What's Santa Reading?

Cozy mysteries of course!

Check out these great titles that I'm 

sure are on Santa's list.

It’s Christmastime in Weatherford, Texas, and retired teacher–cum–amateur sleuth Phyllis Newsom has to deal with a cutthroat Christmas bake-off in this festive Fresh-Baked mystery.
 
Phyllis would like to think she’s entering the Christmas cookie contest just for fun. But that’s not exactly true. She can’t imagine anyone beating her delicate snowflake-shaped lime sugar cookies, although her neighbor Mrs. Simmons’s gingerdoodles might give her a run for her money.
 
Then, during her annual Christmas cookie exchange, Phyllis heads over to the elderly Mrs. Simmons’s home and finds the poor thing in a pile of lime sugar cookies, strangled by the belt of her own bathrobe. With a number of names on Santa’s naughty suspect list, this case is a cookie Phyllis means to crumble...

This Christmas, a killer's serving up a trayful of trouble in a new holiday Fresh Baked Mystery.

As Christmas approaches in Weatherford, Texas, Phyllis Newsom is decorating her house in preparation for the Jingle Bell Tour. The last thing she expects is that one of her ceramic gingerbread men will be used to commit murder....

When her friend Georgia Hallerbee asks Phyllis to have her house featured in the annual Christmas Jingle Bell Tour of Homes, Phyllis is equally flattered and flustered. She already has a bridal shower on Christmas Eve and a wedding on New Year’s Eve to prepare for, and she’s been baking gingerbread cookies like they’re going out of style. But like her tasty treats, she rises to the occasion.

Before the tour can even get under way, Phyllis hears a crash on her front porch and makes a gruesome discovery. Someone has broken a decorative gingerbread man over Georgia’s head. Santa’s naughty list just got longer—and with the police baffled, it’s up to Phyllis to catch a half-baked killer...

Includes recipes!

Wedding bells will be ringing in Weatherford, Texas, this Christmas when Phyllis Newsom opens up her home for her best friend’s wedding. And although the bride is wearing white, no one suspects that she’ll soon be wearing black…

After all the planning—and the cake tasting—the big day has arrived. Eve Turner, one of Phyllis’s boarders—and her best friend—is moving out and getting married to the affable Roy Porter. While she’s sad to see Eve go, Phyllis is more than happy to host the event in her house and to bake the bride and groom a delicious three-tiered coconut wedding cake. Even though a snowstorm in the forecast seems like a recipe for disaster, the day runs as smoothly as butter cream.

But the marriage doesn’t last long past the honeymoon. When Roy’s found dead at a Weatherford bed-and-breakfast, Eve’s the top suspect. Now Phyllis must find out who iced Roy before her friend finds herself behind bars…  

Includes recipes!

In this delectable Fresh Baked mystery, Phyllis Newsom returns with a festive Christmas recipe that’s to die for…

‘Tis the season in Weatherford, Texas, and everyone in town is gearing up for the annual holiday parade and tree-lighting ceremony in the town square, where Phyllis Newsom will be serving her much-anticipated candy cane cupcakes. Local rancher Barney McCrory manages to charm one away from her before the ceremony begins. But unfortunately, when the minty confection is finished, so is he.

This isn’t the first time someone has dropped dead after eating one of Phyllis’s treats. But when the paramedics determine the rancher was shot, suspicion swiftly falls on McCrory’s daughter and her husband—who both stand to reap some sweet rewards from his death. Though Phyllis doesn’t want to get mixed up in another murder investigation, something about this case doesn’t sit right with her. With a little help from a tabloid TV news crew, Phyllis must unwrap the truth and restore good cheer to Weatherford before it’s too late...

Includes recipes!

The holiday season turns udderly dangerous for Maddie and her paranormal museum.

Maddie Kosloski is no fan of San Benedetto's Christmas Cow, a thirty-foot straw bovine that graces the town square every December. For one thing, the cow displaces her paranormal museum as the number one tourist attraction. Plus, every year, despite around-the-clock surveillance, the cow goes up in flames.

