Have yourself a mysterious little Christmas with fifteen whodunits from New York Times–bestselling authors Sharyn McCrumb, Mary Higgins Clark, and more! Peace on Earth isn’t everyone’s cup of tea in Charlotte MacLeod’s “A Cozy for Christmas.” Peter Lovesey’s “The Haunted Crescent” delivers a holiday ghost story with a twist. A training session for department-store Santas turns up Saint Nicks who are anything but angels in Isaac Asimov’s “Ho, Ho, Ho.” Marcia Muller’s “Silent Night” finds a tough private investigator searching San Francisco’s Tenderloin district—and discovering something unexpected. A long-married couple’s ship finally comes in—only to spring a mysterious leak—in Mary Higgins Clark’s “That’s the Ticket.” Scottish superstition catches up with a cat burglar in Sharyn McCrumb’s “A Wee Doch and Doris.” These and many more stories will keep you turning pages and gathering evidence of yuletide mayhem. So when holiday shopping brings out your inner Grinch, hunker down with a hot toddy—and leave the murder to the experts. This festive collection includes stories by Charlotte MacLeod, Peter Lovesey, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Eric Wright, John Lutz, Howard Engel, Mary Higgins Clark, Bill Pronzini, Sharyn McCrumb, Henry Slesar, Edward D. Hoch, Aaron Elkins, Susan Dunlap, Isaac Asimov, and Marcia Muller.

Introducing a sleuth that“mothers everywhere will identify with”—first in the long-running series from the New York Times bestselling author(Publishers Weekly). As if baking holiday cookies, knitting a sweater for her husband’s gift, and making her daughter’s angel costume for the church pageant weren’t enough things for Lucy Stone’s busy Christmas schedule, she’s also working nights at the famous mail-order company Country Cousins. But when she discovers Sam Miller, its very wealthy founder, dead in his car from an apparent suicide, the sleuth in her knows something just doesn’t smell right. Taking time out from her hectic holiday life to find out what really happened, Lucy’s investigation leads to a backlog of secrets as long as Santa’s Christmas Eve route. She is convinced that someone murdered Sam Miller. But who and why? With each harrowing twist she uncovers in this bizarre case, another shocking revelation is exposed. Now, as Christmas draws near and Lucy gets dangerously closer to the truth, she’s about to receive a present from Santa she didn’t ask for—a killer who won’t be satisfied until everyone on his shopping list is dead, including Lucy herself . . . Praise for the Lucy Stone Mystery series “A solid mystery.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A surprising and intelligently constructed plot.”—Cape Cod Times “Lucy Stone is an endearing sleuth.”—Dorothy Cannell “Leslie Meier has created a town I’d like to live in and a sleuth I’d love to meet.”—Jill Churchill

Traveling with her family to an old Cornish estate at Christmastime, writer Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher learns of the estate's lore, ghost stories, and resentments before discovering that a murderer is among her party.

“As entertaining as ever.” —The Horn Book Hazel and Daisy trade mistletoe for a murder investigation and set out to save the day (Christmas Day that is!) in this fabulously festive fifth novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas holidays in snowy Cambridge. Hazel is looking forward to a calm vacation among the beautiful spires, cozy libraries, and inviting tea-rooms. But there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College and two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident—until the Detective Society looks a little closer, and realizes a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage if they’re going to find the killer before Christmas dinner.

As a group of apparently unconnected guests arrive for a Christmas party and a corpse is discovered in the snow, it's down to Lord Edgington to solve "The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall" and outwit the killer before his goose is cooked.

Ring in the season with another Mrs. Jeffries tale of holiday homicide. Moments after a high tea is interrupted by a fire in the servants’ hall, art collector Daniel McCourt is found sprawled on the floor of his study under a bundle of mistletoe, his throat slit by the bloody sword lying next to his body. Could the killer be a disgruntled lover, sending a message by murdering McCourt under the mistletoe? Could it be one of his fellow collectors, pointedly using one of McCourt’s own acquisitions to kill him? Inspector Witherspoon is determined to solve the case—preferably before Christmas Eve—but of course he will need some assistance from the always sharp-witted Mrs. Jeffries, who has her own theories on why McCourt had to die by the sword...

In this Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas mystery, guests and staff alike are coming together under the kissing bough—only to fall victim to a cold-blooded killer… At the Pennyfoot Hotel, Cecily Sinclair Baxter and her staff are hustling and bustling more than ever. Cecily’s dear friend Madeline arrives with her new baby and adds a kissing bough to the festive decorations. Cecily gets in the spirit by kissing the precious baby beneath the bough, believing that the holiday couldn’t be getting off to a better start. But after a footman and a new maid are seen kissing under the bough and turn up dead, the staff is convinced a serial killer is spending the holidays at the Pennyfoot. And when Madeline’s baby disappears, Cecily has her hands full desperately trying to find the child. If she doesn’t catch this killer in time, everyone’s cheer will quickly turn to fear…