Christmas Thriller

Ah, the pleasures of Christmas: the hanging of lights, the traditional feasts, the gathering of families, and...a bit of murder, conspiracy, and theft. The holiday season seems to inspire the imagination of the best mystery writers, and their talents shine here in these delightful tales of Yuletide crime. In this busiest of seasons, seize a few hours to enjoy a sleigh—or slay--full of mysterious treasures, served with the finest of flair.

As the Christmas holidays begin at Maude Daneson's rooming house, unsuspecting lodgers receive a most unwelcome present from the person responsible for a series of senseless and bizarre murders - a killer much more cunning than they had suspected.

It's Christmas time in Caerphilly, and the town is preparing for their live nativity. During rehearsals, Meg discovers a real baby in the manger, with a note attached that says the mother is leaving the baby girl there so that her father can take care of her, and the wording of the note implicates Meg's brother, Rob, as the father. Rob protests that he can't possibly be the father, but the town's suspicion creates a rift between him and his new girlfriend. Rob asks Meg to investigate on his behalf‚ to clear his name and to find the real parents of the baby.

Rose Gardner and Neely Kate Colson are thrilled with Mason's early present to Rose - a trip for the two of them to New Orleans for shopping, great food, and awesome seats to Wicked. Neely Kate plans to use the opportunity to visit a psychic and find out once and for all what her paranormal ability is. But when the psychic is murdered, and Neely Kate and Rose were the last people to see her alive, they find themselves the main suspects in a Christmas killing.

Rebellious Christmas wreaths. Mysterious welly-dwelling eggs. A plague of irate water fowl. And ten ladies of a certain age who are by no means the least troublesome of Toot Hansell's residents, as far as Detective Inspector Adams is concerned. She's entirely certain her training never covered dealing with the Women's Institute, dragons, or festive magic spills. Not to mention invisible dogs with caffeine dependencies. But Christmas is almost here. Things can't go too wrong. . . can they? Well. It is Toot Hansell.

Rachel's plans to spend Christmas with her fiancé are in tatters after he is called to Italy at short notice. Rather than spend Christmas with her parents, Rachel decides to take a last-minute Canary Island cruise. Sarah, cruise ship nurse and Rachel's best friend, is only too pleased to have her along, as Sarah's parents are taking their first cruise. With her mother keen for her to settle down, she is glad of the moral support.

It's July in Christmas River, and the temperature isn't the only thing flaring out of control. After a fire destroys her best friend's ornament shop, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon Peters soon discovers that the blaze was no accident. Just days before the annual Christmas River in July Parade and Play, it becomes clear that a maniac is roaming the tourist-packed streets of Christmas River. And he's got a flair for the dramatic.

Father Tom Christmas, the recently widowed vicar adjusting to life in the English village of Thornford Regis, would do almost anything to avoid attending the annual Robert Burns Supper at the local hotel. But as chaplain to a traditional Scottish pipe band, Father Tom must deliver the grace - and contend with wailing bagpipes, whiskey-laced parishioners reciting poetry, and the culinary abomination that is haggis.

Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house's atmosphere.

PECCAVI. The Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman's brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It's a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O'Donnell, Jane's professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.

A trio of sweet-toothed Halloween cozy mystery tales by nationally bestselling authors: Halloween Cupcake Murder by Carlene O'Connor, Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper by Liz Ireland, and A Triple Layer Halloween Murder by Carol J. Perry.

For Lucy Stone, the best thing about Christmas in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, has always been the annual Cookie Exchange. But the usual generosity and goodwill are missing from this year’s event, which turns out to be a complete disaster. Petty rivalries and feuds that have long been simmering finally come to a boil, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many guests, including Lee Cummings - who accuses Tucker Whitney of stealing her recipe for low-fat, sugar-free cookies. But the icing on the cake is when Tucker is found strangled in her apartment the following morning.

The year is 1904. Twenty-three-year-old Jemima Pitt, the daughter of Thomas Pitt, head of Britain's Special Branch, is crossing the Atlantic. She is traveling with an acquaintance, Delphinia Cardew, who is to marry the aristocratic Brent Albright in a high-society New York wedding - a grand affair that will join together two fabulously wealthy families, titans of the international financial world. But Jemima senses a mysterious shadow darkening the occasion.

Uncle Willie has come to stay with the Redpaths for the holidays. It is just their luck for him to be found dead the morning after Christmas day, dressed in his Santa Claus costume, seemingly poisoned by his favourite chocolates. Or was there something sinister in the mince pies? If so, was it the ones stashed in his room or those sent to him mysteriously by post? More importantly, since his will was recently redrafted, who stands to gain by this unseasonable crime?

Lumi Northrop is a powerful guardian of the north - the North Star Reindeer Sanctuary, that is. When Rudolph vanishes the week before Christmas, Lumi is thrust from the peace and quiet of her family's farm, into the magical town of Holiday Haven to help find him. Lumi quickly discovers that Rudolph isn't the only local celebrity who's gone missing. Jack Frost is also MIA, just days before his coronation as the next Frost King.

Excitement is in the air as everyone in Mermaid Bay is preparing for the Christmas season. This year promises to be more dazzling than ever when the business council sponsors a competition for the town’s lucrative summer fireworks contract. The quaint little beach town is ready to be wowed with choreographed shows and drone action that light up the night sky.

London, December 1835: Charles and Kate are out with friends and family for a chilly night of caroling and good cheer. But their blood truly runs cold when their singing is interrupted by a body plummeting from an upper window of a house. They soon learn the dead man at their feet, his neck strangely wrapped in chains, is Jacob Harley, the business partner of the resident of the house, an unpleasant codger who owns a counting house, one Emmanuel Screws.

Rudolph, New York, shop owner Merry Wilkinson's best friend Vicky Casey is newly engaged to Chef Mark Grosse and is moving into the historic Cole House—a home surrounded by drama, intrigue, and a possible haunting that is in desperate need of renovation. The wedding is just three weeks away, but all is not bliss for the newly engaged couple as estranged relatives of the late owner fight over her will. Then, late one night, Vicky and Merry come across a dead body in the garden of Cole House, and Mark is the one standing over the corpse.

A French patisserie opens in the village of Ashton Mead in time for Christmas. Local residents are pleased, but Hannah, owner of the Sunshine Tea Shoppe, feels threatened by the competition. When the owner of the patisserie is killed, Hannah is suspected of murdering her business rival. Her friend, Emily, is determined to clear Hannah's name. She seems to be facing an impossible task… until her little dog Poppy makes a surprising discovery.

From New York Times best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon, comes a new Cat Latimer mystery. Santa's on his way, but the house Cat shares with her best friend and a monthly writing retreat isn't even decorated yet. Christmas is coming early to Cat Latimer's Writers Retreat. Cat and the gang aren't feeling the Christmas spirit. First up on her to do list, the last retreat of the year. A group of nonfiction authors dying to get into the Covington library. When one writer is found dead before the first retreat session, Cat must find the killer before he puts her on his naughty list.