But this year, there's more than just a fire blazing in Maddie's wine-country hometown. One of the Christmas Cow guards has been found with an arrow in his chest, and Maddie's new haunted cowbell exhibit is fueling a panic. Are the spirits in her museum getting too hot to handle? If Maddie can't stop the hysteria—and the murderous archer—her holiday plans might not be the only thing full of holes.

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

Christmas ornament craft projects included.

Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend (and possible spy) Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

Christmas craft projects included.

Santa is now getting his rest to prepare for his big night. But lucky us, we can keeping on reading!

🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅

Tomorrow, Lisa Ks Book Reviews will be back to business as usual with a new book and author guest post through Berkley Mystery.

Have a great day! 

What's Santa Reading?

Cozy mysteries of course!

Check out these great titles that I'm 

sure are on Santa's list.

Scumble River's school psychologist Sky Denison might have to put her wedding on hold when the town's sexy new librarian is murdered and list of suspects keeps stacking up.

 

There’s no place like Scumble River at Christmastime, and this year, school psychologist Skye Denison has twice as much to celebrate—and to do. In addition to the usual holiday frenzy, Skye’s wedding to police chief Wally Boyd is less than a week away—that is, if the groom isn’t too busy working to attend. The town’s sexy new librarian, Yvonne Osborn, has just been murdered, and the list of suspects is piling up faster than late fees on an overdue book.

Yvonne’s strict sense of right and wrong annoyed some townspeople and infuriated others. Did her high standards lead to her death? Skye is distracted by worries about what havoc the crazy Dooziers will wreak on her wedding day and whether she’ll fit into her dress. But Skye can’t afford to leave any page unturned because unless she works quickly to expose the scheming killer, her happy ending may be put on permanent hold.…

Myrtle Crumb, the sassy, sixty-something sleuth from BETWEEN A CLUTCH AND A HARD PLACE and WHEN GOOD BRAS GO BAD, is suspicious when the mall Santa is found dead "on the throne"--the Santa Land throne, that is. The police are saying it was suicide, but Myrtle knows no self-respecting Santa Claus would let himself die in front of the children! She goes undercover to investigate the suicide and uncovers more than she bargained for!

It’s time to cuddle up with a holiday whodunit. Smell the crisp pines and baking cranberries as you sip your hot apple cider. It may be the season, but the mood in Winsome is anything but jolly.

Megan Sawyer is determined to farm year-round. So much so that she braves a December snowstorm to pitch her fresh greenhouse greens to Philadelphia chefs.

And then she sees a stranger stranded on the side of the road.

But this woman is no stranger to Winsome. It’s Becca Fox. A love chemist (you read that right). She’s headed to her aunt’s house to sell her love potions at holiday events.

Or so Becca thinks.

Her sneaky aunt only invited Becca home to reunite her with her estranged father. It sounds noble and kind-hearted, until the man ends up dead.

Megan soon finds herself in the middle. She realizes Becca’s not the only one getting iced over. Megan’s own aunt, the famous mystery author, is dragged into the drama. Her novels implicate her and she’s in trouble.

Now it’s personal. Our Megan must follow a cryptic trail of literary clues, all while sifting through the victim’s sordid past. She gets closer to the truth as the murderer gets closer to her.

How’s that for a ho ho ho? Don’t let your fresh apple crisp burn in the oven because you’re lost in this holiday homicide.

Antique print dealer Maggie Summer has come to Maine for a storybook Christmas with her beloved Will Brewer and his Great-Aunt Nettie, who has gathered together her longtime friends for holiday celebrations. Maggie and Will love each other, although Maggie is determined to adopt children and Will has misgivings. But this problem is put on hold when Maggie hears cryptic references by Aunt Nettie's old friends to buried secrets from their youth. One elderly woman suffers from dementia, remembering those past events better than the gifts she just opened. Will she blurt out information about an old crime so dangerous that someone would commit murder to prevent its being revealed? Blackmail and murder are only the beginning. It may be a Merry Christmas, but who will still be around to see in a Happy New Year?

Christmas in Haven Harbor, Maine, means family, trouble, and murder . . .
 
This Yuletide season, there's no time for Angie Curtis and Patrick West to linger under the mistletoe. Patrick's being needled by his mother—movie star Skye West—to set the stage for a perfect white Christmas as she brings her costar, screenwriters, and director home for the holidays. With his mother's long list of wishes, Patrick's becoming unraveled. To help, the Mainely Needlepointers offer to decorate Skye's Victorian mansion and create needlepoint pillows as gifts for the guests.
 
But not long after the celebrity celebrants invade Haven Harbor, an unscripted tragedy occurs. Then some questionable Christmas cookies make Patrick sick. Before Santa arrives at the town pier on a lobster boat, Angie and the Needlepointers need to trim down the naughty list, catch a cold-hearted killer, and wrap up the case . . .

When landscape designer Nina Quinn agreed to deck the halls of Christmastowne, an indoor Christmas village, little did she know how dirty the job would be. Christmastowne has been plagued by mishaps. Someone?s stealing toy donations, cutting lines to the security system, starting fires, and poisoning the poinsettias. Worst of all, Nina?s neighbor, Fairlee McCorkle (aka Mrs. Claus) is found murdered under Christmastowne?s enormous decorated tree. The deeper Nina digs for clues to unwrap a killer, the more she discovers that some secrets are best left buried in the past.

Comfort food and murder are on the holiday menu in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of Macaroni and Freeze . . .
 
All Trixie Matkowski wants for Christmas is a break—just not the broken leg she got after slipping on some ice. With Sandy Harbor alive in the hustle and bustle of the season, it’s the busiest time of the year at Trixie’s Silver Bullet Diner. There are millions of things to do, including cater the town’s annual Christmas pageant and community dinner with some delicious holiday comfort food.
 
But the festivities turn into a bit of a turkey after Liz Fellows, the director of the pageant, is found with Trixie’s butcher knife in her back. Now Trixie must help the police arrest the scary gentleman—or lady—guilty of the crime if she hopes to get herself off the naughty list.

Check back tomorrow for 

more of St. Nick's picks!

What's Santa Reading?

Cozy mysteries of course!

Check out these great titles that I'm 

sure are on Santa's list.

In this third book in the Samantha Sweet cozy mystery series, it's Christmas and a quirky Romanian chocolatier shows up at Sweet's Sweets, offering to create a special line of hand-dipped chocolates for Samantha's customers. He says he will work for no pay, just to prove himself. But when she learns that he has connections to the wooden box which seems to give Sam her mystical powers, she discovers that certain evil people may do just about anything to take it away from her. With the same combination of mystery, romance and that touch of the paranormal for which the series has become known, Sweet Holidays carries the reader into the special and magical world of northern New Mexico at the holiday season.

It’s Christmas in Albuquerque; Charlie and her family are ready for a quiet holiday at home. But right away, her hopes for that scenario fade when Charlie’s brother and PI business partner, Ron, brings in two new cases, one of which made national headlines.

Five years earlier, in a tide of media attention and despite public sentiment against her, Tali Donovan was acquitted of killing her two children and then she disappeared from the radar. Now, at the anniversary of the children’s disappearance, their father wants to find his kids. Charlie realizes that the distraught man will not find peace until he knows what really happened. RJP Investigations digs up more than past history as Charlie and Ron work to find the answers.

It's a New Mexico Christmas. The lights are strung, the luminarias are set along the sidewalks. Treats are abundant and Charlie Parker is getting ready for her mother-in-law's holiday visit. But there is trouble in the neighborhood and when death shows up--right next door--Charlie's bright, festive plans suddenly take a turn for the dark. Get in the spirit with this holiday novella.

