Cornelia Culford, a divorce hearing looms where she could lose custody of her sons to her unfaithful husband. For Stephen Gower, being head of security at Pennington's is the perfect refuge from a tragic past at Scotland Yard. But soon Joseph Carter and Elizabeth Pennington beg him to help solve the murder of Joseph's first wife, now that the killer has struck again.

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.

Once upon a Christmas in a quaint and cozy town by the sea, bookstore owners Lou Prescott and Velma Crawford find themselves knee deep in shiny ornaments, strings of garland, and tangled bundles of Christmas tree lights. When full time employee Eden Halliwell introduces them to a teenager with a secret looking for a part time job, the newest merchants in Holiday Bay decide to hire her, which ultimately sets off a chain of events that will change everything.

After experiencing a murderous Christmas and Valentine's Day with his love, Shannon O'Hara, Detective Nick Spinelli assumed Saint Patrick's Day couldn't be any worse. He should have known better. While out on a geocaching adventure in Door County, Shannon and her friend Anna find more than they bargained for in the cache box. When Shannon disappears, Spinelli is sent racing to find her. Amidst the chaos of an unruly Irish celebration, and a decades-old Irish family feud, he must rescue her from the hands of a madman.

It’s Christmastime in Lancaster, Maine, and it’s an occasion for carols, ornaments, and...poison? When a well-known food critic visits Tea for Two and becomes ill, Jan and Elaine set out to learn what put her there. Has someone tampered with their teas? And if so, who and why? With the critic in the hospital and the tearoom closed for a toxicology screening, the cousins have much riding on their investigation!

Nothing ruins a good walk on the beach like finding a mysterious suitcase full of damaged bones and a skull. The discovery rocks the peaceful community of Mermaid Bay, known for its historic beach cottages. The gruesome find is nothing like the usual summer ills of litterbugs and teens drinking under the pier for the idyllic seaside community, located a few miles from Virginia’s historic triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.