This is not to say that all is sugar candy. The mother in the title story faces a lonely Christmas in an empty house—but then something quite ordinary but miraculous happens. In "The Drum Goes Dead," a small-town bank cashier, a solid citizen and sterling friend, is dispirited by hard times until he discovers, through his own resources, that it is indeed a wonderful life. Here are nine other holiday stories, by turns dramatic, humorous, and inspirational. The closing piece recalls the author's childhood in Iowa. Bess Streeter Aldrich is well remembered for A Lantern in Her Hand, from which Christmas on the Prairie is reprinted, and Spring Came On Forever.

    For this most baffling of crimes there is the cunning and important tycoon Lala Varde to contend with. And if this were not enough, Ghote finds himself having to investigate the mysertious theft of one rupee from the desk of yet another Very Important Person—the Minister of Police Affairs and the Arts. "If people would only behave in a simple, reasonable, logical way, " sighs the inspector as he struggles through the quagmires of incompentence and corruption to solve these curious crimes.

    After leaving the Metropolitan Police Training Academy, 22 year-old Jane Tennison is placed on a probationary exercise in Hackney, London where criminality thrives. At first she struggles to deal with the shocking situations she faces, receiving no help or sympathy from her superiors. Jane feels out of her depth in this male-dominated, chauvinistic environment. Then she is given her first murder case . . .

    ambassador's son is discovered entombed in a frozen lake in Beijing. Then the son of a powerful Chinese politician is found dead in the hold of a smuggler's freighter bound for California. The Chinese and American authorities suspect the deaths are linked and, in a rare move, join forces to solve the crime, and soon U.S. District Attorney David Stark is sent across the Pacific to team up with brilliant yet rebellious police detective Liu Hulan. Their investigation takes them into every corner of today's China -- from glitzy karaoke bars, where government leaders and mafia kingpins make their most unsavory deals, to Beijing's labyrinthine hutongs, where working-class Chinese have eked out their livings for centuries.Revealing a China that most Westerners have never seen -- a strange nation at once admirable and frightening -- Flower Net is an utterly original story and one of the most timely, thrilling, and thought-provoking reads from an astonishing new writer."Flower Net is a treat. In this, her debut mystery, Lisa See begins to do for contemporary Beijing what, say, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did for turn-of-the-century London or Dashiell Hammett did for 1920s San Francisco". -- Washington Post

    A handsome man approaches. He’s charming and sophisticated. She flirts and drinks champagne. And then nothing. Total blackness. Nothing, that is, apart from these two facts: a man is dead and her address is found in his pocket . . .

    Scandal abounds when it becomes clear that the only people with any motive to murder him are the only people who had the opportunity - because the President's Lodging opens off Orchard Ground, which is locked at night, and only the Fellows of the College have keys

    Chris Shepard, a busy young doctor in Natchez, Mississippi, has never seen his new patient Alex Morse before. But the attractive young woman with the scarred face has come to Dr. Shepards office on a mission to catch a killer. This New York Times bestseller is available in a tall Premium Edition.

    Guests come to Mistletoe Manor to escape from their troubles while enjoying the scenic mountain town.When all seven rooms of the inn get booked on a Tuesday night in December, Klarinda is excited about having so much business, but a little confused as well. After all, her inn normally isn't exactly a destination hotspot.The guests have barely settled in before strange things begin happening. Is this the most accident prone group of travelers ever, or is someone out for revenge?

    To many it wouldn’t matter that she now uses her considerable skills to re-steal valuable works of art and return them to their rightful homes. She’s still a thief. So that’s why Kat’s surprised when an Interpol agent comes to her one snowy evening, asking for Kat’s help. The Magi Miracle Network was set to auction off a very rare, very valuable Faberge egg two days before Christmas, but the egg’s been stolen and now the charity’s reputation—and their future—is on the line. Kat’s family and Interpol might be opposite sides of most jobs, but someone just stole Christmas. Now it’s up to Kat and her crew to steal it back. The Grift of the Magi is a Heist Society novella and is approximately half the length of the other novels in the series. It stands alone, but if you want read more about Kat and her crew check out Heist Society, Uncommon Criminals, and Perfect Scoundrels.

    Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thrilller series (Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred, Rum Runner, Last Call) offers a gigantic 180,000 word collection of sixty-five previously published short stories from the thriller, horror, and comedy genres, including many from his award-winning series.Stories to make you laugh, scream, cringe, think, scratch your head, and roll your eyes. This collection has something to please every type of Kindle reader, and is an inexpensive way to get introduced to the author and his work.Contents include:INTRODUCTION by JA KonrathJACK DANIELS AND FRIENDSOn the Rocks - Jack Daniels solves a locked room mysteryWhelp Wanted - Harry McGlade becomes a dognapperStreet Music - Phineas Troutt hunts a prostituteThe One That Got Away - The Gingerbread Man's last victimWith a Twist - Jack Daniels solves an impossible crimeEpitaph - Phineas Troutt avenges a deathTaken to the Cleaners - Harry McGlade goofs offBody Shots - Jack Daniels at a school shootingSuffer - Phineas Troutt as a hitmanOverproof - Jack Daniels discovers what is stopping trafficBereavement - Phineas Troutt as hitmanPot Shot - Herb Benedict gets shot atLast Request - Phineas Troutt meets his matchPlanter's Punch - Jack Daniels meets Tom Schreck's Duffy DomborwskiTruck Stop - Jack Daniels meets Taylor from AFRAID and Donaldson from SERIALCRIME STORIESThe Big Guys - flash fictionThe Agreement - very nasty noirA Fistful of Cozy - a satire of the cozy genreCleansing - a crime of biblical proportionsLying Eyes - solve it yourselfPerfect Plan - solve it yourselfPiece of Cake - solve it yourselfAnimal Attraction - solve it yourselfBasketcase - hardboiled horrorUrgent Reply Needed - how to deal with spammersBlaine's Deal - parody of hardboiled noirThe Confession - horrific noirHORROR STORIESFinicky Eater - nuclear holocaust and cannibalsThe Screaming - Van Helsing livesMr. Pull Ups - body modification horrorThe Shed - some losers find the door to hellThem's Good Eats - rednecks vs. aliensFirst Time - a tender coming of age storyForgiveness - the genesis of evilRedux - ghost story noirThe Bag - what's in the bag?Careful, He Bites - lyncanthrope flash fictionSymbios - sci-fi horrorA Matter of Taste - zombie flash fictionEmbrace - gothic fictionTrailer Sucks - gross out goreMarkey - psychological horrorPunishment Room - horrific suspenseShapeshifter's Anonymous - funny paranormalSERIAL - with Blake CrouchDear Diary - a dip into madnessThe Eagle - early horrorA Sound of Blunder - with F. Paul WilsonFUNNY STUFFLight Drizzle - parody of hitman storiesMr. Spaceman - science fiction satireDon't Press That Button! - essay on James BondPiranha Pool - comedy about writingWell Balanced Meal - gross out humorA Newbie's Guide to Thrillerfest - essay on writing conventionsInspector Oxnard - parody of mysteriesAppalachian Lullaby - radioactive monkeysOne Night Only - humorous sto

    But when a young boy disappears, it marks the beginning of a unspeakable nightmare. There are no witnesses, no clues, only a note, cleverly taunting, casually cruel. Has a cold-blooded kidnapper struck? Or is this the reawakening of a long-quiet serial killer? Now, a tough-minded investigator on her first, make-or-break case, and a local cop who fears that big city evils have invaded his small town, are hunting for a madman. Together, they must outsmart a killer who knows no bounds...and protect a town that may never feel safe again.

    Pell is serving a life sentence for the brutal murders of the wealthy Croyton family in Carmel years earlier -- a crime mirroring those perpetrated by Charles Manson in the 1960s. But Pell and his cult members were sloppy: Not only were they apprehended, they even left behind a survivor -- the youngest of the Croyton daughters, who, because she was in bed hidden by her toys that terrible night, was dubbed the Sleeping Doll.But the girl never spoke about that night, nor did the crime's mastermind. Indeed, Pell has long been both reticent and unrepentant about the crime. And so with the murderer transported from the Capitola superprison to an interrogation room in the Monterey County Courthouse, Dance sees an opportunity to pry a confession from him for the recent murder -- and to learn more about the depraved mind of this career criminal who considers himself a master of control, a dark Svengali, forcing people to do what they otherwise would never conceive of doing. In an electrifying psychological jousting match, Dance calls up all her skills as an interrogator and kinesics -- body language -- expert to get to the truth behind Daniel Pell.But when Dance's plan goes terribly wrong and Pell escapes, leaving behind a trail of dead and injured, she finds herself in charge of her first-ever manhunt. But far from simply fleeing, Pell turns on his pursuers --and other innocents -- for reasons Dance and her colleagues can't discern. As the idyllic Monterey Peninsula is paralyzed by the elusive killer, Dance turns to the past to find the truth about what Daniel Pell is really up to. She tracks down the now teenage Sleeping Doll to learn what really happened that night, and she arranges a reunion of three women who were in his cult at the time of the killings. The lies of the past and the evasions of the present boil up under the relentless probing of Kathryn Dance, but will the truth about Daniel Pell emerge in time to stop him from killing again?