Holiday Thriller

Shortly before the holidays, inventor and former assassin Missi Bombay gets orders to perform one last job. It's the granddaddy of all hits-to be carried out on Christmas Eve, no less. Missi knows she has only one chance at success, so she enlists the help of her cousins Gin, Dakota, and Coney. Together the Bombay cousins come out of retirement to stamp out the world's most evil cabal.

This year, Juniper has invited most of Crescent Cove to her Thanksgiving feast. Even that annoying Detective Mallard and his gang of ducklings. The mansion is decorated. The table is set. The cooks (both living and ghostly) are trying new recipes. Everything is perfect until someone ends up face-down in the pecan pie.

The remodel continues as Abby and Georgia start to make plans for a grand opening celebration. A specialist is brought in to refurbish the century old fireplace mantel and makes a startling discovery. Meanwhile, Lonnie is looking to adopt, Colt has a new mystery to solve, and Velma comes face to face with a blast from her past.

Cara's life is spinning out of control. A double-wedding is canceled at the last minute. A baby comes early. Her son decides he hates college. But none of that is as upsetting as the death of a young acquaintance, a food service professional with her whole life ahead of her. The drive-by shooting has left the cops without a suspect. Maybe it was simply a random act of violence. But Cara's curiosity, and her innate sense of humanity, drive her to keep asking questions. Who killed the girl with the purple hair? And why?

In book five in the series, the new bank president, who happens to be the son of the man who founded the community bank, is found dead and buried in his own grave. The man was not popular in the small community after making a lot of changes with his father's passing, and the list of possible suspects who might want him dead is extensive. Meanwhile, it is October, and the inn is hosting Halloween-themed events. The haunted weekends are just for fun, but when guests report hearing noises in the hallway, Abby wonders if the inn might actually be haunted for real.

Stacy will do anything to help her husband get a promotion. Young couple Chad and Stacy are in a bind. While dining with Chad's boss, Terrence - the luscious, ebony-skinned owner of a hot, new record label - Stacy drinks a little too much wine and confesses that they are struggling to make ends meet. Terrence has an unconventional solution: he promises a sweet promotion and much-needed raise to Chad…if he can have his wicked way with Stacy. Chad is turned on by thought of sharing his hot wife with Terrence, but he’s scared about what she'll say. What he doesn’t know is that Stacy has ...

Pru Parke takes on the most serious challenge of her life: cooking an entire Christmas feast alone. But she is distracted by a mysterious plant vendor at a local holiday market, who appears and disappears into the night. He seems familiar, and yet... Join Pru and Christopher as they suss out this stranger while Pru contends with cooking a turkey fit for a crowd. Just how many potatoes and sprouts can two people eat?

There's more to celebrate this Halloween when Bailey's college friend Raven prepares to walk down the aisle in spooky seasonal style. As a bridesmaid, Bailey is overwhelmed helping with wedding preparations while the annual holiday festival scares up business for her bookstore. She also finds herself playing peacekeeper between fellow bridesmaids Colby and Ivy, whose arguments add even more conflict to the already simmering tensions within the wedding party between the groom's traditional family and the bride's bohemian parents.

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler collects more than 50 of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories - many of which are difficult or nearly impossible to find anywhere else. From classic Victorian tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy, to contemporary stories by Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain, this collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant.

A friend is missing and presumed dead, and detective Jade Hollis is determined to track down the killer. To do that she must team up with private investigator Bryce Kingsley - who doesn't know he is the father of her child. But she'll have to put personal secrets aside because the killer will strike again to keep the truth from being exposed.

My name is Abby Odell, and I’m leading a double life. Don’t get me wrong. I love it! But being a witch in a predominantly human world is challenging sometimes. My hometown, Holiday Hills, isn’t your typical small town. It’s a magical town, but not to the humans. At least not until recently. Something’s happening, and it’s not good. Magic is no longer hidden, and people are starting to witness events that don’t seem humanly possible.

