Christmas Short Stories Anthology

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.

Siobhán O'Sullivan's hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she's pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics - or worse - that led to his death by chocolate?

Tom Kendall and his wife, Sue, are excited to finally fulfill their lifelong dream of owning and restoring an old cottage on the coast of Maine with hopes of finishing the renovation in time for a healing Christmas. As work begins, they uncover a long-lost letter left by the cottage's previous owner, and their lives soon take a much different path than they had planned. From internationally beloved author and member of From Women's Pens, Juliette Hill has once again woven a heartwarming tale of love and the magic of Christmas that readers are sure to revisit year after year!

“The Santa Call” - After accidentally forgetting his wife at home during a weekend getaway, ol' St. Nick returns to discover she's left him. At wit's end, Santa turns to a radio talk show for some much needed love advice. But will he win Mrs. Claus back in time to save Christmas?

Also included: “Mad Dog” - Mad Dog is a drunk. He was also once the top sports announcer in the country, announcing everything from Cotton Bowls to Super Bowls. Now he's washed up and looking for work.

One night four lives entered the world by the hands of an Amish midwife just outside North Star, Pennsylvania. Rebekah's babies, as they are called, are now grown adults, and in four heartwarming novellas each young person experiences a journey of discovery, love, and the wonder of Christmas.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Top 10 Short Stories - Christmas today.

Annie Dixon’s love for nature and her hometown of Glenville has her driven to find a way to keep the tree farm from outsiders. When the bank grants sixty days before the tree farm is listed for public sale, Annie and her friends devise a plan to finance the buy. The death of Annie’s childhood friend brings Detective Ryder Harris back to Glenville. A child in his eyes, he always called her 'Sweet Annie'. Now he sees her differently. Annie never admitted she had a big crush for Ryder. Now that familiar flutter in her heart is back.

This edition of Christmas Stories for the Heart offers an uplifting collection of many of the best Christmas stories ever told. The heartwarming and tender treasury - another release in the best-selling Stories for the Heart series from Alice Gray - includes stories by several of America's most respected and beloved Christian communicators. It's the perfect holiday gift to give or to keep for listeners who want to curl up by a crackling fire and renew their faith, hope, and love for the holiday season.

Lynn Crandall lets listeners check in on favorite Fierce Hearts series were-lynx characters Kennedy Mitchell and Asher Monroe as they uncover the identity of the creature scaring the humans in Octavia, a small rural community in northern Michigan. Plans for an intimate getaway and family-style holiday are crumbling as the snow piles higher and Kennedy and Asher find themselves snowbound with a killer outside their door.

Flagged down by Inspector LaStrade of Scotland Yard as they walk through the icy winter streets, Holmes and Watson are transported to the home of the aristocratic Lady Whitebread. Once there, she tells them her traditional holiday centerpiece has vanished in the midst of the Christmas dinner - right under the very noses of her guests. The decoration? An enormous work of the jeweler's art centered upon a three inch round emerald called...the Christmas Jewel.

These three love-filled holiday novellas will warm the heart of winter's darkness, filling it with the glow of Christmas and the peaceful light of plain gifts.

Attorney Desiree Contando can think of only one word to describe her very first home: disaster. The vintage Queen Anne is beautiful - or will be, in about 1,000 years. Certainly not in time to host the family Christmas gathering. “Disaster” also describes the bad breakup that left her picket-fence vision in tatters. Even the carpenter she’s hired is a reminder of lost dreams - the high school crush who never spared her a passing glance. But she’s a grown-up now, perfectly capable of keeping things professional.

A Chicago journalist finds himself in a small Texas town on Christmas Eve. Lonely and alone, he encounters old faces and new facts: a hand carved manger, a father's guilt, a young girl's faith. The trip into the past holds his key to the future, and a scarlet cross shows him the way home.

Rumpole isn't particularly fond of Christmas; he finds it has a horrible habit of dragging on as he and She Who Must Be Obeyed go through the usual rituals in Froxbury Mansions. After the exchange of presents (lavender water for her, a tie for him) they settle down to a supermarket turkey with all the trimmings, followed by a glass of port. The only excitement comes in deciding whether to stand for the national anthem after the Queen's Speech.

Twenty stories were originally published in the Christmas editions of the magazines “Household Words” and “All The Year Round”. Some of the stories have little holiday sentiment and exhibit much of the indignation Dickens felt at the social and economic injustices of his day. Some of the stories were written in collaboration with other authors.

Some mistakes carve wounds. Others, however, carve paths—twisting, unexpected roads that lead straight to the heart of what truly matters. In A Christmas Mistake, Montgomery paints a holiday tale where a simple misunderstanding reshapes lives in ways neither regret nor logic could predict. The charm of this story lies in its warmth, its humanity, and the quiet wisdom that sometimes, what seems like misfortune is nothing more than fate wrapped in disguise.

Outshone by a gregarious stepsister and overbearing stepmother, Lady Athena Cummins is used to fading into the shadows. Beloved only by her youngest sister, Persephone, Athena has accepted her destiny as a spinster. But Persephone has a different scheme in mind, and conspires to send Athena out for one night of fun at Lord Finchley’s masquerade Christmas Ball. The masked beauty catches the Lord’s eye but, determined to avoid the wrath of her stepsister, Athena leads Lord Finchley on a wild chase to discover her true identity.

Dive into a world of enchantment with Twinkling Tales of Christmas, a delightful collection of 30 captivating short stories that will transport children and parents to the wondrous spirit of the holiday season. Join our young heroes as they embark on thrilling adventures, discover the true meaning of Christmas, and share in the joy of giving.

Siblings Alexina and Stephen are down on their luck this year and resign themselves to not having a Christmas dinner. But when their wealthy, gourmand uncle James invites himself to their house for Christmas, the pair scramble to lay out a sumptuous feast, including his favorite, Mince pie. But 10 minutes before the turkey is done, an unforeseeable disaster occurs that threatens to ruin everything.

Inside this delightful collection, you'll uncover seven tales from literary legends whose work shaped the world of writing. From gothic horror to existentialist reflections on life and society, inside you'll also find your fair share of adventures, fantastical places, compelling characters, and moral lessons.