Bailey’s Farmers’ Market is this season’s go-to holiday destination, but not all the vendors are feeling the Christmas spirit...

Jam and preserve maker Becca Robins is excited about the extra business that the Ridgeway Christmas Tree Farm is bringing to the market this holiday season. But when a competing tree farmer, Reggie Stuckey, arrives with a truck full of trees, angrily barking that he has exclusive selling rights at the market, Becca finds herself pining for more goodwill toward men.

After Reggie is found with a tree stake in his chest, she wonders when the Christmas tree business turned so deadly. Now Becca has to use the only clues she has to the killer’s identity—mysterious ornaments that begin to show up in her stall—to hook a sinister Scrooge who will go to any lengths to drive home a point…

Christmastime has come to Scotland, and Delaney and all her coworkers at the Cracked Spine, the quirky bookshop in the heart of Edinburgh, are all in the holiday spirit. Between mugs of hot chocolate and nibbles of gingerbread, Delaney has been given the task of tracking down the provenance of a mysterious box of objects that her boss, Edwin, has recently acquired. In it are various trinkets, but what really catches Delaney's eye is a worn copy of A Christmas Carol, where she also finds an old photo tucked inside. On the back is a name, which leads her to a woman whose granddaughter has gone missing. When it becomes clear that the box might be connected to the missing girl, Delaney is pulled into the intrigue, and takes it upon herself to figure out what really happened—and why.

The Holidays Prove Ho-ho-homicidal--

Forget being Santa’s helper! Kiki has to play amateur sleuth…or else she might wind up behind bars.

Newly revised and enhanced version of Book #10 in the ongoing 13-book cozy mystery series featuring ace scrapbooker and crafter, Kiki Lowenstein.

Super-crafter Kiki Lowenstein is cramming as much into the ho-ho-holiday season as she can. But Kiki’s ambitious plans come to a crashing halt when her student, Eudora Field, drops dead at the start of one of Kiki’s community center classes. An overeager security guard is convinced that Eudora didn’t make her transition without help. Now it’s up to Kiki to determine who was nice, and who was very, very naughty, indeed.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially now that Caprice De Luca has wrapped up her holiday-themed staging gig at a stunning historic home in downtown Kismet, Pennsylvania. Behind all the red ribbon and glowing string lights, homeowners Chris and Sara Merriweather have it all. But Chris, a Vietnam vet who plays Santa every year at the community park, has been displaying strange behavior after a recent trip to Washington, D.C.

The joy of the season vanishes entirely when Chris is found murdered on Santa Lane, leaving behind his loyal malamute and lots of unfinished business. As Caprice uncovers hidden secrets in Santa's workshop, the pressure is on to catch the candy cane-wielding culprit--before she's next on a killer's deadly wish list . . .

Check back tomorrow for 

more of St. Nick's picks!

What's Santa Reading?

Cozy mysteries of course!

Check out these great titles that I'm sure are on Santa's list.

Welcome to Serenity Cove, a peaceful Southern community where the residents like to play dice, play golf and, when foul play moves in, play detective.

With Christmas fast approaching, Kate McCall and her dice-playing friends get into the holiday spirit by agreeing to help the elderly Eula Mae Snow decorate her home, even when it means sorting through a veritable blizzard of the older woman’s knickknacks. Intent on doing a good deed and digging up a bright collection of seasonal decorations, Kate is stopped dead in her tracks when instead she discovers the skeleton of a man showing clear signs of foul play.

Many in Serenity Cove thought that Waylon Snow had run off and left town—and Eula Mae—more than two decades earlier. But with the appearance of his skeleton and a whole host of clues pointing to Eula Mae as the murderer, Kate will have to put her sleuthing skills to work to figure out who could have committed the evil deed. Determined to clear Eula Mae’s name, Kate knows she’ll have to solve the coldest of cold cases to track down the culprit before the holidays really go south . . .

Includes tasty holiday recipes!

