Embrace the season of mystery and merriment with this collection of Christmas-themed whodunits published this year and available with your Livingston Library card. Perfect for lovers of cozy mysteries, holiday cheer, and unexpected twists, these reads are sure to add a little suspense to your seasonal celebrations.
Antiques Slay Belles by Barbara Allan
It’s five days before Christmas, and Vivian Borne–septuagenarian antiques dealer, true-crime writer and enthusiastic amateur sleuth–and her long-suffering daughter Brandy are preparing a presentation of holiday antiques at the local country club’s annual Christmas luncheon. Distracted by their secret Santa gifts, the ladies of the club, to Vivian’s dismay, are not giving her and her antique sleigh bells the attention they deserve. But when Norma Crumley, socialite and world-class gossip, falls face first into her plum pudding, it seems Santa has also delivered the sleuthing mother and daughter a present: a cracker of a case! Christmas in small-town Serenity is (usually) a magical time. Can Vivian and Brandy–not forgetting Shih Tzu sidekick Sushi–make a killing from their holiday antiques, catch a devious murderer, and wrap up the case in time to eat their festive microwave turkey dinners?
Blue Christmas Bones by Carolyn Haines
Sarah Booth Delaney and her friends can’t help falling in love with Christmas this year, which they plan to spend celebrating the King of Rock n’ Roll at the annual Elvis Festival in Tupelo. The main attraction is an Elvis impersonator competition, drawing impersonators from all over the world to honor the king. But before the revelry can get underway, a priceless jewel-encrusted replica of a belt once worn by Elvis is stolen from its display case, and Sarah Booth and Tinkie are roped into one of the biggest heists in the history of Mississippi. Soon suspicious minds are lurking around every corner, with one eyewitness even claiming to have seen Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s long deceased and highly questionable manager, prowling around the festivities. Sarah Booth will have to find the devil in disguise or she might just end up singing Jailhouse Rock herself.
Everyone this Christmas Has a Secret : A Festive Mystery by Benjamin Stevenson
A fan of mystery novels investigates a real-life murder when the benefactor of a world-famous magician turns up dead in the days leading up to Christmas and all the suspects are masters of illusion and misdirection.
A Killer Christmas by Jessica Fletcher
It’s Christmastime in Cabot Cove, but there’s more homicide than ho-ho-ho in the newest entry in the USA Today bestselling Murder, She Wrote series. Christmas is not an easy time to sell a house, but in Boston tycoon John Bragdon, Cabot Cove Realtor Eve Simpson has found a buyer for the old Jarvis homestead. Unfortunately, Eve gets a lump of coal in her stocking in the form of Kenny Jarvis, who has been missing for years and presumed dead but has now come back to stop his sister from selling their childhood home. Eve presses on, organizing a welcome dinner for Bragdon and his wife, Marlene, to meet the leading citizens of the town, including Jessica Fletcher. Dinner is interrupted by an uninvited guest – not Santa but Kenny, who threateningly promises Marlene she will never live in his house. When Marlene is found dead a few days later, Kenny is the natural suspect. But Jessica isn’t so sure he’s on the naughty list.
The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella by Nita Prose
Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s most joyful yet. But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential–and personal–mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?
The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt
Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter is relieved to be headed back to Paterson, New Jersey, after a week-long family vacation in the Adirondacks. He’s ready to put the holly jolly season way behind him and settle in at home with his three dogs. But when they finally arrive, there is an extra dog eagerly awaiting them, as well as one anxious dog sitter. When the dog showed up on the doorstep a few days ago, the sitter knew Andy would know what to do. Indeed, Andy recognizes Murphy, who the Carpenters fostered before the dog went home with BJ Bremer and his mother. BJ wanted to learn all he could about caring for Murphy, which made Andy like him immediately. When Andy goes to take Murphy back to the Bremers, though, instead of the happy reunion he expects, he finds BJ’s mother in tears. It turns out Murphy ran off… after BJ was arrested for murder. Andy had hoped for a quiet Christmas vacation, but he likes Murphy’s family and his golden retriever, Tara, likes Murphy, so he can’t resist getting involved. The case isn’t as simple as Andy thought it would be, though, with BJ suspected of murdering one of his professors. With nothing to go on but Andy’s own conviction in BJ’s dog-loving character, proving his innocence would be a Christmas miracle.
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year : A Novel by Ally Carter
Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt. She’s the new queen of the cozy mystery. He’s Mr. Big-Time thriller guy. But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world…That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone. She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?
Mr. Campion’s Christmas by Mike Ripley
1962, Norfolk. Boxing Day looks set to be a quiet affair for the Campions when they are snowed in at their remote farmhouse, Carterers, until a charabanc full of ‘pilgrims’ travelling from London to the Shrine of Our Lady in nearby Walsingham crashes into their imposing granite gateposts and the family unexpectedly find themselves playing host to the eccentric passengers. But any lingering festive cheer is in short supply when a shocking discovery is made the following day, while a terrifying twist reveals that some of the guests are not who they seem. Which, if any, can they trust? Suddenly hostage to events, the Campions are drawn into a fiendish web of espionage as the Cold War comes chillingly close to home.
Rockin’ Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews
Meg’s sister-in-law, Delaney is pregnant. Since her due date is on or around Christmas Day, this is putting a bit of a damper on theusual holiday festivities. Meg and Michael are NOT hosting the usual house full of relatives and parties. Instead, Meg, along with her mother, her grandmother, her cousin Rose Noire, and her good friend Caroline, are militantly doing everything they can think of to keep Delaney quiet and healthy. All the relatives are farmed out to friends and neighbors; all the parties are being held somewhere else, andwhile Delaney is bored and mutinous, she’s doing well, and they’re managing to maintain a serene, peaceful environment for her … until a body is found in Meg and Michael’s yard. Can Meg still keep Delaney calm in the middle of a murder investigation, all while trying to catch the killer?
A Slay Ride Together with You by Vicki Delaney
Rudolph, New York, shop owner Merry Wilkinson’s best friend Vicky Casey is newly engaged to Chef Mark Grosse and is moving into the historic Cole House-a home surrounded by drama, intrigue, and a possible haunting that is in desperate need of renovation. The wedding is just three weeks away, but all is not bliss for the newly engaged couple as estranged relatives of the late owner fight over her will. Then, late one night, Vicky and Merry come across a dead body in the garden of Cole House-and Mark is the one standing over the corpse. As Detective Diane Simmonds focuses on Mark as the prime suspect, Vicky asks for Merry’s help to clear her fiancé’s name in time for the wedding. As they dig deeper into the connection between the house, Cole relatives, and town residents, past and present, it becomes clear that plenty of people wanted the victim dead. With a bakery to run, the busy Easter weekend fast approaching, a house to renovate, and a fiancé to clear of a murder accusation, Vicky’s wedding may end up on the chopping block. It’s up to Merry to put aside the chocolate bunnies and stuffed rabbits and help her best friend save her wedding-and her life.
–Archana Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian