Christmas Detective

It’s Christmas - so why not accept a dare to explore a creepy old haunted house? On this third book of the Ava & Carol Detective Agency series, fearless best friends Ava and Carol set out to prove that the Butcher house isn’t haunted. Only, Carol is pretty sure she saw something inside one of the windows - and moments later, they are chased by a headless monster! The girls receive an ominous threat: Stay away or else! Now, more than ever, the girls are determined to find out who is trying to scare them away.

There's a chill in the air and the days are growing shorter.... It's the perfect time to curl up in front of a crackling fireplace with this winter-themed collection from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. But beware of deadly snowdrifts and dangerous gifts, poisoned meals and mysterious guests. This compendium of short stories, some featuring beloved Detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, is an essential omnibus for Christie fans and the perfect gift for mystery lovers.

A castle in the Scottish Highlands cut off by snow. 12 guests gather for the festive season. All of them have secrets. Can DCI Dani Bevan escape a house party when celebration turns to murder? DCI Dani Bevan and her partner, James, are spending the week after Christmas at Strathain House in the Scottish Highlands, guests of the industrialist, Bernard Raven. As soon as they arrive, odd events start to happen and suspicions are aroused about their fellow guests. The weather in their remote Highland location worsens and Dani finds herself trapped at a house party where she doesn’t know who ...

An old English Yule has never been merrier or more mysterious. A New Year's celebration has never looked more joyous but been so potentially deadly. Fearing the 12 Days of Christmas of 1564 may be the last for her ailing, elderly friend, Lady Kat Ashley, Queen Elizabeth decrees a nostalgic, old-fashioned holiday. Delicious dishes for the table, holly and ivy, caroling, wassailing, mumming, and a Lord of Misrule to oversee it all are in the recipe for the revels. But one of the queen's kitchen staff is found as dead as the ornate peacock he was preparing for the feast.

"The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens" is a precious collection of Christmas tales. Christmas spirit, joy, excitement, cheer and Christmas trees against low classes living in despair and poverty. There are two sides to the story but the holiday and its meaning come from the heart no matter what the social status is. "The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens" is a collection which makes the reader immerse in a parallel universe, so complex in its nature that it almost seems unreal.

The holiday season is upon the Kerr Gang and what Ellen wants more than anything is to have a family photograph taken with Santa Claus to celebrate her daughter’s first Christmas. Amid the seasonal disturbances and potential disasters which threaten to ruin the holiday, she manages to gather everyone together at the local department store’s North Pole. Before the photographs are completed, however, the “Jolly Old Elf” playing Father Christmas suddenly turns red, begins to choke and within seconds, dies in front of them. A subsequent homicide investigation reveals he was killed by a ...

Whilst dining at the Bantrys, Miss Marple is asked to tell a murder mystery. She recounts the time she could tell from a man’s behaviour that he was planning to kill his wife. But at the time of the murder he had a perfect alibi.

Undercover Detective Arlie has his hands full again! Two very pregnant women, an overeager protégé, and a new arrival bent on making Anchorage the human trafficking hub of the world have complicated his life. Will he be able to handle all of them and still wear the Santa suit? Life has changed so much for the techno-clever Anchorage Undercover Cop since his trip to Arizona the year before (A Stingray Christmas). New people have come into his life - both good and bad. Will he be able to make it home to spend his first Alaska Christmas with his new wife and sons? Or will human traffickers ...

Sylvia Wilcox was just starting to move on from her traumatic past when a cryptic note arrives in her office. Initially, she ignores the accusations, but soon realizes the message contains a dangerous riddle that must be solved. As her painful past claws its way into the present, Sylvia can't ignore the opportunity to find out what happened to her late husband. In a race against time, Sylvia rushes from one location to the next, gathering clues and fighting to stay one step ahead of the cruel puppet master who is pulling the strings in this deadly game.