Nothing could drag chef Angie Amalfi away from San Francisco and her beloved policeman fiance Paavo Smith –– except for a job preparing the banquet her all–time favorite soap opera characters will consume during an upcoming Christmas Reunion Special. So Angie eagerly takes off for the estate where the now–defunct "Eagle Crest" was originally filmed. Not thrilled to be staying in the very room from which the young actress Brittany Keegan took a real–life fatal tumble years earlier, Angie is equally disturbed –– and intrigued –– when another corpse turns up in the cellar. Both deaths have been ruled accidental, but the bitter accusations flying back and forth among the reunited cast suggest otherwise. And now that Angie's a guest star in this deadly serial drama, she's suddenly in serious danger of being written out of it permanently.

Someone’s spreading deadly holiday cheer through Salem, Mass . . .
 
Lee Barrett has landed her dream job at Salem’s WICH-TV. As the new field reporter, she’ll be covering events live as they’re unfolding. Next on her holiday checklist is an interview with the beloved chairman of a popular walking tour through Salem’s historic districts. But it may be his ghost walking this snowy Noel season after Lee finds him murdered in his stately offices, bloody Santa hat askew.
 
With her police detective boyfriend working the case and a witch’s brew of suspects—including some bell-ringing Santas—Lee chases down leads aided and abetted by her wise cat O’Ryan and some unsettling psychic visions of her own. When a revealing clue leads to another dead body, not even a monster blizzard can stop Lee from inching closer to the truth . . . and a scoop that could spell her own demise this killer Christmas.

Feline deadly this Christmas . . .
 
Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, celebrates all things Christmas, and few things are more beloved than the town’s annual holiday cookie competition. Lara Caphart, who runs the High Cliff Shelter for Cats with her Aunt Fran, is waiting for the green light for a brand-new category: pet-friendly cookies. But when the woman filling in as a last-minute judge dies after sampling someone’s Santa-themed treat, Lara’s recipe for healthy cat snacks will have to be put on the back burner.
 
The victim, Gladys Plouffe, was the town’s roundly despised former home economics teacher. The chief suspect is the mother of Lara’s best friend, who was hellbent on walking away with the bake-off’s cash prize. Cryptic clues from beyond the grave only deepen the mystery, pointing to a cat with striking blue eyes—a cat who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lara’s mysterious Ragdoll. As Lara begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse, not even her significant other may be able to stop a perfectly clawful killer from getting away with the purr-fect crime . . .

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and the only things on Birds & Bees owner Amy Simms’s wish list are peace, quiet, and birding beside her beau.  But in small town Ruby Lake, ‘tis the season to solve murders . . .

Before Amy can get into the holiday spirit, she meets Franklin Finch—the cocky new owner of Christmas House Village, one of the most beloved attractions in town. Locals have been squawking over his decision to sack veteran staff members for cheaper help. And when Finch blows off a business deal with Amy, it confirms that he’s the biggest scrooge around. Still, she’s stunned the night his dead body is found swinging in the attic of a festive Victorian . . .

Clashing against Chief Kennedy once again, Amy sets off to prove that Finch was murdered. But while her investigation quickly reveals a gaggle of disgruntled ex-Christmas House Village employees and unusual clues, Amy must move with caution as she focuses in on the seedy killer . . .

Super organizer Ellie Avery could really use some Christmas cheer when Gabrielle Matheson, a grinchy professional rival, sets up shop in the same small Georgia town. But before the halls are even halfway decked with holly, someone uses Ellie's terrifically tasteless white elephant swap gift as. . .a murder weapon!

Ellie's now a suspect. Besides playing Mrs. Santa for her Air Force pilot husband and their two kids, shielding her eyes from the garishly over-decorated house down the street, and helping a client who's a hardcore hoarder, Ellie also has to solve this ho-ho-homicide. . .and find a killer who wishes her a very deadly Christmas.

Don't miss Ellie Avery's great tips for a relaxed and stress-free holiday season!

