Christmas Thriller

It's Christmas, and I, ex-witch Stevie Cartwright, declare this my favorite time of year. I love the decorations! The food! The Hallmark Channel holiday specials! This year promises to be better than ever because for the first time in a very long time, I'm going to have more than just Cheez Whiz, Triscuits, and the wish to be surrounded by family and friends. My carefully planned holiday bonanza includes all the usual suspects.

Everleigh Beckett’s plans for Christmas are simple: Forget her ex is getting married to another woman, keep her cat Roscoe in the lifestyle he’s accustomed to, and hunker down until all the Yuletide cheer is over. Hoping to forget the season, she agrees to work extra shifts in the Missing Persons Division so her partner can spend time with his family. What Everleigh doesn’t realize is that one of the most infamous baby-snatching cases of 1986 is about to land in her lap.

Now that Thanksgiving's behind her, vintage cookware enthusiast Jaymie Leighton Müller is excitedly making plans for the upcoming Dickens Days festival - the town's month-long celebration leading up to Christmas. With a hot cider booth on the village green to warm the hearts and bodies of the townsfolk and a diorama featuring a scene from A Christmas Carol, things are shaping up for a festive season - until the town's local Scrooge is found murdered, a vintage pudding mould covering his cracked skull.

The holiday season on Daybreak Island is a mixed bag for Maddie James. On the one hand, her Christmas spirit is in the doghouse after a break-up. On the other, she's busy enough that she doesn't have to pretend to be merry. Business at her cat café is booming, and Maddie's care-taking of a feral cat colony in one of the area's wealthiest communities only helps her bottom line. But tensions between the homeowners and animal activists are escalating to catastrophic levels...and before long a body is found dead in a snowbank.

As Charlotte Pitt's grandmother Mariah Ellison finds herself investigating a long-unsolved slaying, it becomes clear that grappling with intrigue and foul play runs in the family. A festive Christmas package left on Mariah's doorstep contains an ominous present, sparking memories of a 20-year-old murder that shattered her friendship with the victim's widow. Though the gift is a bitter reminder of that tragic time, in the spirit of the season Mariah travels to Surrey in hopes of reconciling with her estranged friend and solving the crime that drove them apart.

The Darkness of New Orleans dozed fitfully during the war years, waiting for its chance to play with its toys again. It was a Darkness as carefully hidden as the gates to the small courtyards that lurk between buildings in the French Quarter. In the Le Prete Mansion, a movie is just now wrapping up, having spawned madness in trying to film a seductive tale of death and mystery. Disenfranchised spirits have been sent to the hell of their birth. One lost spirit has found a new home in the body of a French Quarter policewoman.

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.

For Sarah Anderson, life is a magical balancing act. Between raising two kids, nurturing a new relationship, and secretly trying to control her own fledgling magical powers, her hands are already full. So when the town’s quirky Christmas in July festival is crashed by a brazen bank heist and a shocking murder, her summer plans are officially iced.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…and for Heather Andrews, security manager at Timberwoods Mall, undoubtedly the busiest. But this Christmas, Heather has more to contend with than frazzled parents and disgruntled Santas. Angela Steinhart, a young woman who designed the mall’s spectacular holiday displays, has had a premonition that tragedy will strike on Christmas Eve. And Angela’s visions have a habit of coming true. Heather would love to dismiss the warning as holiday stress.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A locked-room mystery that will delight Agatha Christie fans. Dramatist Trevor Lowe and his friend Detective Inspector Shadgold board the Western Express to spend Christmas in the little Cornish village of St Merryan. Heavy snowfall forces their journey to an abrupt halt and, after seeking refuge in a local pub, one of their fellow passengers is found stabbed to death, clutching half a Christmas card. Is the murderer in their midst?

It is Christmas in the city, but it isn't the giving season. A retired Gulf War pilot, a careless second-story man, a pair of angry Mexicans, and an equally shady pair of Secret Service agents are in town after a large stash of money, and no one is interested in sharing. The detectives at the...

Accompanied by her loyal maid and friend, Cecily Nugent, they arrive at Selfridges giggling with excitement, but unknown to them, their afternoon of delights was to take a very different turn. Yet again, Camille and Cecily are called upon to utilize their sleuthing skills to find a murderer.

After another dreary term away at school, Grace is desperate to see her mum and brother again. But the family's time together is suddenly interrupted when a shocking murder at their hotel throws everything into chaos. And when Grace's mum disappears soon afterwards, Grace trusts nobody. With her mum missing and younger brother Billy in tow, Grace enlists the help of new friends Olive and Doug. Full of twists and turns, the mystery takes the four friends on an adventure. And as they start to uncover the truth behind the murder, they wonder if anyone at the hotel is really who they say they are.

*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* *NOW A LIMITED SERIES ON MASTERPIECE PBS* Meet Van Der Valk, Amsterdam’s best detective, in Nicolas Freeling’s classic novel A woman, Elsa, is brutally murdered in her Amsterdam apartment. Her ex-lover, Martin, is seen outside the building around the time of the...

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?

As the very fabric of her family's existence is torn apart by accusations surrounding the murders of close friends, Meghan longs for the peace and tranquility of her adopted hometown of Sandy Bay. She is an emotional wreck and is confronted with betrayals, accusations, disappointments, homesickness, sad revelations, jealous friends, and a murder investigation. Make that two murder investigations!

Half angel. Half demon. One hundred percent teenager. On Halloween, Esme's life changed. On Thanksgiving, she counted her blessings - and her curses. This Christmas, she confronts her greatest fears - and discovers her true gift.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd returns in the third stunning action thriller from bestselling author Stephen Leather. Even deadlier than terrorists . . . are the men trying to stop them. People-smuggling, counterfeit currency and attempted murder. It's all in a day's work for undercover cop Dan 'Spider'...

It’s a wedding right after Christmas in the scenic ski resort town of Taos, New Mexico. Libby, Greg and Shadow, along with Lexi and her family head to Taos for a vacation and to attend Greg’s college friend's wedding. Not long after the ceremony, the groom goes missing, and Libby’s group is pulled into the mystery of finding out where he could possibly have gone.

In this Haunting by the Sea Novella, it's Christmas in Cutter's Cove and the town is all decked out for the holiday. Amanda is out and about working on a photoshoot for a contest run by a popular magazine when she comes across the body of a young woman frozen in the snow. On the surface, the death looks to be an accidental overdose, but Amanda isn't buying it, so she, along with Trevor and Alyson, set out to discover what really happened.