Holiday Mystery

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

A kidnapping, a shooting, a baby on the way, and three lives in the balance. After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys seaside mansion, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal.

It’s nearly Katie’s birthday, and she learns she will be getting a special present. She’s too excited to wait patiently for the gift to arrive, so she decides to investigate ahead of time. The clues might lead her to her present, but is it better to let this mystery go unsolved?

Mae West's first Christmas as a married woman at Happy Trails Campground should've been merry and bright. But when a Winter Festival turns deadly and one of their own lands on the suspect list, Mae and the Laundry Club ladies know there's more to unwrap than just presents.

It is a chilly winter season in North Carolina with Hope and her daughter Cori getting ready for the holidays. As she faces her first Christmas without her husband, Hope continues to search for the person responsible for her resident ghost's century-old murder. After interviewing a descendant of one of the suspects, trouble begins to brew with a false accusation, an unusual gift, and an unpleasant surprise. Will Hope be able to figure out what's going on without putting her own life in danger?

Mounds of delicious candy corn, jack-o-lanterns, and spooky hayrides are all part of this year's Halloween festivities in Paramour Bay. Raven Marigold plans to make the most out of this All Hallows' Eve, which just so happens to be her birthday. Not everyone in town seems to have gotten the festive memo, though. One of the residents is claiming that the spirit of her dead husband has been paying her nocturnal visits, while other townsfolk are making similar claims about their deceased relatives.

At what point in the day could the note have been slipped into his pocket, his left breast pocket? It was an ordinary sheet of glazed squared paper, probably torn out of an exercise book. The words were written in pencil, in a regular handwriting that looked to him like a woman's. For pity's sake, ask to see the patient in room 15. When Inspector Maigret's wife falls ill on their seaside holiday, a visit to the hospital leads him on an unexpected quest to find justice for a young girl.

With twinkling lights and Christmas trees, the small seaside town of Pembroke Cove, Maine, is dressed up for the season. Lily Michaels, bookstore owner and witch, is excited to attend the Glow and Glide ice skating festival. This year, as part of a couple with her new fiancé, Gage Erikson—who Milo, her familiar, calls Detective Cutie. It’s the holidays, what could go wrong?

Thanksgiving is Bailey King's busiest holiday weekend. This year promises to be even more hectic, since Bailey's candy shop is providing desserts for Harvest, Ohio's first village-wide Thanksgiving celebration. Yet the event's organizer, Margot Rawlings, is unfazed . . . until she discovers her mother, former judge Zara Bevan, will be in attendance. Zara's reputation as a harsh critic is matched only by her infamy as a judge. No one is prepared when she arrives with much younger boyfriend Blaze Smith. Then Blaze suffers an allergic reaction to something he's eaten and dies on the spot.

When Robert Catesby, the charismatic son of a Catholic gentleman, marries heiress Catherine Leigh and inherits the rich Oxfordshire manor house at Aston from his grandmother, it seems that the future happiness of the couple must be assured. However, Robert’s deep involvement in plots to overthrow the Protestant queen Elizabeth I and his increasingly dangerous behavior threaten the lives of his wife and their young son.

'Tis the season in Paterson, New Jersey: Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are surrounded by holiday cheer. It’s even spread to the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization, not used to having puppies, has their hands full with a recent litter. Eight puppies are a lot to handle, and Andy is relieved when his co-worker Chris Myers agrees to foster them. Myers, a newer employee at the Tara Foundation, did time for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. When Myers discovers a key witness against him lied on the stand, he goes to Andy to ask for representation.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a seaside mansion, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos.

As Christmas approaches in Raven’s Point, festivities are overshadowed by another shocking murder. When Maybelle delivers a unique set of glass Christmas baubles to a local spa, she stumbles upon the crime scene—along with Peter, the town’s ever-dedicated detective. Despite lingering awkwardness from their recent kiss, Maybelle can't resist getting involved in solving the case.

Christmas lights on palm trees and Santa hats on plastic pink flamingoes are far from the snowy landscape Maureen and her beloved golden retriever, Finn, are used to. But Maureen is determined to make this a holiday to remember—which means finding a way to promote Haven House on a shoestring. Fortunately, Haven's vintage movie theater, the Paramount, has come up with a great "Twelve Days of Christmas" idea. They'll feature an impressive list of the best classic Christmas movies ever made—shown by one-time movie actor-turned-projectionist Decklin Monroe.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

Antoine Verlaque, examining magistrate for the beautiful town of Aix-en-Provence, doesn't like Christmas. The decorations appear in the shops far too early, festive tourists swarm the streets, and his beloved Cours Mirabeau is lined with chalets selling what he regards as tacky trinkets. But his wife and partner Marine Bonnet is determined to make this a Christmas they can both enjoy, beginning with the carol sing at the Cathedral Saint Sauveur, a beautiful service in a packed church. Just as the holiday cheer is in full swing, a man is poisoned, sending the community into a tailspin.

Abby is offered the chance to participate in an author event being held at Firehouse Books with one of her own favorite authors. When the guest author turns up dead, Abby realizes that clues to the author’s death could be found in the new novel. Abby joins Colt as he investigates the death of a local man who died after eating pudding dosed with poison during a community dinner. Colt receives a call to check out a light inside an abandoned lighthouse closed for renovations. The pair respond only to find evidence of two trespassers, one of which is now dead.

The festive season is in full swing - parties, champagne and Christmas crackers abound. You're having a breather at the hotel bar when a stunning young woman catches your eye. Could she really be interested in you? She flutters her eyelashes and takes your hand. Her Christmas party dress glitters with sequins. What you don't know is that your life is now in her hands - as she leads you up to her room there's only one thing that will determine whether you live or die. Are you a good person? Are you really?

With Christmas right around the corner, all of Holiday Haven is busy getting ready for the season. Aurora Hart's schedule is full to the brim, but unlike last year, she is determined to enjoy every ounce of holiday fun with her bear of a boyfriend, her squirrel neighbor, her half elf best friend, and the rest of the Humbug gang. However, when her magic starts failing, Rory's seasonal happiness just might be cursed.