Previously published in the collection Egg Nog Murder.

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and Julia Snowden’s escape from New York has just hit a snag. Fresh off accidentally poisoning half her colleagues with her “Killer Eggnog,” Julia’s would-be subletter, Imogen Geinkes, is now jobless and homeless—leading Julia to invite the young woman home for the holidays in Maine. But when they unload the rental truck in Busman’s Harbor, they find something that wasn’t on anyone’s packing list: the body of Imogen’s former boyfriend.
 
Suddenly, the wordplay in Imogen’s name—“I’m a jinx”—isn’t so adorable. But for all the calamities that follow in Imogen’s wake, Julia’s certain she’s no killer. As Julia digs into the case, the appearance of the ex’s brother—his identical twin—doubles the confusion. Has Imogene been double-crossed by an evil twin? Was the eggnog “accident” no accident at all? If Julia doesn’t unwrap the murderer’s true identity soon, one of the twelve days of Christmas could be her last . . .

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for the knitters of Fort Connor, Colorado, who are furiously working on their holiday projects. And it’s not a stitch too soon, because some unfortunate resident will be feeling a deadly chill instead of holiday cheer…
This Yuletide, Kelly Flynn and friends are helping the town's librarian, Juliet, teach children how to knit. Juliet has fallen in love—but just as she finds happiness, death finds her, facedown in her Christmas cape. Suspicion falls on a newcomer, a widow with a puzzling past, who—some believe—was sweet on Juliet's boyfriend. But Kelly and her knitting crew aren't convinced. It's up to them to find a killer—before someone else gets fleeced.

Check back tomorrow for more 

of St. Nick's picks!

What's Santa Reading?

Cozy mysteries of course!

Check out these great titles that 

I'm sure are on Santa's list.

Apples are at the core of the family business run by Winona Mae Montgomery and her Granny Smythe. But this year’s crop is unseasonably ripe with murder . . .
 
ONE ROTTEN APPLE
 
Blossom Valley, West Virginia, is home to Smythe Orchards, Winnie and her Granny’s beloved twenty-five-acre farm and family business. But any way you slice it, it’s struggling. That’s why they’re trying to drum up business with the “First Annual Christmas at the Orchard,” a good old-fashioned holiday festival with enough delicious draw to satisfy apple-picking locals and cider-loving tourists alike—until the whole endeavor takes a sour turn when the body of Nadine Cooper, Granny’s long-time, grudge-holding nemesis, is found lodged in the apple press. Now, with Granny the number one suspect, Winnie is hard-pressed to prove her innocence before the real killer delivers another murder . . .
 
Includes Recipes!

It’s beginning to look like a merry Christmas for Hayden Mundy Moore. On vacation from providing her sought-after expertise in all things chocolate, Hayden heads to snowy New England with her friend and financial advisor, Travis, for the opening of his pal’s highly-touted holiday musical. But when the show’s producer is murdered, Hayden trades sampling Chocolate Santas for finding the killer—especially since this time, Travis is the one asking for her help . . .
 
Soon Hayden discovers there’s more to Travis’s chic hometown than mulled wine and cocoa cookies. But that’s just the beginning. Almost no one, including Travis, is quite what they seem. Did the show’s lead have more savage motives than stardom? Could the dead producer’s husband have felt a murderous envy for his successful wife? Getting behind the mistletoe and jingle bells will take all of Hayden’s savvy—along with some super caffeinated Peppermint Mochas—if she hopes to catch a killer with a heart more bitter than the darkest truffle . . .

Lucy Resnick’s nerves are as tight as a tea cozy. Her new goats, Hot Lips and Gidget, keep making a break for the town square, her truck is dying, and her boyfriend’s gorgeous ex-wife is in town for the holidays. Worse, someone’s digging holes on her land…and uprooting her peach orchard and dewberry patch in the process. Lucy needs additional holiday stress like she needs a blow to the head—which she receives one night, courtesy of the mystery digger.

