Holiday Mystery

As beautiful as it may be, their friends’ country house is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She’d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him - especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate.

My name is Lou Prescott. I was born in South Carolina but spent most of my life in Northern Minnesota. Since the death of my husband, I've found myself at loose ends, so when my niece offered to sell me the quaint seaside bookstore she owned in Holiday Bay, Maine, I jumped at the opportunity to restart my life somewhere new.

Stephen Fox may be a moron, but he may also be America's next president. The dimwitted legislator is just smart enough to know when to smile for the camera. But two women stand in the way of his campaign: his mistress and his wife, who has never recovered from the death of their daughter, a pain she manages by devoting herself to fundraising for children with Down syndrome.

As I walk into the pine-scented air of my seaside childhood home, gripping my husband Neil’s hand tight, I have a brief moment of hope. Maybe this Christmas will be different — for once my family might get on fueled by mulled wine and festive cheer. But the sound of happy carols are replaced by my older sister Christy’s over-loud laugh and slurred words. Rebecca, my younger sister, stalks out of the room as soon as I enter, as though I’m the Grinch here to steal Christmas. And their husbands, brash and arrogant, slap Neil’s back in a way that promises torment rather than welcome.

After twenty years apart, Matthew and Helena have rekindled their college romance and are away in Iceland on their first holiday together. Swept up in the romance on a mountain hike, one moment they are taking the perfect photo, the next Helena is hanging from the cliff edge…

This wasn't the secret she expected from her Secret Santa! Security expert for a British bank by day, horse trainer at night, Izzy Paterson is a multi-tasking, dressage-riding computer whiz with an addiction to strong coffee and a penchant for CSI on Netflix. So when the Secret Santa at her office Christmas party hands her a perplexing riddle, she just can't ignore the mystery. Penned by a modern-day Robin Hood, the anonymous rhyme hints at financial misconduct that could put the future of everyone at her work in danger.

Brighton, 1882: Albert Moscrop spends his holiday peering at beachgoers through a telescope, piecing together disarmingly trivial observations into a compelling drama for his own amusement. A keen student of human nature, Moscrop concentrates his interest on one particular family - the Protheros, especially the beautiful Zena Prothero, whose husband appears to take her for granted. Moscrop gradually moves into the circle of the Prothero family, only to become involved in a sensational murder.

We arrived at a villa on the Amalfi Coast, ready to enjoy a sun-soaked weekend with our oldest friends—and one new face. By the end of the weekend, my husband is found dead. But how can I mourn him, when on the day of his funeral I discover he was having an affair? The only suspects are the women we went on holiday with. My oldest, closest friends. Do I really want to dig into my husband's secret? Do I really want to know who betrayed me? And as I start to unravel their secrets...do I really believe his death was an accident?

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.

It’s bitterly cold in Sunny Cove after the holidays, but nothing could be as icy as the chill that runs down your spine when you hear that your neighbor has come to a grizzly end! Sammy is looking forward to hosting a New Year’s Eve party. She’s spending her free time practicing new dishes for the occasion and researching everyone’s favorite traditions. But when the pipes freeze in her apartment, Sammy’s plans must change quickly. She finds a temporary place to stay with the help of her friends, but a nearby murder puts Sammy on the case once again.

Since Father Tibor Kasparian escaped the Soviet Union, he has done his best to keep his philosophy to himself - not out of fear, but because he knows that few people could stomach an honest account of life under Stalinism. When he gets an invitation to spend a semester teaching philosophy at Independence College, Kasparian hesitates, but his friend Gregor Demarkian, a former FBI investigator, convinces him to accept. They will both wish he had decided to stay away.

From the authors of Cozy Mystery Magazine - a collection of cozy Christmas-themed travel mysteries and scrumptious holiday recipes for our mystery fans. A short and sweet treat.

Just before Christmas, Nikki Thomas lost her childhood friend, Katherine, when they were 10 years old. The case rocked the neighborhood of Willow Creek in 1988. Kat's mother was convicted of her murder, but no body was ever found. Now, 12 years later, Nikki's memory goes back to her childhood when her mother gives her some old Christmas ornaments. Her mind starts racing, wondering if Kat's mother really murdered her.

Top toy designer Star Clearwater is convinced that Christmas is cursed. What's supposed to be her hard-earned vacation turns into chaos when her mother lures her to the North Pole only for all spell to break loose at her arrival. A heinous hex threatens the entire toy production inside Santa's Toy Workshop, putting millions of children's wishes in jeopardy. If her mother - who reports directly to Mrs. Claus - can't get things under control, Christmas won't be the only thing getting canned.

In the beautiful village of Vernazza, the Mazzone family have transformed an old convent overlooking the glamorous Italian Riviera into the elegant Lemon Tree Hotel. For Chiara, her daughter, Elene, and her granddaughter, Isabella, the running of their hotel is the driving force in their lives. One day, two unexpected guests check in. The first, Dante, is a face from Chiara's past, but what exactly happened between them all those years ago, Elene wonders. Isabella is preoccupied with the second guest, a mysterious young man who seems to know a lot about the history of the old convent.

It’s December in Boston, and Spenser is busy planning the menu for Christmas dinner when he’s confronted in his office by a young boy named Slide. Homeless and alone, Slide has found refuge with an organization named Street Business, which gives shelter and seeks job opportunities for the homeless and lost. Slide’s mentor, Jackie Alvarez, is being threatened, and Street Business is in danger of losing its tenuous foothold in the community, turning Slide and many others like him back on the street. But it’s not a simple case of intimidation....

Ellen should have known that a gathering in America's last castle would entail a few uninvited guests. During a Christmas Eve wedding at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, Ellen and her friends are visited by multiple ghosts. The spirits have come to tell their stories, to right the wrongs that history has done to their memories. Each of them died in Asheville with their voices stifled.

When a farmer is found dead in his own pumpkin patch, Abby and her tenant Tripp have to find the real killer before an innocent man is put away for life.

While staying at the Winding River Lodge, the Aldens hear an old legend about a zombie who lives in the forest! Everyone knows zombies aren’t real - but when Benny sees a strange figure lurching through the woods, the Boxcar Children begin to wonder if the old legend is true after all....

Tinker’s Cove, Maine, has a long history of Thanksgiving festivities, from visits with TomTom Turkey to the annual Warriors high school football game and Lucy Stone’s impressive pumpkin pie. But this year, someone has added murder to the menu, and Lucy intends to discover who left Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan dead - with an ancient war club next to his head. The list of suspects isn’t exactly brief. Nolan had a habit of disagreeing with just about everybody he met.