Holiday Thriller

Claudine Burroughs, a volunteer in Hester Monk's clinic for sick and injured prostitutes, no longer expects closeness with her coldly ambitious husband and dreads the holidays. Then, at a glittering Yuletide gala, she meets the attractive poet Dai Tregarron, and suddenly her spirits lift. But an hour later, this fascinating man is enmeshed in a nightmare - accused of killing a young streetwalker who had been smuggled into the party.

When Matt and Imogen move out of the city, they're hoping for a much-needed fresh start. Matt throws himself into his new job, but Imogen struggles to adjust to life in quiet Surrey. She's grateful for the kind welcome from new neighbour Nancy, and they soon become close friends. So when Nancy makes a shocking accusation, Imogen doesn't know who to trust. This isn't the first time Matt has found himself on the wrong end of a false accusation...but is Nancy hiding secrets of her own?

1929, December: Snow is falling, and Miss Clara Vale is wrapped up against the cold as she braves the icy streets of Newcastle in her latest investigation. When a young actress from the touring pantomime of Cinderella arrives at her door, Clara isn't sure what to make of her request. Sybil Langford, the legendary fairy godmother in their production, has mysteriously vanished. Could Clara help track her down? But a few days into Clara's search, Sybil's body is pulled from an icy river, and Clara finds herself in the middle of yet another murder mystery.

The lead-up to Christmas sees the Connection private investigation team planning their festive season. Until a new case arrives. Catapulted into their biggest mystery yet, they are tasked with finding a killer who has been released on parole, and subsequently disappeared. Has he returned to finish the murder he tried to commit before his capture? As he targets his intended victim, his attention is also focused on the private investigators and their police colleagues with devastating effect. With families torn apart, Doris must seek assistance from a colleague from her past.

Tis the season...for ghosts. Verity Long has come to terms with the fact that she can see spirits, and talk to them, and...she's actually making cookies for one of them. But she's drawing the line at any more ghost hunting or mystery solving. Until a dear friend needs help locating a missing antique at the party of the year. Not one to leave a friend in need, Verity straps on her sparkly heels and sneaks in to see what she can find - only to uncover a startling secret that will change everything.

In book 28 in the series, Abby finally has a moment to sit down with the manuscripts her friend Gayla left to her in her will and realizes that the murder Gayla wrote about in her stories might actually be a fictional accounting of the real unsolved murder that were still baffling police a decade after it was a front page story in the local news.

In 1914, while visiting her friend Madeleine, Lady Elspeth Douglas's life is thrown into chaos when war breaks out and the Germans quickly overrun Belgium, threatening France. Having just agreed to marry Alain, Madeleine's dashing brother, Lady Elspeth watches him leave to join his unit, and then she sets out for England, only to find herself trapped on the French coast.

On Christmas Eve, 1943, the newly formed but undermanned Homicide division of the Melbourne police force is called to investigate the vicious double murder of a father and son. When Military Intelligence becomes involved, Homicide's Inspector Titus Lambert must unravel the personal from the political. If only the killings had stopped at two. The police are desperate to come to grips with an extraordinary and disquieting upsurge of violence.

The group discovers a purebred Maltese whimpering in the snow-covered grove - right beside a dead body. Pete, a squatter who camped out on the land, apparently met his end after a fallen fir-tree branch fell on his head. But as Melanie and Aunt Peg investigate Pete's complicated history, it's clear his death was no accident. Now, Melanie must run through a flurry of likely suspects and muzzle a dogged murderer in time - or she'll be next on someone's deadly list.

This anthology contains Angels in the Snow, The Good Shepherd, and Welcome to Bethlehem.

Sam's crazy Italian family is back, and Suds takes them on with his usual Southern charm as he navigates through the holiday season. Will they find the nativity infant in time for Christmas?

Millie Kay is easily charmed by Mother's Day Festival, but her sweet Southern charm doesn't go over well with everyone. While Violet is running all over Holiday Junction to report for the Junction Journal, Millie Kay is joining in on the festival activities. Millie Kay and local Sally Westin get into a public fight over a dessert Millie Kay says she won fair and square in the cake walk. And when Sally Westin is murdered, everyone is pointing the finger to the non-local in town, Millie Kay Rhinehammer.

Aurora Hart's life has never been better. She's got a successful business as an ice sculpture artist, a group of loyal friends in the Humbugs, and a hot bear of a boyfriend. Her reputation as the savior of Christmas gets her more attention than she wants, especially when the event planner for the summer solstice celebration wants her help making something special. Everything's going swimmingly until something goes terribly wrong. Now, all of the attention is focused on Rory, except for all the wrong reasons.

After working for Charlotte and Thomas Pitt for years, Gracie thought her maid-work was behind her. But when her good friend turns up at her doorstep just before the holidays, frantic because she's lost her job and has no references for a new one since she was unceremoniously fired, Gracie knows she has to find out what happened. Her friend, it seems, was concerned about what was going on in the house, and the husband and wife who lived there got rid of her to stop her talking.

Lori Shepherd and her family spend Christmas in the cottage willed to her by her late Aunt Dimity, but when she discovers a stranger barely alive in the snow, she teams up with a priest and together they unveil the tragic secret that led the stranger to her door.

Quilt appraiser Keely Fairchild just wants to have a quiet little Thanksgiving dinner at home with her boyfriend, but as the guest list grows, so do the distractions from meal preparations. First, she gets dragged into investigating the theft of miniature quilts that were supposed to be featured in the guild's entry in the Danger Cove Thanksgiving Parade.

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.

Tommy and Evelyn Christie are looking forward to a quiet Christmas holiday at the home of Hugh Norton-Cavendish, the 9th Earl of Clifford, who recently married Tommy's cousin, Elise. However, the suspicious death of Albert Lewis, a businessman hoping to buy land from Hugh, means the Christmas festivities are quickly over. Tommy is distracted by his sister's new relationship with a man he distrusts. Evelyn is busy with her pack of dogs, brought for the traditional Boxing Day shoot.

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.

Ruby Holmes is delighted to be celebrating Christmas with her close friends in Carmel Springs, Maine. The tree in the center of town is about to be lit, the mistletoe is up, and the town is decorated in reds, greens, and whites. Everything is perfect. Until the lights come on and reveal the dead body of the mayor himself. It’s murder, and with very few leads for the local detectives to follow, it’s time to shut the town down until further notice - no celebrations, no parties in the street, and certainly no caroling. Can Ruby and Bee solve the mystery?