Christmas Thriller

Christmas Eve, 1925. The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is delighted to attend an exclusive ball at London’s glamorous Mayfair Hotel. When she steps out into the moonlit courtyard with her little pug Ruby wrapped in her furs, she is thrilled to see a dashing man propose to her best pal under the swirling snowflakes. But instead of squealing ‘yes’, Dotty lets out a terrified scream… Because floating in the fountain, with her long blonde hair rippling in the ice-cold water, is the body of their dear friend Lady Victoria Beaumont.

’Tis the season for mistletoe and holly, Santa . . . and suspense. And the gift that keeps on giving is Ice: premier thriller author Linda Howard’s breathless tale of a man, a woman, and a battle for survival against an unforgiving winter–and an unrelenting killer. Oh what fun it is to listen.

If you've got a problem, Charlie Kingsley probably has a tea that’ll help make it right. Except when it comes to love. She does not do love potions. Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.

No place is more perfect for the winter holidays than the charming mountain town of Estes Park. As the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery glistens with lights and garlands, Winifred Page allows the seasonal merriment to brush away all worry and fear. Watson, her grumpy corgi, is about as far from stressed as possible-after all, with the holiday baking, delectable crumbs are everywhere.

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?

Emily and Colin Hargreaves make it a rule to spend as little time as possible with her parents in Kent, but are unable to refuse Lady Catherine Bromley’s invitation to join them for a pre-Christmas party that includes the family of Ala Kapur Singh, a powerful Punjabi maharaja who has come to England after receiving the Order of the Star of India.

Now that Thanksgiving's behind her, vintage cookware enthusiast Jaymie Leighton Müller is excitedly making plans for the upcoming Dickens Days festival - the town's month-long celebration leading up to Christmas. With a hot cider booth on the village green to warm the hearts and bodies of the townsfolk and a diorama featuring a scene from A Christmas Carol, things are shaping up for a festive season - until the town's local Scrooge is found murdered, a vintage pudding mould covering his cracked skull.

Mamie Simon is a grim and miserly old banker who rules over the financial world from the top of her Gotham City tower - and she absolutely hates Bitcoin. On Christmas Eve, she discovers Bob Cratchit, her chief clerk, is leaving his banker's job with her in order to follow the path of Bitcoin. The cringey hag blows her top upon hearing this news, and a battle of wits and wills ensues. Will Bob Cratchit succeed in following his Bitcoin dream, or will cold, heartless Mamie Simon succeed in stopping him? You'll have to listen to the story to find out!

Sarah Booth and Tinkie are shopping with little Maylin when they see Sandra and Janet outside a bookstore, fur flying, and when Sandra vanishes from her own gala later that night, suspicion turns to Janet. Janet accuses Sandra of attempting to manipulate the media by a fake disappearance, but is it a stunt, or is something more sinister at play? Sarah Booth and Tinkie will have to dive deep into the history of Bay St. Louis, and even Al Capone himself, to get to the bottom of this case.

Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square - if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an unscrupulous exploiter. Lizzy must enlist the Dahlias to protect her while she herself is confronted by a romantic puzzle. And Sheriff Norris is forced to reopen a puzzling mystery that the town thought was solved.

Ledbury, December 1892. Detective Inspector Ravenscroft looks forward to spending a quiet Christmas with his family. Then he receives news that an old friend stands accused of a brutal murder. Ravenscroft and Detective Sergeant Crabb travel to the old Worcestershire market town of Bromsgrove to investigate. But events soon take a deadly dramatic turn. As the bad weather closes in on the two detectives, Ravenscroft begins to wonder whether they will make it home for Christmas.

Although Father Tom Christmas serves his little church in enchanting Thornford Regis with a glad and faithful heart, he never expects to find himself skydiving to raise money for it. Nor, safely back on the ground, to see two of the other divers leap from the plane, then tangle in a midair punch-up and begin falling to the earth.

Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne’s impending divorce, Morwenna’s slavish devotion to work and Bobby’s reluctance to face what life has to offer. They’ve never felt less like a family. Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears.

Miranda did not put adventure on her Christmas list, but thanks to her 85-year-old neighbor Joy, that's exactly what she's getting this year. When Joy tells Miranda that she plans to drive an old RV decked out in Christmas decorations from their Chicago neighborhood to her new retirement digs in Phoenix - in the dead of winter, no less - the much younger Miranda insists that Joy cannot make such a trip by herself. Besides, a crazy trip with Joy would be more interesting than another Christmas home alone.

As Charlotte Pitt's grandmother Mariah Ellison finds herself investigating a long-unsolved slaying, it becomes clear that grappling with intrigue and foul play runs in the family. A festive Christmas package left on Mariah's doorstep contains an ominous present, sparking memories of a 20-year-old murder that shattered her friendship with the victim's widow. Though the gift is a bitter reminder of that tragic time, in the spirit of the season Mariah travels to Surrey in hopes of reconciling with her estranged friend and solving the crime that drove them apart.

Days before Christmas, CIA Agent Amber Starke is on the run with her murdered best friend's special-needs son. And they're next on his criminal father's hit list. Amber failed her undercover mission to bring down her friend's husband for his crimes, but she won't fail to protect her friend's son. Now that the killer knows she's not just a nanny but an agent, she must rely on her childhood crush, Deputy Lance Goode. The handsome lawman was burned in love by his first wife, who was killed while evading the law. But he'll do everything he can to help Amber, except offer his heart.

Cendrine West is looking forward to a cozy Christmas Eve dinner when a blizzard blows in, bringing with it a flurry of unexpected guests. But tipsy witches and mischievous magic spell a recipe for disaster, especially when a guest turns up dead. Cen’s sleuthing exposes a Santa-size sack of trouble, and everyone’s a suspect, even her hunky sheriff boyfriend. Is it a deadly accident by a drunken witch...or something more sinister? Murder is on the menu, and only magic can uncover the truth in this witchy, wacky Yuletide thrill ride!

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.

Tom Christmas came to picturesque Thornford Regis with his young daughter to escape the terrible experience of losing his wife in the city. Her murder sent him packing to the bucolic and charming town, where violent crime isn't supposed to happen and the greatest sin is supposed to be nothing a member of the clergy can't handle. Then, at the town fair, a woman is found murdered. Tom soon learnsthat everyone in Thornford Regis has a secret to hide - infidelity, theft, even past murders. Twelve Drummers Drumming showcases a lovely place to live and/or die....

Ainsley Holloway had come to Gooseberry Bay to find answers about her past. She’d come to find an explanation for the dreams that haunted her after the death of the cop who’d both rescued and raised her. And she’d come to identify the family she couldn’t remember but knew in her heart she’d once belonged to. Ainsley hoped that by finding these answers, she’d also find healing. She hoped that once she’d resurrected the memories buried deep in her mind, she’d find peace.