When the dim-witted sheriff arrests one of Lucy’s best friends, the former reporter puts her own problems on the back burner and starts investigating. What she finds is a patchwork of clues—an injured puppy, a sapphire necklace gone missing, and a string of poison-pen letters—that draws her deep into a web of small-town secrets.

Word travels fast in Buttercup. When the killer learns Lucy’s on the trail, Lucy finds she needs more than her reporting skills to save her friend—she needs a Christmas miracle.

It's beginning to look a lot like... Murder.

It's Christmastime, and farmer Lucy Resnick is living the life she's always dreamed of. When she's not selling her jams, soaps, and mistletoe bundles at the Buttercup Christmas Market, she's enjoying cozy evenings by the fire with her knitting group--or her handsome veterinarian boyfriend Tobias Brandt. But less than a week before Christmas, a pall falls over the festive atmosphere when local man Randy Stone turns up with a knife in his back... and a sprig of mistletoe in his hair.

Local sheriff Rooster Kocurek, never the brightest bulb on the string, is convinced it's an open-and-shut case--murder by jealous wife--but Lucy suspects otherwise. She soon discovers that Randy's life was more tangled than last year's Christmas lights... and that unless she wraps up the case fast, there might be more than one funeral this holiday season.

As the Moonlight Magnolia Agency revisits old memories on Christmas Eve, Granny Reid takes the reins back thirty years to the 1980s—back when she went by Stella, everyone’s hair was bigger, and sweaters were colorful disasters. But murder never went out of style . . .
 
Christmas has arrived in sleepy McGill, Georgia, but holiday cheer can’t keep temperamental Stella Reid from swinging a rolling pin at anyone who crosses her bad side—and this season, there are plenty. First an anonymous grinch vandalizes a celebrated nativity display. Far worse, the scandalous Prissy Carr is found dead in an alley behind a tavern. With police puzzled over the murder, Stella decides to stir the local gossip pot for clues on the culprit’s identity . . .
 
Turns out Prissy held a prominent spot on the naughty list, and suspects pile up like presents on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the more progress Stella makes, the more fears she must confront. With a neighbor in peril and the futures of her beloved grandchildren at risk, Stella must somehow set everything straight and bring a cunning criminal to justice before December 25th . . .

Loving a good cup of coffee runs in the family for Briar Creek library director Lindsey Norris. But when her brother, Jack, a consultant for a coffee company, goes missing, her favorite beverage becomes a key clue in a dangerous mystery.

Between preparing the library for the holidays and juggling the affections of ex-boyfriend, Captain Mike Sullivan, and her new crush, actor Robbie Vine, Lindsey has her hands full. But the mysterious disappearance of her world-traveling playboy brother takes precedence over all.

Afraid that involving the police could brew trouble for Jack, Lindsey takes matters into her own hands. But as her quest for her brother embroils her in a strange case involving South American business dealings and an enigmatic and exotic woman, it’ll take the help of both her library book club—the crafternooners—and her eager-to-please suitors to keep Jack from ending up in hot water…

INCLUDES READING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS

For Lucy Stone, Christmas in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, isn’t just about the gift of giving. Sometimes it’s also about solving a crime or two . . .Mistletoe Murder
The First Lucy Stone Mystery!

As if Lucy Stone’s Christmas schedule wasn’t busy enough, she’s also working nights at the famous mail-order company Country Cousins. But when she discovers its very wealthy founder, Sam Miller, dead in his car from an apparent suicide, Lucy’s gift for suspecting murder shines bright. Now she must track down an elusive killer—one who won’t be satisfied until everyone on his shopping list is dead, including Lucy herself . . .
 
Christmas Cookie Murder

One of the best things about Christmas in Tinker’s Cove has always been the annual Cookie Exchange. But when long-simmering petty rivalries and feuds finally come to a boil, accusations of recipe theft lead to an act of murder. Despite all of the ingredients for danger, Lucy sets out on the trail of a killer and soon uncovers a shocking Christmas secret best left unopened . . .

