Christmas Mystery Thriller

USA Today best-selling author William W. Johnstone built a reputation for crafting unmatched stories of true Western courage - a tradition J. A. Johnstone now continues. In A Rocky Mountain Christmas, Matt Jensen’s scenic trip on the Denver railway is derailed when an avalanche strikes the train. Far from an accident, its cause is a reckless band of outlaws out to free their leader. Surrounded and outgunned in a driving snowstorm, Matt must lead to safety a ragtag group of survivors that includes a senator’s sick daughter and a beautiful woman with a dark past.

Finding a severed hand at a client's house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won't let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge's pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again - this time much too close to home.

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.

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.

Peppermint Cookie Murder is the first book in the festive paranormal cozy series, Christmas Catastrophe Mysteries. If you like kind-hearted heroines, furry sidekicks, and a dash of mistletoe magic, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s tasty whodunit.

It's the most wonderful time of the year in Christmas River, and pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon Peters has everything to look forward to this holiday season. She's celebrating her one-year wedding anniversary with Sheriff Daniel Brightman, her best friend's getting hitched, and she's making a triumphant return to the annual Gingerbread Junction Competition. Things are merry and bright everywhere Cinnamon looks.

Quilt appraiser Keely Fairchild is thrilled that the Danger Cove Quilt Guild has teamed up with the Historical Museum to make miniature quilts to decorate the museum's Christmas tree. To join in the holiday spirit, she offers free appraisals of holiday quilts during the ornament-making workshop.

When Iris Woodmore visits Winchester for their annual pantomime, murder is the last thing she expects to find. And there seems to be no valid reason as to why anyone would want to hurt lead actress, Rachel Lacey – kind and philanthropic, she organized the Christmas performance to raise funds for the Winchester Cathedral Great War Fund. Determined to uncover the sinister forces at play, Iris and her dear friend Percy embark on a perilous journey through the snow-lined streets of Winchester, where secrets lurk around every corner and danger looms in the shadows.

The most wonderful time of the year is here! And at Trinity Pointe Amusement Park all are welcomed. From Santa’s Village to the dazzling lights, and the smell of the delicious holiday treats emanating through the air. The merry and festive spirit could be felt at every turn.

In the small town of Abbott Creek, mysteries are as much a part of daily life as Katie Chupp's Christmas cookies. It's the most wonderful time of the year. With a winter chill settling in and Christmas right around the corner, no one would expect a mystery, but a mystery does indeed appear. Katie Chupp is spending her days catering to the holiday rush, but she soon finds herself in the midst of a secret project that attracts more attention than she wants. And when one local family finds a very unexpected surprise at their door, this is one mystery that may never be solved... even by Katie.

Sherlock Holmes is handed a blackmail case shortly before Christmas. Usurer Jacob Marley must pay 10,000 pounds if he wishes to avoid any damages. Holmes and Watson get to work on the investigation.

In Jewel Bay, all is merry and bright. At Murphy's Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily's turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin. When Merrily goes missing, and her boss discovers he's been robbed, fingers point to Merrily - until she's found dead.

When Edie O’Sullivan wins a three-day Christmas break in a hotel on a remote Scottish island, she’s looking forward to a picture-perfect Christmas full of winter walks, roaring fires, good books and even better whisky. But when a guest dies in mysterious circumstances, Edie realises that they have a killer amongst them. As more guests begin to die, it is up to Edie to solve the strange riddles found in the victims’ Christmas crackers if she is to stop the murderer’s killing spree. But as she gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in the way of a devious and clever killer.

Clive and Henrietta (and baby, Teddy!) return to Highbury to spend Christmas with the family. Clive’s mother, Antonia, schemes to increase her social standing at her club by introducing the pair during the annual Christmas ball as the newly minted Lord and Lady Linley. Her plans go awry, however, when the club’s collection of gifts for the poor mysteriously goes missing. Henrietta and Clive are reluctantly drawn into the case, though Clive suspects it is nothing more than a silly prank.

The Carters, a family looking to escape holiday chaos, arrive at a secluded cabin nestled deep within the snowy woods, eager for a peaceful Christmas. But as they settle into their rustic hideaway, the surrounding pines appear to draw nearer, bringing with them a foreboding silence and strange, inexplicable whispers in the night. Strange symbols, eerie voices, and unsettling encounters with the locals hint at secrets hidden within the forest, a place where time itself seems suspended and ancient rituals still hold sway.

Following the sudden disappearance of his wife, a police investigation soon starts to focus on eminent surgeon Leonard Martineau. Were they the devoted couple that they appeared to his colleagues? Or was one of her friends right to suggest that she was afraid of him? Is the next-door neighbour imagining things when she reports having seen him digging a grave in his back garden? Is her sister’s antipathy towards Leonard justified? Or is she just resentful and jealous of her sister’s marriage?

This Christmas season, genealogist Ellie McLellan is put in charge of organizing the Percyville holiday festivities. Together with her dwindling senior genealogist group, she endeavors to plan an exceptional event for the town. But when a family feud is unexpectedly thrust upon her, she must find a Percyville treasure before the last generation renews the feud or destroys the the town's Christmas tradition. Will the elders of the community have the clues Ellie needs to solve this mystery?

Autumn has arrived in Christmas River, but frustration levels are at an all-time high for the small town's residents as an unseasonable heat wave plagues the central Oregon Cascades. Somehow, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon Peters has managed to stay above it all. Recently married, Cinnamon's been happily working hard at her pie shop all summer to help pay for her and Sheriff Daniel Brightman's upcoming honeymoon to Hawaii. All that stands between them and paradise is the upcoming Christmas River Rodeo.

Single mom Caley James has three kids, a good-for-nothing ex and the flu. When her furnace dies, during the longest cold spell Hampstead has ever seen, she thinks Christmas can’t get worse. Until…Her youngest finds a dead body in the basement.

It's Christmas in Hopeless and the Christmas Cookie Tournament has made its way to town. But Hope Walker, the local investigative reporter, learns there's something much bigger at stake than a top cookie prize. This cookie competition has turned serious. Deadly serious! Join Hope, Katie, Granny, and Alex as they sift through recipes and motives to find the killer. And along the way, find out if Hope is going to finally get her dream job. Or learn if sometimes, dreams really do change.