Holiday Thriller

When a local group home for orphaned children goes up in smoke right before the holidays, Tillie Winchester volunteers her family to take in some kids - even though her arch nemesis Margaret Little is dead-set against it. Three boys - all of them with a little attitude - have no idea what to expect from the Winchester household. Tillie is determined to prove the boys are innocent while also finding them a forever home...even if she has to take on a local judge and declare all-out war.

The lead-up to Christmas sees the Connection private investigation team planning their festive season. Until a new case arrives. Catapulted into their biggest mystery yet, they are tasked with finding a killer who has been released on parole, and subsequently disappeared. Has he returned to finish the murder he tried to commit before his capture? As he targets his intended victim, his attention is also focused on the private investigators and their police colleagues with devastating effect. With families torn apart, Doris must seek assistance from a colleague from her past.

Scotty Parker is a former child star who once played Tiny Tim, but now he's grown up into the role of the neighborhood Scrooge. He thinks he can stage a comeback with the screenplay he's working on, and Jaine's been reluctantly helping him edit it. So when Scotty is bludgeoned with a frozen chocolate yule log and the police start making a list of suspects and checking it twice, Jaine's name is unfortunately included.

Since Father Tibor Kasparian escaped the Soviet Union, he has done his best to keep his philosophy to himself - not out of fear, but because he knows that few people could stomach an honest account of life under Stalinism. When he gets an invitation to spend a semester teaching philosophy at Independence College, Kasparian hesitates, but his friend Gregor Demarkian, a former FBI investigator, convinces him to accept. They will both wish he had decided to stay away.

Lonely Charles Latterly arrives at his small hotel hoping that the island's blue skies and gentle breezes will brighten his spirits. Unfortunately, there's no holiday cheer to be found among his fellow guests, who include a pompous novelist, a stuffy colonel, a dangerously ill-matched married couple, and an ailing old man. The one charming exception is orphaned teenager Candace Finbar, who takes Charles under her wing and introduces him to the island's beauty.

Violet Rhinehammer finally gets the call! She's been working so hard in her hometown of Normal, Kentucky, as a reporter for Channel Two News and the Normal Gazette to get the national attention to she believes she rightfully deserves! Now is her time! Violet gets an interview of a lifetime with a huge national news network. It doesn't take her long to pack her bag and hop on an airplane leaving Normal, Kentucky, behind!

Amy has been recently traded in for a newer model, by her husband, and is struggling to make ends meet and pay her rent. Her female boss Nicole, announces to her that she herself does escort work, without sex, and suggests that Amy join her. Amy is reluctant at first until her landlord suggests other ways of catching up on her rent arrears. Amy, because of her stunning looks, is successful at escorting, and ends up on a, International circuit, where she gets involved with French big business, and people smuggling from Paris. Escaping Paris, she ends up picking grapes in a French vineyard ...

Amateur sleuth and proud owner of Dogwood Donuts Maggie Sharpe was gearing up for the holidays and having just another normal day in charming southern Missouri, when an unfortunate accident occurred in front of her shop in the wee hours of the morning. When a bus full of elderly potential witnesses on their way to a Christmas event puts out a distress call, Maggie feels obligated to find some answers. She discovers that what she thought was an accident was actually a murder, which makes things anything but jolly in Dogwood Mountain.

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DI James Walker is ready for a quiet family Christmas in the sleepy village of Kirkby Abbey. But when he opens an early Christmas present left on his doorstep, he soon realises it is no gift. Inside is a gruesome surprise and a promise - 12 days, 12 murders. Not long after, the first body is found, half frozen in the snow. As the blizzards descend, panic spreads through the remote Cumbrian village - there’s a killer amongst them, and with 11 more victims to go, anyone could be next.... Can James stop the killer before they strike again?

Regan Reilly, is a young PI who has come from L.A. to ski and celebrate with her parents and their rich Aspen friends. It ends up being a busman's holiday for Regan, who gets swept up in art theft intrigue after some multimillion-dollar paintings are stolen from her parent's friends. The thieves continue to elude capture, but Regan is on their trail. She's up agaist time, though, as the clock ticks down to Aspen's biggest party of the season—at which the town's most valuable painting of all will be unveiled.

In the quaint town of Wisterious Bay, Alice, a spunky witch, just wants to spend her time quietly practicing her spells, and running her crystal and magic candle shop. But her peaceful existence is thrown into jeopardy when right before the Halloween celebrations are about to begin, she finds a body in her shop. Join Alicia, Felix her "humorous" talking skeleton, Augustus, the banished reaper, and Zoraida the newest familiar as they try to figure out who the killer is before Alicia ends up in jail for a crime she didn't commit. If you enjoy quirky characters, comedic cozy mysteries, and a ...

Aurora Hart's life has never been better. She's got a successful business as an ice sculpture artist, a group of loyal friends in the Humbugs, and a hot bear of a boyfriend. Her reputation as the savior of Christmas gets her more attention than she wants, especially when the event planner for the summer solstice celebration wants her help making something special. Everything's going swimmingly until something goes terribly wrong. Now, all of the attention is focused on Rory, except for all the wrong reasons.

Here in Slough House, the intelligence service's home for inept spies, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Roddy Ho is used to being the one the slow horses turn to when they need miracles performed, and he's always been Jackson Lamb's Number Two. So when Lamb has a photograph that needs doctoring, it's Ho he entrusts with the task. Christmas is a time for memories, but Lamb doesn't do memories—or so he says. But what is it about the photo that makes him want to alter it? How would the slow horses cope if Roddy Ho didn't exist?

Claudine Burroughs, a volunteer in Hester Monk's clinic for sick and injured prostitutes, no longer expects closeness with her coldly ambitious husband and dreads the holidays. Then, at a glittering Yuletide gala, she meets the attractive poet Dai Tregarron, and suddenly her spirits lift. But an hour later, this fascinating man is enmeshed in a nightmare - accused of killing a young streetwalker who had been smuggled into the party.

Following the butler's death and the cook's retirement, the ever-gullible Lady Lavinia replaces them with a power couple who are determined to thrust the crumbling estate into the 21st century. The Dowager Countess reluctantly agrees to hold a big-ticket Christmas gala and silent auction with a mystery celebrity flying in from Monaco as the guest of honour.

At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Popcorn strands, holly berries, and twinkly lights. Add a little magic and the holiday season will be perfect, right? 'Tis the season and I'm setting the stage. But even with all the trimmings, I know better than to think everything will run smoothly. I've promised an invitation to Fate and it's never a good idea to keep such a powerful being waiting, but my festive frenzy keeps getting interrupted. Removing curses and humoring carolers are the last things I should be doing when I've also just learned that I have to make room at the Yule Dinner table.

This wry collection of Hanukkah noir features eleven stories by critically acclaimed authors that run the gamut from hardboiled to heartfelt, curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg. Across eleven stories, award-winning authors spin tales of family, corruption, buried treasure and delightful yet twisted capers that will entertain listeners through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights.

When Santa Claus is a cop, you better watch out. It’s not looking like a very merry Christmas for San Diego cop Nick Pappas. Suspended from his job, alienated from his family, and persecuted by the press, he’s sorely tempted to turn his gun on himself. Except for his first name, he couldn’t possibly have less in common with jolly old St. Nicholas. But when a local mall decides it needs a secret Santa to help collar some vicious muggers preying on its holiday shoppers, Nick’s persuaded to red-suit up so as to take the naughty punks down and avert a ho-ho homicide.