Christmas Thriller

Throughout the years, the ladies of the Sisterhood have delivered their own style of vigilante justice to those who most deserve it. But this Christmas, instead of finding and punishing bad guys, all Maggie Spitzer wants is to bring a little more joy to the world - and especially to a beloved teacher from her past. And as the Sisters unite to find her, they learn that no holiday treat is as fulfilling as giving to others....

Out Christmas shopping one December afternoon, Jessica Gould meets the charming Dominic Lacey and impulsively agrees to go home with him for a drink. What follows is a Twelve Days of Christmas from hell as Lacey holds Jessica captive, forcing her to wear his missing wife’s gowns and eat lavish holiday meals. Each day, he gifts her with one item from his twisted past - his dead sister’s favorite toy, disturbing family photos, a box of teeth. As the days pass and the “gifts” become darker and darker, Jessica realizes that Lacey has a plan for her and never intends to let her go.

THIS IS A SHORT STORY Bill Jedburgh, formerly of the Royal Hong Kong Police and now a gun for hire is chilling out in Phuket shortly before Christmas, enjoying the nightlife and teaching an Open Water Scuba Diving Course. He strikes up a friendship with a charming codger called Clarence who makes him an unusual proposition. The Reliable Man is inclined to help but when some dodgy Russian gangsters turn up and start muddying the waters his blood begins to boil.

Some say that casting crusty attorney Allen Sharpe as Scrooge in the Kindred Players production of A Christmas Carol is just playing to type. He's not the most beloved man in town. In fact, you'd have a dickens of a time finding someone who liked him. Still, it's a shock when the Ghost of Christmas Past stabs him during the first rehearsal. Suzanne, the co-owner of the Cackleberry Club Cafe (Kindred's favorite combination diner, craft store, and bookshop), chases the murderer out of the building but loses him in the alley. As the days pass, the list of suspects grows longer.

The night she came back to Winter Haven, I should’ve killed her. But instead, I made her my prisoner. Vera was mine before she betrayed me. Now she claims our child is alive—the child she said was stillborn. I’m torn between the man I must be and the monster I’ve become. I want to make her suffer. I want to tear her apart. But in the cold, the heat between us won’t die. Every kiss drags me deeper, every glance sets me on fire. The line between revenge and desire blurs with every minute we’re together. She’s hiding something, and I’ll use her body to get the truth. I’ll ...

Ever since Thanksgiving, when an engagement ring in a velvet box—and no gift tag—was left behind, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery. But at least this mystery isn't the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex's restaurant—and he's frozen, not fresh. For once, it's not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can't escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her.

As I walk into the pine-scented air of my seaside childhood home, gripping my husband Neil’s hand tight, I have a brief moment of hope. Maybe this Christmas will be different — for once my family might get on fueled by mulled wine and festive cheer. But the sound of happy carols are replaced by my older sister Christy’s over-loud laugh and slurred words. Rebecca, my younger sister, stalks out of the room as soon as I enter, as though I’m the Grinch here to steal Christmas. And their husbands, brash and arrogant, slap Neil’s back in a way that promises torment rather than welcome.

Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, have started a new Christmas tradition. Their local pet store has a Christmas tree, where instead of ornaments there are wishes from those in need. One poignant wish leads Andy to a child named Danny, whose selfless plea strikes a chord. Danny asked Santa for a coat for his mother, a sweater for his dachshund, Murphy, and for the safe return of his missing father.

After more than a decade away, Mira James isn’t keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren’t particularly jolly. Even less festive is the news of a serial killer on the loose. With only ten shopping days till Christmas, the Candy Cane Killer has been very busy slashing through the snow. Eager to earn her official PI stripes, Mira is anxious to track him down. But when the latest victim is a woman from her high school graduating class, the investigation hits a little too close to home.

Harvey Bennett didn’t sign up for this Christmas adventure. When a small-town holiday festival turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse, Ben and Julie are thrust into a chilling mystery buried beneath the snow-covered streets of Hope, Alaska. At the center of it all is a legendary golden ornament—a piece of local history said to hold the key to a fortune in lost gold. But someone else wants that fortune, and they’ll stop at nothing to claim it. As a ruthless financier and his dangerous crew close in, Ben and Julie follow a trail of cryptic clues carved into tombstones and hidden in ...

Thomas Pitt's sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, she makes the long journey to her aunt's home in Connemara, an all-but-forgotten town on the coast of Western Ireland. Emily soon discovers that a tragic legacy is haunting the once close-knit community. Violent storms ravage the coast and keep alive painful memories of an unsolved murder-and unsettling fears that a culprit may still be among them.

Returning to her role as an amateur detective is the last thing library director Amy Muir wants. She's already buried under an avalanche of responsibilities, including sharing the directorship of the local public library, parenting her holiday-obsessed five-year-old twins, and helping her choreographer husband, Richard, present The Nutcracker as part of the town's festivities. With her frosty mother-in-law, Fiona, visiting for the holidays, Amy definitely has enough on her Christmas cookie plate.

Clive and Henrietta (and baby, Teddy!) return to Highbury to spend Christmas with the family. Clive’s mother, Antonia, schemes to increase her social standing at her club by introducing the pair during the annual Christmas ball as the newly minted Lord and Lady Linley. Her plans go awry, however, when the club’s collection of gifts for the poor mysteriously goes missing. Henrietta and Clive are reluctantly drawn into the case, though Clive suspects it is nothing more than a silly prank.

Though she's the vampire queen, Betsy Taylor is much more like a princess. In MaryJanice Davidson's novels, this high-maintenance monarch is finally coming to terms with her new status.

Christmas has come early to the town of Paterson, New Jersey, in the form of a snowstorm that dumps two feet of snow on the ground. Lawyer Andy Carpenter likes snow – white Christmas and all that – but it can cause problems for the walks he takes his dogs on every day. When Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, goes to play in the snow and instead discovers a body, Andy ends up on the phone with the local newspaper editor. The murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, who had an infamous relationship with the newspaper.

It's the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America's Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus's Treasures, a gift and decor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it's not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

Join Posie Parker, London’s premier female Private Detective, and Chief Inspector Lovelace of New Scotland Yard as they spend Christmas Eve at Rebburn Abbey, home of the Earl and Countess of Cardigeon. Each house guest is invited to share a personal mystery, but what unfolds turns out to be less a cozy cornucopia of fire-side Christmas cheer than a series of curiously interlinked and unsettling mysteries.

‘Tis the Season… for a Christmas Crime Thriller Short Story. A late-night shootout erupts over stolen cigarettes and leaves a Good Samaritan wondering, “Did I do the right thing?” JoJo is a repeat offender who grew up in foster care. His sister was adopted by a man named Davey, his only connection to family life. When JoJo is released after a short stint in county jail, Davey agrees to pick him up and drive him to a motel near his home. But when JoJo asks to stop for cigarettes, Davey’s in for the fight of his life. JoJo swipes a pack of smokes causing a fast-moving chain of ...

What happened to Search and Rescue volunteer Wes Dulany? That's the question on everyone's mind this fall in the small town of Christmas River, Oregon. And it's especially on the mind of pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon Peters, who returns home after spending the summer working in Portland to find that one of the town's most beloved citizens has gone missing while looking for legendary treasure in the Christmas River National Forest. A dangerous game is afoot in Christmas River - and the stakes are higher than anybody ever imagined.

It's the winter of 1995, and the Winchester household is more doom and gloom than mistletoe and merriment. Young Bay, Clove, and Thistle are anything but happy. They're facing their first Christmas without their fathers, and no matter how hard their mothers try, they just can't seem to get the girls to embrace this festive time of year.