Holiday Thriller

After the shocking events of last Christmas, Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for all the right reasons. But when a stranger turns up on her doorstep claiming to be her estranged father, Jess is shocked. Moreso, when the man claims that the little girl with him is none other than Jess’s sister - a child she knew nothing about. Jess isn’t sure she wants these strangers to stay, but she can’t turn them away, especially when she learns that their lives are in danger.

In Amish Christmas Mystery, Ettie must unwrap the truth before her daughter gets a one-way ticket to the slammer. This Yuletide, the stakes are high, the snow is deep, and the mystery is as thick as a fruitcake. Warm up to this intriguing cozy mystery that will keep you guessing 'til the last carol is sung!

It's New Year's Day, a time for new beginnings and setting the stage for things to come. Factory worker Kevin usually starts with a day off, but this year he's working the year-end inventory. He is disgruntled but doing as he's asked until he can get out of there and return home to his wife and kids.

An advertising agency's holiday office party turns from celebration to horror when the owner of the company is found murdered the morning after their latest riotous shindig. It is up to feisty amateur sleuth Hope Hadley to figure out who the killer is before the holidays are ruined.

A woman is found dead in a local businessman’s holiday let. Detectives uncover some shady dealings. But did he kill her? The charm of a West of Ireland holiday home is somewhat tarnished when a woman’s body is found in the property. There are few clues as to her identity. However, in her hand is found a small solid-gold ingot. Galway-based DI Maureen Lyons is drawn out to the sticks to take on the case. Suspicion naturally falls on the property’s owner, who runs a large discount store, lives beyond his means and has an over-zealous interest in the ladies.

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.

Librarian and solver of mysteries, Kit Sorel has a lot on her plate this December. The eccentric but cozy island of Greengage can do that to a person. All Kit wants is to settle into her first holiday season on this quaint English isle - torn away from her past home, family, and old friends - as she is.

There’s a Grinch in Pomme Valley! Someone is stealing presents right from under the noses of unsuspecting homeowners and leaving no trace of how he broke in. And, to make matters even more baffling, he’s stealing only presents! Corgis Sherlock and Watson are on the case! Accompanied by their reluctant human, Zack, the unlikely trio must find out who’s responsible for the thefts and stop him before anyone gets hurt. The townsfolk are scared. City officials are nervous. Can Zack and the dogs put a stop to this crime spree before Christmas is ruined for everyone?

Maeve O'Reilly Kensington has fully recovered from her heart-pounding escape from a murderer last summer. Now she and her husband, Will, are happily adapting to life as parents of an eight-month-old while also preparing for the birth of their second daughter. Will's catering business, A Thyme for All Seasons, is booming and Maeve's midwifery practice has blossomed under new hospital leadership.

‘The Signalman’ (1866) is a short story by the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). In the story, a practical-minded narrator meets a railway worker who has been seeing supernatural visions. The narrator doubts the man at first, but at the story’s conclusion a strange event makes him a believer.

Roasted chestnuts from vendor’s carts, fresh-cut spruce trees lining the sidewalks, extravagant gifts, opulent dinners, carols at St Patrick’s Cathedral, a warm meal, and a few of minutes shelter from the cold at one of the charitable food lines. It’s Christmas in Gilded Age Manhattan. And for the first time ever an amazing giant ball will drop along a rod on the roof of the New York Times building to ring in the New Year. Everyone plans to attend the event. But the murder of a prominent newsman hits a little too close to home.

After solving her first case, Siobhan O’Brien faces her biggest challenge yet—Thanksgiving! With her lawyer boyfriend Craig in tow, Siobhan travels to Minneapolis to endure small talk with the extended O’Brien clan and chow down on some seriously delicious turkey and dressing. Everything’s swell until her sister-in-law Gwen tells her about her brother Sven's frequent late-night meetings with his co-workers. Since Siobhan’s next case is just a ferry ride from their house in Washington state, she asks for Siobhan’s help.

In the first ever crossover episode, Zak and Zoe join forces with Hawaiian visitors Luke and Lani, to find out who killed a historian visiting Ashton Falls in order to find a treasure map left by his grandfather a hundred years earlier.

December 1935. Director Monty Harrison's production of A Christmas Carol has had a troubled run on its tour of regional theatres. With tensions amongst the cast running high, the company reach their final stop—London's Theatre Royale. Catastrophe, however, strikes on opening night: Scrooge dies on stage, the result (it is presumed) of a heart attack. But the show must go on. Until, that is, a leading theatre critic—and old rival of Monty's—is killed backstage.

It’s Christmastime, but one old movie studio watchman won’t be celebrating. It’s now up to two patrolmen to solve the case in this murder mystery set in 1943 Hollywood. Murder On Santa Claus Lane was adapted from a pulp-fiction story by William G. Bogart, first appearing in G-Men Detective magazine.

Officer Jax Diamond doesn’t always play by the rules, and he’s in the hot seat again with the captain of his precinct. So, when a brazen little puppy alerts him of a crime, Jax is ordered to stand down or get canned. On the city streets, broke and alone, Jax beats himself up for making the wrong decision. Even the little tramp who keeps trailing him everywhere can’t lift his spirits. But crime never stops in New York City, and a string of deadly Christmas capers spirals out of control.

Courtney is excited for the upcoming Community Christmas event. All the charitable organizations in town are being invited to participate, and they’re guaranteed to get the extra funding they’re always needing. Of course, the work of the shelter never ends, and Courtney is inundated with a fresh flood of feisty canines that she’s trying to foster. But when a wealthy patron is found dead, festivities are thrown into a flurry! Who would commit such a yucky yuletide crime?

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.

Originally published in a 1892 edition of Strand Magazine, "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" was one of 12 short stories to be included in the first Sherlock Holmes collection, the 1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In this tale, Holmes and Watson investigate two cases - one involving a Christmas goose and a hat and the other, the theft of the Blue Carbuncle, a priceless jewel. The cases are quickly revealed to be intertwined, and the spirit of the holidays influences the tale's end.

Dan Coast is all set to spend Christmas just the same way he has every year for the past few years: alone and drunk....