Welcome to Normal, Kentucky, a small town in the Daniel Boone National Forest and Happy Trails Campground, where the annual Christmas activities are in full swing. But behind the twinkling lights and festive cheer lies a sinister secret. When a local delivery driver is found murdered in Seymore's Candy Cane Factory, suspicion quickly falls on the eccentric cast of characters who call Normal home. From the grumpy old man who owns the candy cane factory, to the bubbly town fiddle player, Otis Gullett, who is secretly in a rendezvous with the factory owner's wife. No one is above suspicion.

An evil genius threatens Christmas. His name is Twinkles. Furry and full of himself, Twinkles the cat takes self-interest to a new level. Star and Ben never dreamt that cat-sitting could be this difficult. But things only get worse as more (reindeer) bodies start piling up. Using his newly discovered opposable thumbs, Twinkles phones his pet-sitters. His claim? He’s innocent. He’ll do anything if Ben and Star will clear his name and save Christmas, even (shudder) cuddle. Join Star and Ben as they find the real murderer in this humorous holiday tale of magical intrigue.

It’s spooky season in Holiday Junction and Halloweenie Festival is a hauntingly great time. Holiday Junction really knows how to throw holiday festivals, and it goes all out for Halloween. The weeklong celebration includes a ghost walk of haunting tales, a hay ride, carnival games, pumpkin carvings and costume party.

Hannah Hickok is looking forward to her first Christmas in Casper Creek. She has plans for cookies, cuddles with her fiancé Cooper Wyatt, and a visit from Chris Kringle. Instead, the man who visits isn’t the one Hannah was inspecting. No, it’s her former fiancé Michael…and he’s arrived with an agenda. Michael has more attitude than brains, and he’s ready to make life difficult for Hannah…right up to the point where his new fiancée is killed and her body goes missing from the morgue.

The remodel is almost complete, and Abby and Georgia are planning a huge grand opening. The only thing left for Abby to do before Lonnie can wrap things up is to go through the items left in the attic by prior residents. Abby is just about to get started when a woman named Trinity Roswell shows up claiming to be the great-great-great niece of Abagail Chesterton, the wife of the man who built the house, Chamberlain Westminster. They visit an old cemetery and come away with more questions than answers.

I wear many hats. I'm a friend. A sort-of girlfriend. A ghostwriter, and...oh yeah, a witch. My editor always tells me to “write what you know.” Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening...literally. When the main character in my latest novel - a witch herself - takes a new job with the Magical Bureau of Investigators, she stumbles upon a threat so big, it could destroy everything she holds dear. Fiction, right? Nope. For reasons beyond my witchy sixth sense, everything I write is now happening to me in real life!

Christmas was never a peaceful holiday at Clark Mansion. But Bob and Emma are not aware of its gory past when they purchase the mansion. They dream of raising their family in the expansive home, but their dreams become living nightmares. Emma and the kids witness horrifying sights. Emma is stalked by a madman who wants to control her. Too late, Bob and Emma realize that the mansion holds nothing but evil. As Christmas approaches, the family tries to make an escape. But Clark Mansion is dying to repeat its horrific Christmas past. Can Emma’s family make it out alive?

Fate made Trixie a hunter of devilish demons, except demons aren't devilish, and Trixie's not hunting them. She gave that future the boot. But by denying her destiny, she inherits a problem. Furred, feathered, and scaled, the creatures have invaded her life. She's being pranked by furry fairies, stalked by mini-devils, and harassed by the scourge of dragons roosting in her yard. Trixie's had enough. She's moving to Boise and hoping to leave the magical critters behind. But what happens when moving isn't enough?

Rachel's plans to spend Christmas with her fiancé are in tatters after he is called to Italy at short notice. Rather than spend Christmas with her parents, Rachel decides to take a last-minute Canary Island cruise. Sarah, cruise ship nurse and Rachel's best friend, is only too pleased to have her along, as Sarah's parents are taking their first cruise. With her mother keen for her to settle down, she is glad of the moral support.