Women Sleuths Christmas

As Melanie attempts to deck the halls in a house overrun by pampered poodles, her event planner friend, Claire, is busy playing Santa for the wealthiest clientele on Connecticut's Gold Coast. A personal shopper gig in the affluent town of New Canaan seems like business as usual. Except Claire's stylish stint comes at a higher price than she bargains for when she stumbles over her newest customer's dead body. Named a prime suspect for murder, she begs for Melanie's help, then vanishes like cookies and milk on Christmas Eve.

Margaret Maron’s best-selling Deborah Knott mystery series won instant acclaim upon its debut in 1993. In this 16th entry in the series, the judge is faced with a horrifying holiday murder case. After a beautiful young cheerleader is found dead in a car wreck, Judge Knott’s husband Deputy Dwight Bryant discovers evidence that the death was anything but an accident.Now Knott and Bryant are on a desperate search for a killer before he or she trikes again.

Librarian Abby Fawn is starstruck when her favorite romance author, Nadine White, has rented a cozy camper at the Happy Trails Campground for the winter months. Abby is devastated to find out Nadine White is nothing like the person she portrays in interviews or on social media. In fact, Nadine White is not nice at all, and Abby lets her feelings known that she thinks Nadine is a fraud...after she finds out Nadine has a ghost writer. When Nadine White is found dead in the Normal Library, Abby Fawn is Detective Hank Sharp's number one suspect.

Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square - if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an unscrupulous exploiter. Lizzy must enlist the Dahlias to protect her while she herself is confronted by a romantic puzzle. And Sheriff Norris is forced to reopen a puzzling mystery that the town thought was solved.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, but private investigator Liz Talbot is struggling to feel festive. She hasn't seen her best friend, Colleen, in weeks and fears she may never see her again in this life. Meanwhile Nate, Liz's husband and partner, is spending money like he prints it in the attic on a mysterious family Christmas celebration. Liz's nerves are shot, and she hasn't even decked a single hall. But there's simply no time to fret.

Charlene's parents are in town for Christmas, and her mother is driving her up a tree. Her bed-and-breakfast's resident ghost, Jack, isn't fond of her either - and he's showing it with some haunting high jinks. But when Charlene takes her mom and dad out for dinner, the less-than-seasonal spirits take a deadly turn.

Holly Wood is days away from saying "I do" to Nick Claus when a chilling discovery threatens to turn her dream wedding into a nightmare. While touring the grand Olde Jolly Hall, Holly stumbles upon a hidden passageway—and the body of Beatrice Harper, the long-missing owner. As whispers spread through the charming town and the mystery deepens, Holly must untangle a web of lies, old rivalries, and hidden motives. Suspicion falls on Charles Harper, Beatrice's enigmatic brother.

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.

“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me the reason your husband had to die.” Anna Greenan finds the cryptic lyric shoved against her front door. Each day of Christmas brings Anna a new stanza with a new clue. Will this mysterious Christmas carol lead Anna to uncover her husband’s murderer or will these notes lead to her demise?

Northern England, 1926: Surprised by her eager acceptance of Redvers’ proposal, Jane is ready to spend the festive season deciphering the mysterious man she agreed to marry, while surviving scrutiny from the icy Dibble clan at their snow dusted manor. But all attention shifts to the announcement of upcoming nuptials between the humorless Evelyn Hesse and the man who will become Jane’s father-in-law.

With a sinister clue left on their doorstep, Holly, Nick, and the Claus family find themselves tangled in a web of trickery woven by the mischievous Yule Lads, 13 impish pranksters who have returned to cause chaos. As Holly and her determined team race against the clock to find Gilbert, they must navigate a blizzard of clues. But as Christmas draws near, the stakes grow higher, and Holly uncovers a chilling plot that points to an unexpected culprit within their midst.

A French patisserie opens in the village of Ashton Mead in time for Christmas. Local residents are pleased, but Hannah, owner of the Sunshine Tea Shoppe, feels threatened by the competition. When the owner of the patisserie is killed, Hannah is suspected of murdering her business rival. Her friend, Emily, is determined to clear Hannah's name. She seems to be facing an impossible task… until her little dog Poppy makes a surprising discovery.

"The entwined stories and Amato's passionate narration will remain in listeners' minds long after the mysteries are solved." —AudioFile on In the Shadow of Vesuvius In the latest installment of Tasha Alexander’s New York Times bestselling series, Lady Emily must solve a string of high stakes...

No place is more perfect for the winter holidays than the charming mountain town of Estes Park. As the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery glistens with lights and garlands, Winifred Page allows the seasonal merriment to brush away all worry and fear. Watson, her grumpy corgi, is about as far from stressed as possible-after all, with the holiday baking, delectable crumbs are everywhere.

Charles Kendrick, a senior U.S. senator, is a suspect in the disappearance of a young female staff member. A multi-state manhunt is already underway, and the district attorney is pressuring Kendrick for an interview, which his lawyer, Marty, doesn't want to grant. At the same time, Marty and her law partner and lover, Harry Madigan, are preparing the defense of a man accused of murdering a priest. Both defendants are lying, but to whom? And can their actions be justified?

When a local millionaire eccentric dies, the whole of Candy Cane Hollow are crying into their mince pies. But when the Will is read, it turns out that the whole estate has been left not to the man's family, but to an elf who claims she didn't know him at all. With that shock discovery, it's time to see how money really does change people...and not everyone will survive the fall out.

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!

For all its merriment, Christmas can also bring melancholy-and in Magic Springs, Idaho, Mia finds that the season has brought her an unhappy ghost who's pulling poltergeist-style pranks to get her attention. When she demands an explanation, the ghost just sends a message: Ask Mary Alice-that is, Mia's beloved Grans, who's been training her to develop her witchy talents. If anyone can figure this out, it's Grans . . . even if she still hasn't managed to free Mia's cat from a previous spell that she cast.

When Detective Kate Rosetti is startled awake in the middle of the night by a phone call from her mother, she knows it’s not good news. It turns out Kate’s father, the notorious Angelo Rosetti, is missing. There are no witnesses and no leads, and with only a week to go before Christmas, Kate hopes to find her father before the New Year. As Kate begins the hunt for her father, she gets another case added to her plate at the precinct.

Seth, the seven-year-old Earl of Woodridge, is spending Christmas at Halton House and he would like nothing better than to help trim the tree with the Christmas decorations his father had carved for him. But no one has any idea where these decorations are. Determined to make the young Earl's wish come true, Evie and her bodyguard, Tom Winchester, set out to a nearby village where the young Earl had lived in the hope that they might recover the lost decorations. They find themselves among a group of people who might all be suspects in the murder of a local villager.