Book picks similar to
Gnome for Christmas: A Festive Short Mystery (Coffee Break Cozies) by Celia Kinsey
christmas
fluffy
mystery-thriller
4-short-stories
A Christmas Miracle
S.J. Hermann - 2018
Having lost faith in the most magical part of the year, her father, Jim, desperately tries to bring back the magic she has lost. When an unforeseen change of events takes over their little family on the morning of Christmas Eve, Jim's faith and spirits are really put to the test. Will the magic of Christmas be enough to bring back the joy to their family once more? Or will they really depend on a Christmas miracle?
Calamity under the Chandelier
Bianca Blythe - 2018
Manor homes. Malfunctioning chandeliers.
Hollywood starlets are supposed to be happily on set in sunny California, and not trapped in drafty manor houses during ferocious snowstorms.But after Cora Clarke's best friend and fellow actress elopes with an English earl, Cora visits England to help her friend brave the aristocratic disapproval of her new husband's family.Unfortunately, the holiday turns nightmarish when a chandelier crashes down and kills somebody. When suspicion falls on her friend, Cora vows to figure out the identity of the murderer. After all, blizzards have a habit of preventing the police from arriving, and body counts have a dreadful habit of growing.NB: This book was previously titled Murder at the Manor House under the name Bianca Blythe.
Christmas Calamity at the Vicarage
Emily Organ - 2019
With sherry, mince pies and Christmas carols, the festivities are going well. But events take a turn when the choirmaster is found dead in the parlour. Which of the guests could possibly commit murder at Christmas time? With everyone detained at the vicarage, elderly sleuths Churchill and Pemberley find themselves in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. Inspector Mappin is certain they’re his suspects and the vicar is convinced too. How can the two old ladies prove their innocence? With the net closing in, the detective duo must find the culprit to avoid spending Christmas in Compton Poppleford's police cells. Christmas Calamity at the Vicarage is a novella for fans of light-hearted mysteries and sharp-witted elderly sleuths. Books in the main Churchill & Pemberley cozy mystery series: Book 1: Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel Book 2: Murder in Cold Mud Book 3: Puzzle in Poppleford Wood
Death on Demand / Design for Murder
Carolyn G. Hart - 2008
Hart delivers a novel approach to murder that is sure to enthrall you until the last killer is caught.. . .Death on DemandAt Annie Laurance’s Death on Demand bookstore in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina (“the finest mystery bookstore north of Miami”), murder suddenly isn’t confined to the shelves. An author’s abrupt demise during a gathering of famous mystery writers is proof positive that a bloody sword is sometimes mightier than a brilliant pen. But now Annie is in the unenviable position of prime suspect, which means that she and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, must unmask a brutal and ingenious killer. For Annie, failing could mean prison . . . while success could mean her death.Design for MurderWhen Annie stages a Mystery Night for Chastain, South Carolina’s annual antebellum house tour, she finds herself the lead in a deadly drama wherein the curtain falls on a mean-spirited grande dame. But while fingers point at Annie as the murderer, the perpetrator lurks within the cast of Murder-Most-Make-Believe. Guilty until proven innocent, Annie hopes to clear her name with Max’s help—until her chief witness is killed. Now it will take all of Annie’s sleuthing skills to unmask the evil in the hearts of Chastain’s Beautiful People.
Blizzard at Three Bears Lake
Rachel Kovaciny - 2019
reimagined. Adventurous, imaginative Mary Rose simply wants to explore a little more of the Wyoming mountains around her grandmother's ranch. She knows that once winter arrives, she'll be stuck at the ranch for months and months. She seizes her chance for one last autumn outing and heads for a beautiful lake her new friends have told her about. But a blizzard descends while she's out riding alone, trapping her in a cabin inhabited by three fierce and furry strangers. Whether you got to know Mary Rose in her Little Red Riding Hood adventure, "Cloaked," or are meeting her for the first time, you'll find plenty of excitement in her company!
Never Buried
Edie Claire - 1999
Too bad his body didn't!Advertising copywriter Leigh Koslow doesn't pack heat--just a few extra pounds. And she doesn't go looking for trouble. When she moved into her cousin Cara's refurbished Victorian house, she wasn't planning on discovering a corpse--certainly not one that had been embalmed ten years before. But as anyone in the small Pittsburgh borough of Avalon could tell her, her cousin's house has a history attached. A history dating back to two mysterious deaths in the summer of 1949.Someone wants Leigh and Cara out of the house--someone who has something to hide. But that someone doesn't know Leigh's impetuous cousin, and when Cara digs her heels in, Leigh looks to her old college chum, local policewoman Maura Polanski, for help. But the answers the trio find only point to more questions. Were the scandalous deaths of fifty years ago really an accident and a suicide? Or were they murder?The nearer the women get to the truth, the more desperate someone becomes. Because some secrets are better off kept. Especially when they hit close to home!
