Holiday Mystery

When Juniper Holiday invited guests to her latest party to see the new year in with a bang, she didn’t mean from a gun. But when Mayor Berkshaw is shot dead at the stroke of midnight, that’s exactly what they get. Amidst champagne corks, fireworks, and a house full of masked guests, it’s impossible to know who pulled the trigger.

Lumi's life is thrust into seasonal overdrive as throngs of visitors make their way to her family's reindeer sanctuary, eager to sip hot cocoa and visit with Santa's retired fleet. Rumors are swirling that she might be getting a shiny new diamond ring in her stocking this year, but Lumi isn't so sure. If anything, Prince Corbin seems to be giving her the cold shoulder, leaving her to wonder if she's headed for holiday heartbreak instead.

When Lou Prescott bought the bookstore at Holiday Bay, she wanted it to be so much more than a quaint seaside business. She wanted it to be home to the cozy gathering of friends, she knew in her heart, would come together to share their lives, their hardships, and their victories. With the change of the seasons, comes shorter days, cozy fireside get-togethers in the courtyard, and a new mystery or Lou and her group of amateur sleuths to solve.

'Tis the season to be jolly and the ghosts of Lottawatah are determined to horn in on the holiday revelry. In Giving Thanks in Lottawatah, Brianna Sullivan must find an engagement ring that has been missing for 35 years, deal with the mother of her boyfriend who is holding a grudge because Brianna almost killed her with crab dip, and wrangle family ghosts to give up old secrets and enjoy the holiday.

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.

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.

Rue Cyprus and her Golden Retriever puppy, Kasey, are at it again. With Halloween around the corner, Kasey finds a black kitten hiding in the bushes. Rue and Kasey want to keep their new friend, but Rue's mom reminds her that the kitten probably has her own family. Can Rue and Kasey return the kitten to her rightful home before the ghosts and goblins appear?

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.

Everyone knows a Juniper Holiday Halloween party is to die for. To get an invite is the most talked about topic in Crescent Cove. To experience the Holiday mansion in all its (supposedly) haunted glory is the stuff of legend. Of course, no one has actually seen a ghost in residence—but how could they when they’re having the time of their life?

Fifties are the new forties and I'm living my best life ever. I may have a few more aches and pains, graying roots, and couple extra pounds, but I also have two quirky best friends who always have my back, business is booming, and my love life has never been better or hotter. That is until my sweetie Ezra Holden invites me home for Christmas to meet his family. The season is full of surprises in Ezra's hometown, like a missing cousin, a case of mistaken identity, and a slew of painful memories—none of them my own.

When Bell Towers decides to build their newest boutique hotel in Wharton County, Braxton establishes a hospitality program as part of their university expansion. Despite family ties to prominent citizens, a dispute over the proposed landsite pits citizens against each other. One takes matters into their own hands and slays the hotel magnate during the campus holiday party. As the list of suspects increases, long-lost family members are anxious to keep their secrets from being revealed, complicating Sheriff Montague's ability to determine the murderer’s true motive.

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.

Two years ago, Candice’s life changed in a single night. The apartment she shared with her mother and special-needs son burned to the ground, forcing her to accept the help of a stranger. Gary Ford, her knight in soot-coated bunker gear, helped to save their lives and then gave them a home so they could recover from the loss. Convincing her to marry him, they wed on this past Christmas Eve and hoped that their lives had finally hit the plateau we all like to think of as normal. No such luck.

Carol and Mercy are preparing the inn for the summer solstice when they get a phone call from none other than Mrs. Claus, telling them some VIP guests will be arriving at the inn. Namely, the representatives of other holidays, including the Easter Bunny and Cupid, who will bring them a much-needed publicity boost. Unfortunately, their new guests also bring a flood of holiday-themed chaos. With the Easter Bunny demanding to be served fresh cabbage leaves every few hours and Cupid's arrows wreaking havoc among the staff, Carol finds her own potential love life on hold.

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.

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.

Witches don’t always follow the rules, and when they don’t, bad things happen. Like Cassandra Bloom’s death, for starters. Holiday Hills residents, magical and humans, were afraid of Cassandra. She was the bad witch in every fairytale, the one with the ugly wart and long, stringy gray hair. But she didn’t just look scary. She was scary. Sure, everyone in town might feel secretly relieved Cassandra’s no longer with us, but they’re missing the bigger picture. Cassandra didn’t die of old age. She was murdered.

My name is Abby Odell, and I’m leading a double life. Don’t get me wrong. I love it! But being a witch in a predominantly human world is challenging sometimes. My hometown, Holiday Hills, isn’t your typical small town. It’s a magical town, but not to the humans. At least not until recently. Something’s happening, and it’s not good. Magic is no longer hidden, and people are starting to witness events that don’t seem humanly possible.

When Shandra Higheagle’s dog brings her a dead body in a sleigh full of presents, her world is turned upside down. The man is a John Doe, and within twenty-four hours, another body is found. Detective Ryan Greer receives a call that has them both looking over their shoulders. A vengeful brother of a gang member who died in a gang war is out for Ryan’s blood. Shandra’s dreams and Ryan’s fellow officers may not be enough to keep them alive to share Christmas.

Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Maltese Falcon in this Maizie Albright star detective New Year’s Eve action-and-adventure-styled, humorous, romantic crime caper. Before champagne toasts and the Big Peach drops, Maizie has 12 hours to reprise her most detested role to protect her family from old acquaintances best forgotten and never brought to mind. Will these ruthless villains pop Maizie’s cork before the clock strikes 12? Or worse yet, drop the ball on her baby sister?