For Lucy Stone, the best thing about Christmas in Tinker's Cove has always been the annual Cookie Exchange. But the usual generosity and goodwill is missing from this year's event which turns out to be a complete disaster.

Petty rivalries and feuds that have long been simmering finally come to a boil, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many guests, including Lee Cummings who accuses Tucker Whitney of stealing her recipe for low-fat, sugar-free cookies. But the icing on the cake is when Tucker is found strangled in her apartment on the following morning.

Who could've wanted Tucker dead badly enough to kill her? Despite all of the ingredients for danger, Lucy sets out on the trail of a murderer and soon uncovers a Christmas secret best left wrapped.

It's Christmas in Tinker's Cove, Maine, and Lucy Stone is excited about her acting debut in the town's production of A Christmas Carol. But a real life Scrooge has everyone feeling frosty, and with a murderer on the loose, Lucy will have to unwrap her sleuthing skills faster than she can say, "Bah! Humbug!"

Lucy normally loves planning for the holidays, but this year, Tinker's Cove has fallen on hard times. With so many residents struggling to make ends meet, Christmas festivities are a luxury some can't afford. But the story's not so bleak at Downeast Mortgage, whose tightfisted owners, Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner, are raking in profits from everyone's misfortune. Half the town is in their debt, so when the miserly Marlowe is murdered, the mourners are few and the suspects are many. . .

In the New England town of Frog’s Ledge, the Holiday Light Festival is a Christmas tradition. Killing Santa is not. To bring joy back to the season, organic pet patisserie owner Kristan “Stan” Connor will have to find another Santa before it’s too late . . .

To the townspeople’s delight, the annual lighting of the tree is a spectacular success. Unfortunately, Santa pulled up in his sleigh, DOA. At first Stan is sure it’s Seamus, her boyfriend’s uncle, inside the red suit. But the victim turns out to be an employee from the town’s Christmas tree farm. Rumor has it the deceased was a mean drunk with a soft spot for feral cats. Stan has no idea why he was dressed as St. Nick—or why he’s dead.

Meanwhile, Seamus, a jolly Irishman who comes to America every December to visit his pub-owner nephew, is nowhere to be found. Could he just be off on a Boston bar crawl? Or is something more sinister under the tree? Seamus was supposed to be dressing up and posing for pet pictures with Santa at the shop, but the dogs and cats might have to find another lap to curl up in if Stan doesn’t solve two mysteries soon. Or murder might be the only thing under the mistletoe this holiday . . .

Includes Gourmet Pet Food Recipes!

Cinnamon Peters is one tough cookie.

Every year at Christmas River's annual Gingerbread Junction Competition, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon aims to win, taking down any competitor who gets in her way. But when she finds a dead body in the woods behind her pie shop just days before the big competition, Cinnamon realizes that there's much more to worry about than cookies, frosting, and gumdrops.

Someone's out to bring Cinnamon down. And they're playing dirty.

Only Cinnamon and a mysterious stranger who walks into her life one snowy evening can figure out the mystery.

But can they solve it before Cinnamon's chances of gingerbread competition glory crumble?

Book 1 in the bestselling Christmas River Cozy Mystery series is brimming with humor, heartwarming moments, and holiday magic! Download a copy today or read for free on KU, and cozy up for a long evening of unputdownable reading.

'Tis the season for hot chocolate and mouthwatering treats. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be downright deadly . . .
 
CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR
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? 
 
CHRISTMAS COCOA AND A CORPSE by MADDIE DAY
When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder . . .
 
DEATH BY HOT COCOA by Alex Erickson
A Christmas-themed escape game seems like the perfect pre-holiday treat for bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock and her best friend. But when the host is found dead in a pool of hot cocoa, it’s up to Krissy and her team to catch the killer—or escape before getting killed.
 
There’s nothing like a hot cup of murder to warm up the holiday season!

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