Holiday Thriller

It’s summertime in Holiday Bay, and between the outdoor dining options provided by the new rooftop bar and eatery and the summer concert series held on the roof every Thursday night, the Bistro is busier than they’ve ever been.

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.

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.

I wear many hats. I'm a friend. A sort-of girlfriend. A ghostwriter, and...oh yeah, a witch. My editor always tells me to “write what you know.” Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening...literally. When the main character in my latest novel - a witch herself - takes a new job with the Magical Bureau of Investigators, she stumbles upon a threat so big, it could destroy everything she holds dear. Fiction, right? Nope. For reasons beyond my witchy sixth sense, everything I write is now happening to me in real life!

Anne ist Hebamme an der Berliner Charité. Sie leidet an einer seltenen Angststörung, von der sie regelmäßig in der Nacht des 24. Dezembers heimgesucht wird. Erst die Begegnung mit dem attraktiven Chirurgen Alexander Marquard gibt ihr die Kraft, dagegen anzugehen: Die frisch Verlobten beschließen, dieses Jahr ein großes Weihnachtsfest im Kreis der Familie zu feiern.

I have a perfect life. I recently rented the most adorable little apartment on top of my favorite bookstore coffee shop on Main Street in Holiday Hills, the charmingest of charming small southern towns. I spend my days ghostwriting a cozy mystery series for a well-known author, and maybe just a minute or two crushing on the town’s police chief. But of course, I’d never let that cat out of the bag.

For nearly three decades, one man has used his twisted sense of justice to rid the world of racism and hatred by very simple means: he finds and kills racists. But on his very first outing, one victim escaped his bullet. Now, 30 years later, that job left unfinished could very well be his undoing.

A teenager turns up dead in the woods, brutally murdered, and it looks like it might be politically motivated.... The short-handed homicide team can't seem to get a handle on the case...things just keep going wrong.... Is someone trying to intimidate Laurencia Rivera and her investigators, to protect the killer and prevent him from being caught?

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.

Georgia Winston is now dating Detective Cal Perkins, planning a Christmas program, and navigating her relationship with her twin stepbrothers. Just another day. But then her church’s youth pastor dies of poisoning, and she’s the only one who hears his final word, “Anchor.” After the youth pastor’s girlfriend disappears, Georgia starts asking questions. Too many. When she’s almost run off the road, she goes on the offensive - with her stepbrothers’ help - and starts putting the pieces of the murder together.

Christmas is here, and Harper Harlow and Jared Monroe have big plans for the holidays. Harper is ready to move into their new house - and find him the perfect gift. And Jared? Well, he’s gearing up to propose, and he’s making Zander ring shop with him. All those plans go out the window when a little girl named Zoe Mathers goes missing, and her traumatized mother is zero help in tracking down the culprit. Suspects are few and far between, although Zoe’s deadbeat father is of immediate interest.

It's Halloween at the Global Tower Theatre, a fantastic and historic theater owned by Adam Harrison and run by spouses of Krewe members. During a special performance, a strange actor makes an appearance in the middle of the show, warning of dire events if his murder is not solved before another holiday rolls around. Dakota McCoy and Brodie McFadden dive into the mystery. With the help of Brodie’s diva mother and his ever-patient father - who were killed together when a stage chandelier fell upon them - Dakota and Brodie set out to solve the case.

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, but Aisling Grimlock is feeling anything but festive. For her, the world seems to be shrinking, and good cheer is hard to find. Aisling’s worry about meeting her live-in boyfriend Griffin Taylor's mother takes a backseat when a new enemy appears, this one haunting Aisling in mirrors and turning up at the exact wrong time. The creature seems fascinated with Aisling - following her from one mirror to the next and threatening her very survival.

The best thing about the holiday season is spending time with family. At the same time, sometimes the worst thing about the holiday season is spending time with family. The stories in this collection touch on that and more as Mandy Nichols, Jeff Resnick, and Judi Straub struggle through what's supposed to be the joyous season. One family contemplates murder; another wants to end what they see as a bad relationship, while another can only see their loved one for what she can do for them. Sound familiar? Happy Holidays? puts the Christmas fun into dysfunction!

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.

Hope Hadley is at a holiday crossroads. She wants to feel festive. She would love to have a good time. But she is waiting on news that might change the course of her life. How will things play out? Is a joyous Christmas in the cards for her? Or, will her holiday be ruined?

Pru Parke takes on the most serious challenge of her life: cooking an entire Christmas feast alone. But she is distracted by a mysterious plant vendor at a local holiday market, who appears and disappears into the night. He seems familiar, and yet... Join Pru and Christopher as they suss out this stranger while Pru contends with cooking a turkey fit for a crowd. Just how many potatoes and sprouts can two people eat?

With the festive season fast approaching, amateur sleuth Juno Browne helps organise a Christmas Fair to raise funds for Ashburton’s local animal sanctuary. The event is a success, but whilst Santa is handing out presents in the fairy-lit grotto, a murder is being committed in a dark corner of the garden. Juno discovers the body of Bob the Blacksmith, found clutching a horseshoe decorated with a sprig of elder. Suspicion falls on Bob’s longsuffering wife, Jackie, and on Don Drummond, with whom Bob violently quarrelled in the past

It’s Christmas in Salem, and Winter Allen isn’t just playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in the community theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, she’s actually seeing them. And this spirit is worried that the people responsible for her murder are now after her daughter. Somehow the ghost knows Winter is a witch, and her ice magic may be the key to saving the ghost’s daughter. Jackson Walker is a PI in Salem, but he’s also a werewolf, and his heightened senses give him an edge. When a witch from the Coven of Light contacts him asking for help in finding a missing woman, he’s quick to agree.

It's December in White Eagle, and Tess and Tony are preparing for a huge Christmas celebration. The town is planning their annual festival, which has Tess and Tony struggling to stay ahead of things. In addition to their work with the festival, Tess fills in for the mail carrier who took over her route, and Tony spends long days with Shaggy working to finish the development of their most recent video game. In spite of their busy schedules, things seem to be going smoothly until an unexpected visitor comes to town with an unusual request.