Wednesday, November 27, 2019

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!

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