Welcome to Hope Falls where we're getting ready for a white Christmas… "Melanie Jackson is a talent to watch." —WritersWrite.com Chloe Boston, unofficial detective and meter maid, is on hand when the Christmas parade's grand marshal keels over in his antique car. Something is rotten among the candy canes and rollicking elves. Chloe is being pressured by the Chief to find the murderous Grinch, but will she have time to find the killer before Santa comes to town? "I was delighted to find Chloe Boston and all of Melanie Jackson's series." —Connie Shelton, author of the Charlie Parker and...

A baking competition with your archenemy… what could possibly go wrong for detective chef Guy Vanduex? It’s almost Christmas and former chef turned private investigator Guy Vanduex and his partner in crime-solving Sylvia Parker are enlisted to discover who is sabotaging a baking competition show. And it’s not just any competition, it’s hosted by Vanduex’s former business partner and archenemy Flynn ‘Barney’ Baker. But when contestants receive mysterious packages with gingerbread houses in the likeness of their restaurants and dead-looking gingerbread men in their likeness… ...

It's Christmas eve at 221B Baker Street. On the stroke of midnight, a delivery arrives addressed to Sherlock Holmes. The message is a cryptogram which reveals itself to be so obtuse that it has the famous consulting detective baffled. Holmes becomes so obsessed with revealing the secret of the cypher that Watson fears for his well-being in refusing to eat or sleep. Holmes can only deduce that time is of the essence, and that a means of deciphering must be discovered which has never before been employed. Watson wonders what new adventure will emerge, should the puzzle be unraveled.

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?

Meadowood has a new mystery and it's just in time for the holidays! Strings of miniature sparkling lights adorn tree branches and hang across the entrance to the holiday pavilion. Christmas carolers try to enhance the holiday mood, but it was murder in the air, not friendship and goodwill. What can Meredith Gardner do when suddenly her new friend plus the sheriff collapse after drinking cups of poisoned mulled cider? Suspicion and fear run rampant in the town of Meadowood as local businesses are burglarized and everyone becomes a suspect. Newly promoted Chief Deputy Sheriff Doug Gardner ...

When Lily returns home to her aunt's manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt. But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a 20-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily's mother? As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance.

Libby the Psychic Dog is a series of cozy mysteries intended for adults, but the series is suitable for all ages. Things are quiet at the mobile home park, and Percival, whose spirit resides in Libby, the psychic dog, is enjoying a nice snooze on the sofa with his Mama when something rouses him from his nap. He shuffles to the porch to find Herbert, the cat, at the screen door, and he's troubled. Herbert saw something that reminded him of his human life, and he's afraid someone in the park might be a danger to the other residents. As Herbert pours his heart out to Percival, the pudgy ...

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A Christmas Eve party at Clevere Hall ends in tragedy when the host is found stabbed to death. Major Ceely certainly wasn’t short of enemies, but who hated him enough to commit the crime?

Flagged down by Inspector LaStrade of Scotland Yard as they walk through the icy winter streets, Holmes and Watson are transported to the home of the aristocratic Lady Whitebread. Once there, she tells them her traditional holiday centerpiece has vanished in the midst of the Christmas dinner - right under the very noses of her guests. The decoration? An enormous work of the jeweler's art centered upon a three inch round emerald called...the Christmas Jewel.

Murder is the guest no one expected this Christmas. Bellbrooke Abbey, 1924 When Penelope van Kessler and her Heist Society team are summoned to England to investigate Lord Bellbrooke’s mysterious disappearance, they expect a routine case. But upon arriving at the snow-covered estate in the Yorkshire Dales, they find the lord dead—poisoned by a festive cup of tea. With Christmas approaching and a snowstorm threatening to trap everyone inside, Penelope and her team must unravel a web of deceit. Lady Anne, their host, is desperate to protect her family's reputation, while Bellbrooke's ...

When Mary Blake agrees to help an old acquaintance being blackmailed, she never imagined she’d stumble into another murder investigation. Within 24 hours of her arrival, a suspicious death occurs, plunging the Rudolph Hotel into chaos just before their big Christmas event. With the police dismissing foul play, Mary dives headfirst into the case, joined by her trusty assistant Dot and her eager brother Pea. Together, they must track down the killer and prove their worth in their new career as amateur sleuths. “…plenty of suspects and twists lead to an unexpected conclusion.”