Christmas Thriller

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!

Half angel. Half demon. One hundred percent teenager. On Halloween, Esme's life changed. On Thanksgiving, she counted her blessings - and her curses. This Christmas, she confronts her greatest fears - and discovers her true gift.

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.

Psychologist and advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman is drawn into a deadly mystery after receiving a midnight plea from the minister at her church. He's in custody after going to a fellow parishioner's home and finding her dead. The minister begs Rebecca to fill in for the murdered woman, the leader of a search committee charged with finding a new assistant pastor after the previous assistant left in a rush.

Tradition is just another ritual, and rituals are written to be remembered. Be careful which rituals you practice, my friend, for they call out to things well hidden...to horrors best left unknown.

Becky Tibbs is a sweet and innocent young woman. She’s never been in love or had a real romantic relationship. On the other hand, she is very adept at helping recently departed spirits with their unfinished business in Asheville, North Carolina. This is the third book in the Becky Tibbs cozy mystery series. During her recent abduction, Detective Patrick Burns found Becky on the brink of death.

Christmas has come to Fern Valley, and the town's decked out with enough glitter and sparkle for a month's worth of celebrations, each more over-the-top than the previous one. The idyllic setting, filled with laughter, carols, and sweet treats, is shattered, along with some of the decorations, when the current wife and the ex-wife of a big-cat showman have a knock-down, drag-out fight in the center of town. Jules Keene, owner of the Fern Valley Glamping Resort, tries to keep peace among her guests and with the town council, but it turns into a catastrophe when Tabbi Morris winds up dead.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A Christmas Eve party at Clevere Hall ends in tragedy when the host is found stabbed to death. Major Ceely certainly wasn’t short of enemies, but who hated him enough to commit the crime?

In the New England town of Frog's Ledge, the Holiday Light Festival is a Christmas tradition. Killing Santa is not. To bring joy back to the season, organic pet patisserie owner Kristan "Stan" Connor will have to find another Santa before it's too late . . . To the townspeople's delight, the annual lighting of the tree is a spectacular success. Unfortunately, Santa pulled up in his sleigh, DOA. At first Stan is sure it's Seamus, her boyfriend's uncle, inside the red suit. But the victim turns out to be an employee from the town's Christmas tree farm.

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.

Right before Christmas, Fair Haven is celebrating its annual Ice Fishing Jubilee. When a bad-mannered lawyer is found frozen to death inside his fishing shack, the police soon discover he was really shot. The prime suspect is local ice-fishing legend Jim Campbell, but Maggie thinks he is innocent. The culprit could be the long-suffering wife or the mistress, and soon, Maggie is off doing her own investigating, dragging Joshua along for the ride. As her boss, Joshua couldn’t possibly be romantically interested in her. So why did he hold her so close at the town dance?

A caroling donkey arrives in Clover Grove before Christmas with tidings of a new murder. Stray rescue animals are business as usual for hobby farmer Ivy and her sheepdog Keats. Misfits blend seamlessly into the menagerie, and the more the merrier. When a mouthy, grieving donkey demands room at the inn right before Christmas, however, Ivy bites off more than she can chew. He’s got a message that’s far from festive, and he won’t stop singing the blues till she figures out his secret.

Some say that casting crusty attorney Allen Sharpe as Scrooge in the Kindred Players production of A Christmas Carol is just playing to type. He's not the most beloved man in town. In fact, you'd have a dickens of a time finding someone who liked him. Still, it's a shock when the Ghost of Christmas Past stabs him during the first rehearsal. Suzanne, the co-owner of the Cackleberry Club Cafe (Kindred's favorite combination diner, craft store, and bookshop), chases the murderer out of the building but loses him in the alley. As the days pass, the list of suspects grows longer.

And high-ranking members have taken an interest in FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek. Money Makes It Deadlier: Agent Luchek steps into high heels and deep danger when she gets assigned to investigate a bank. Revenge Makes It Sweeter: Megan gets a late-night summons to the hospital to speak with a gunshot victim. Christmas Makes It Chaos: Agent Luchek goes to Philadelphia for an antiterrorism conference only to face off against real terrorists. Treachery Makes It Tense: Megan gets an unlikely ally in the desperate fight to save Dan’s family from a madman.

Single mom Caley James has three kids, a good-for-nothing ex and the flu. When her furnace dies, during the longest cold spell Hampstead has ever seen, she thinks Christmas can’t get worse. Until…Her youngest finds a dead body in the basement.

Kiki is eight months pregnant and trying to cram as much ho-ho-ho into the holidays as possible. When a customer drops dead during an offsite event, this intrepid scrapbooking sleuth is left holding the bag. After her name is cleared, Kiki isn't one to sit around while her friends are threatened with false imprisonment. Instead, she vows to wrap up this case and tie it with a bow. Leave it to Kiki to determine who was nice, and who was very, very naughty, indeed. A nasty Christmas Grinch is targeting one of Kiki's friends—and that's just not kosher.

Private investigator Shawn West is stunned when the attack victim he rescues is Addy Williams—the one woman he never forgot. She’s turning a quiet upstate New York town inside out to bring her missing sister home by Christmas. Shawn offers to help if she'll provide a cover for his own investigation into a suspicious company in town, but can they work together to find Addy's sister…or are they already too late?

Security specialist Gideon Wright knows Mya Rochon’s cancer research is groundbreaking. But when an arsonist destroys his ex-wife’s lab and puts her at risk, he discovers it’s dangerous, too. With Gideon’s protection, Mya’s determined to finish her project—no matter the risk to her life…or Gideon's heart. But will their rekindled partnership face its most deadly adversary yet?

In addition to feeding the felines Aubrey and Vincent, Jeremy Goodman has a new responsibility: filling a recently vacated trustee role at a local charity that works tirelessly to house the homeless. Jeremy is initially enthusiastic—but soon begins to suspect that all is not as it seems at the nonprofit’s headquarters.

A mysterious key left by her murdered sister takes Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Betty Palmer on a journey of discovery and danger. Her estranged parents force themselves back into her life, motivated purely by greed and self-preservation. Penny's life is unexpectedly turned upside down by a potentially life-changing situation that causes her wounded husband to question their marriage.