Holiday Cozy Mysteries for the Festive Season

The holiday season looks merry and bright for Libby and her friends at Y.A.R.N. — until Libby’s ex-husband, Sterling, turns up in town … and then turns up dead. The murder unravels Libby’s life faster than a hand-knit Christmas stocking. The luxe yarn goes missing, Sterling’s domineering family comes to town, and the vicuña attempt an escape. If Libby can’t stitch up a solution to the case, she may be trading in her knitting needles for a set of handcuffs.

In the town of Rudolph, New York, the Christmas season should make spirits bright, but as the year comes to an end, so does life, in the fifth installment of this charming cozy mystery series.

It is an Edwardian Christmas, and the Pennyfoot Hotel is all dressed up. But when one of the guests turns up dead, owner Cecily Sinclair Baxter realizes it is not only the Pennyfoot that is back in business — the hotel’s Christmas curse is, too … It is up to Cecily to prevent this holiday season from turning out more fatal than festive.

When Margaret Starling, a wealthy widow, is murdered, Mrs. Jeffries investigates and finds out that money alone won’t protect you when someone decides it’s high time you met your maker. After all, Margaret wasn’t as well regarded as she’d always thought she was. But Mrs. Jeffries and Inspector Witherspoon know that justice isn’t a popularity contest, and they won’t rest until they sift through the suspects to catch a sinister scrooge.

Ellie Christie has recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their beloved cat, Agatha. The Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintry whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown. Although the only Agatha in their family tree is their cat, Ellie and Meg know a lot about mysteries and realize they must summon their inner Miss Marple to trek through a blizzard of clues before the killer turns the page to their final chapter.

Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier, Drayton Conneley, are catering a Victorian Christmas party at a swanky mansion in downtown Charleston. An attack on the host of the party sends Theodosia looking for answers in the latest entry in the New York Times bestselling series.

Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she’s going back to basics. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village. To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It’s not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it.

The town of Rudolph, New York, has the Christmas spirit all year long. Christmas in July heralds Santa’s arrival to begin his summer vacation and shop owner Merry Wilkinson is looking forward to a busy tourist weekend. But when a man is found strangled to death in Merry’s shop, she must find out who wanted him dead — and stop a killer from ruining the summer holiday cheer.

On December 30th, Susan Stark was dropped off in front of her parents’ house. She hasn’t been heard from since. Not a good scenario, especially in New York. Former nun (now crime investigator) Christine Bennett fears the worst. Armed with only a few phone numbers and a photo of Susan, she steps into the missing girl’s life — and meets a Susan that neither her parents nor her boyfriend knew existed … with strange obsessions and a secret life that may have lured her to a deadly end.

Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, are busy decking the halls for the holidays when an unexpected delivery and a shocking murder conspire to shake up the season in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

Queensville has great expectations for their Dickens Day festival, which means a big turnout for the opening of Queensville Historic Manor and for Jaymie Leighton. At the end of a long day of festival fun, Jaymie discovers the body of local woman Shelby Fretter. With twists all over, Jaymie’s going to have to work like the Dickens to wrap up this investigation before Christmas — especially with the killer ready to kill again.

In this Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas mystery, the headcount is down—but the body count is up this holiday season …  As Cecily scrambles to hire and train new staff in time for the holidays, one of her guests is beyond help. Gerald Evans is found stabbed to death and Cecily discovers he was a private eye from London looking into dark doings involving the hotel. Who among the staff or guests was being pursued, and what secret drove that person to cold-blooded murder?

Throughout her illustrious career as the Queen of Crime, P. D. James was frequently commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas. Now, for the first time, four of the best are collected in this volume. Playful and ingenious, shot through with narrative elegance and sly humor, The Mistletoe Murder is a treat for James’s legions of fans — and anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a masterfully wrought whodunit.

The crime-solving powers of the inimitable Cora Felton and her clever niece, Sherry Carter, are put to the ultimate test as they square off against a yuletide killer who hides within the white-and-black shadows of an acrostic …

When Christopher Gilhaney is shot dead, his murder is deemed a robbery gone wrong. Only Luty Belle, Ruth, and Mrs. Goodge refuse to give up and let the crime become a cold case. In fact, the American heiress, the next-door neighbor, and the formidable cook use all their persuasive powers to get the others on board, because these three wise women know justice doesn’t take time off for Christmas.

It’s Christmastime, but not everyone is jolly — especially not Vonne Barnett. Her dead body has been found in Victoria Square, and Katie Bonner decides to investigate. Vonne left a trail of men behind her so the suspects are many — but the clues are few. Katie may be closing in on a murderer, but time is ticking because the murderer is definitely closing in on her.

In this new installment of the bestselling Aunt Dimity series, a dreary Christmas leads to hidden treasure and new friendships.

Georgie is back and hanging the stockings with care when a murder interrupts her Christmas cheer in this installment in the bestselling Royal Spyness series.

Together for the first time, this doubly delightful volume with two Christmas-themed mysteries features legendary author and sleuth Jessica Fletcher as she delivers twice the Christmas cheer.

When a series of mysterious deaths spoil the Christmas season in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen and her beloved cats and dogs lend the police a helping paw in this exciting holiday mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown.