Christmas Thriller

An old English Yule has never been merrier or more mysterious. A New Year's celebration has never looked more joyous but been so potentially deadly. Fearing the 12 Days of Christmas of 1564 may be the last for her ailing, elderly friend, Lady Kat Ashley, Queen Elizabeth decrees a nostalgic, old-fashioned holiday. Delicious dishes for the table, holly and ivy, caroling, wassailing, mumming, and a Lord of Misrule to oversee it all are in the recipe for the revels. But one of the queen's kitchen staff is found as dead as the ornate peacock he was preparing for the feast.

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!

Lady Darriby-Jones, ever the gracious hostess, welcomes an eclectic mix of aristocrats, eccentrics, and an unexpected scandal or two to her stately home each year at the most wonderful time of the year. This year, the festive mood is shattered when one of her guests is found dead amidst the Christmas crackers and mince pies. Enter DCI "Rude" Manners, a police chief whose investigative methods are as clumsy as a three-legged reindeer. His theory? Arrest the first suspect he stumbles upon and call it a day. But Lady Darriby-Jones knows her guests—and her reputation—demand more than that.

When a mysterious package containing a severed hand is left at FBI agent Emma Griffin’s doorstep, Emma is suddenly pulled into one of the buried mysteries of her past. Emma is looking forward to spending the holidays with the family she’s built around herself. Bellamy, Eric, Dean, and Xavier are coming to Sherwood to celebrate the season with her and Sam, and she’s looking forward to spending some time relaxing and sharing traditions, old and new.

Morton Farrier's life as a forensic genealogist has kept him from his own family's secrets- until now. This Christmastime novella follows Morton as he investigates the mysterious events surrounding his family's past, as well as events from one hundred years ago.

In this short story, Hercule Poirot is asked to attend a Christmas celebration in order to apprehend a jewel thief who has taken advantage of an unwary Eastern prince.

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....

When his former crush is suspected of funneling drugs through her ranch, it's DEA agent Nathan Williams's job to find out if Becca Price is guilty. But after Becca is attacked, his top priority becomes protecting her. Convinced she's innocent, Nathan is determined to find the real culprit before the escalating threats become deadly. An ex's betrayal has left Nathan wary, and falling for the suspect he's secretly investigating is a no-win move, so he must keep an emotional distance. But with criminals preparing for a fatal showdown, can he find the truth in time to save Becca's life?

A collection of interlinked tales of crime and retribution laced with dark humour, set around the festive season – from the number-1 best seller Stuart MacBride. Thieves, drug dealers, lap-dancers, gangsters, and even the odd good guy populate these 12 tales exploring the seedier side of life in North East Scotland.

It's Christmastime again in Christmas River. And all hell is breaking loose. Pie baker Cinnamon Peters has plenty on her plate this season. Between running her popular pie shop, planning her upcoming wedding to the town's sheriff, and trying to lose weight to squeeze into her oh-so-perfect and oh-so-tight wedding dress, it's all Cinnamon can do to keep her head on straight.

Sammy Baker’s confectionaries are a big hit in Sunny Cove, but when a fundraising drive turns into a hair-raising crime, it’s time for Sam to don her sleuthing cap again. Aided by a posse of do-gooders who call themselves the Radical Grandmas, Sammy needs to sniff out the cold-bloodied killer before Christmas day.

After five years of running the Holiday Haven Inn, Carolyn Highcrest thinks she can handle anything. She and her best friend Mercy are determined to make their festive weekend celebrations the best they can possibly be, despite being surrounded by scheming rivals, melodramatic theatre group members and overenthusiastic carollers.

The year is 1857, soon after the tragic Siege of Cawnpore. In the British garrison, a guard is killed and an Indian prisoner escapes, which leads to yet more British deaths. Cries for revenge are overwhelming. Despite no witnesses and no evidence against him, a luckless British medical orderly named John Tallis is arrested as an accomplice simply because he was the only soldier unaccounted for when these baffling crimes were committed.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. In this festive short story featuring Francis Durbridge’s favourite debonair amateur detective, Paul Temple journeys to Switzerland to identify an elusive criminal.

Five fun cozy mystery books with pet-sitter Polly Parrett.

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.

Henry Rathbone is called by an old friend whose son has gone missing 10 days before the Christmas holiday. Now in his early twenties, Lucien has known trouble for some time and has often fallen victim to the vices of drugs, alcohol and women. His father now fears the worst. Their old friend and reformed brothel-owner, Squeaky Robinson, volunteers to help. Henry agrees and, joined by Crow, a young doctor at the clinic, the pair trawls the pubs, brothels, and opium dens of the West End in search of clues.

As Naples prepares for its holiday celebrations, behind the facade of order and happiness imposed by the fascist regime lurks terrible poverty and blinding desperation. In a luxurious apartment on the Mergellina beach, the bodies of a fascist militia officer and his wife have been found. The woman's throat has been cut while the man has been stabbed over 60 times. Seemingly, the hands of two separate killers have been at work.

It wouldn’t be the holidays without a little extra sparkle - and nobody does sparkles quite like Miss Elva. When she decides to debut her Spring resort wear line during a fashion show at Lucky’s, all of Tequila Key turns out for the holiday event. Althea doesn’t know which is more shocking - the fact that the models are wearing glitter boy shorts and Santa hats, or the fact that she kind of wants to see her husband, Trace, in said shorts. Either way, all bets are off when Miss Elva’s eye candy for the night takes a sip of her drink and gets poisoned.

A few days before Christmas 1939, Dr. Benjamin Bones is in a "Bah, humbug" sort of mood. It's the coldest winter on record, his country is at war, and his love life has run aground. But magic as well as mysteries abound in Cornwall. When Ben makes a bargain with an elfin little man, it leads him to an old woman who longs to make amends - and a chance for Ben to show that certain someone how much he cares.