Her Christmas Prince
Caroline A. Godin - 2012
Her weasel of a boyfriend dumped her two weeks before Christmas and she hasn't told her mother about the break up yet. Just when Callie thinks all is lost and she'll be spending another holiday at the kids' table drinking margaritas solo, a handsome stranger comes to her aid and pretends to be her boyfriend, just through Christmas. Could the gorgeous and mysterious Henry actually be 'the one' for Callie? Things go crazy when the press finds out royalty is on the loose in the Florida Keys and that they could have their very own American Kate Middleton! When Callie finds out Henry's actually an incognito prince and marriage is tricky business, she's stunned. Could a royal ever love a chef and cafe owner? Could he marry her even if he wanted to? A sweet romance with inspirational undertones, set in the fictional small town of Sunnyside Key, Florida, HER CHRISTMAS PRINCE is the first book in the Love in the Keys series of tropical flavoured seasonal novellas.
The Yacht Party
Tasmina Perry - 2021
But Laura believes Sandrine and Jonathon were both murdered and that the key to the motive lies onboard Pandora.What secrets are hidden onboard Menzel’s yacht? What deals were brokered that are worth killing for? And can Laura get to the truth before she herself becomes just another inconvenient guest at the party?
A Part of Me
Karin Aharon - 2019
It was all so unexpected.And now, she needs to fight the greatest battle of her life.Shirley is preoccupied with her non-stop daily routine: her demanding job at a law firm, raising her 18-month son and maintaining her loving relationship with her husband...Shirley’s busy life is turned upside down when her mother, who lives in Australia, comes over to visit and receives painful news – she has cancer.This terrible discovery is just the tip of the iceberg for Shirley, with many more struggles ahead, that she must face.Against all odds, and despite the challenges in her path, she goes on a long and courageous journey, with a single goal in mind – do everything it takes to be there for her children.
The Christmas Bridge: A First Love. A Second Chance.
Elyse Douglas - 2015
A Second Chance. A young widow travels to New York on business a few days before Christmas. She has reluctantly made a date with a lover she hasn’t seen in 20 years, and she is nervous and apprehensive. Twenty years before, she had made a difficult decision that has both troubled and haunted her ever since. She knows she’s about to come face-to-face with her past and she’s hoping for some redemption and resolution. She also wonders if she can somehow pick up where she left off 20 years ago and start again. An exciting chance encounter changes everything. Now, not only will she face the past with hope to rekindle an old romance, but there is the possibility that this chance meeting will bring her love and happiness she never thought possible. Once again, she will have to choose. She will have to make the right decision. She will have to believe that Christmas miracles can still happen. --This is not a Christian Novel.
O Little Town
Don Reid - 2008
but there is no peace in Mt. Jefferson.In a small town where everybody seems to know everybody, there are still a few secrets. Three families find they are connected in ways they never suspected: an angry teen, a dying man, a lonely wife, a daughter in trouble . just ordinary people, muddling their way through ordinary challenges. Illness. Marriage. Bad decisions. Friendship. Faith. Forgiveness.Spanning three generations, O Little Town is a tender tale of love and redemption . and a lonely gravesite where roses mysteriously appear every Christmas. It will touch your heart.
The Twelve Wishes of Christmas
Ruby Basu - 2021
Arriving in Pineford, it’s everything she’d ever hoped for and more.But she’s in for another surprise, because Thomas has left her with one last request: if she completes his Christmas wish list of festive activities, her chosen charity will receive a big donation. Or so Sharmila thinks.…He’s there to reclaim his family’s legacyLittle does she know, she’s set to inherit Thomas’s estate too, much to his nephew Zach’s disbelief. Determined not to see his family’s legacy left to a stranger, he’s come to Pineford to do whatever it takes to stop Sharmila from fulfilling that list.When Sharmila and Zach meet, neither are prepared for sparks to fly. For Sharmila’s sworn off love, and Zach doesn’t trust her. But with every passing wish they find themselves growing closer. And amongst the twinkling town lights and fallen snow, Sharmila can feel her heart opening up to Zach. But when she learns he’s been keeping a secret from her, can Sharmila forgive him and get the happy-ever-after she’s always wished for this Christmas?
The Magic of The Christmas Box
Richard Paul Evans - 1995
The author discusses the inspiration for his phenomenally successful book, a touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her, and their discovery of the first gift of Christmas and what Christmas is really about.
Murder One: A Colby Tate Mystery
Allen Kent - 2019
Rookie sheriff Colby Tate's first murder case draws the ex-Marine interpreter into the murky world of property disputes, family jealousy, hidden treasure, and an old woman smothered in her favorite easy chair. Two thieving neighbors hungry to gain control of her land. A home service provider named as her sole heir. A mysterious source of income that ties her to the Mexican cartels. In this first book in the Colby Tate Mystery Series, award-winning author Allen Kent engages the reader in the same page-turning suspense and intriguing twists of plot that have made his Unit 1 thrillers national bestsellers. Join Sheriff Colby Tate as he unravels his first case of Murder One: who killed Nettie Suskey?
Blind River
Ben Follows - 2017
Fourteen years later, he's a respected member of the Bureau, married to the woman of his dreams, and soon to be a father. He's inches away from everything he ever wanted. Then he and his partner, Frankie Lassiter, are sent to Blind River to investigate the disappearances of four young women, and Curtis's visceral hatred for the town are the least of their problems. There are almost no clues, the chief is clueless, a reporter is exploiting the disappearances to further her own career, and the prison looming over the treetops is a constant reminder of the criminals who ruled Blind River during Curtis's childhood. When Sam Marino, the man who plunged Blind River into darkness once before, escapes from prison, Curtis and Frankie find themselves in a battle for the soul of Blind River itself.