But that doesn't mean the people celebrating it are always so nice. Criminals get the Christmas spirit, too!In this collection of hilarious short stories, you'll see what the thieves, killers, psychos and scumbags are up to come the holidays...and it's not caroling door to door. Well, not unless they're casing the neighborhood for a break-in, as a rag-tag gang does in the title story. You'll also meet a mall elf menaced by a very, very bad Santa (in "I Killed Santa Claus"), a London police inspector hunting for the man who murdered Ebenezer Scrooge (in "Humbug"), a trucker out to save his shipment of Cabbage Patch Dolls from bumbling hijackers (in "Special Delivery") and many more characters you'll never forget.Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, these nine tales from award-winning short story master Steve Hockensmith (Holmes on the Range, Dreadfully Ever After) are sure to have you ho-ho-hoing from the first page to the last.

    To nominate your public, private or school library to receive these much needed-funds, visit gemmahalliday dot com. This bargain priced collection is available for a limited time only, and includes the FULL LENGTH novels: CALAMITY JAYNE by Kathleen Bacus QUEENIE BABY: ON ASSIGNMENT by Christina A. Burke GEMINI MOON by Maria Grazia Swan 'SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY by Leslie Langtry LIMONCELLO YELLOW by Traci Andrighetti FASHION, LIES, AND MURDER by Sibel Hodge THE TELL-TALE CON by Aimee Gilchrist I SPY DEAD PEOPLE by Jennifer Fischetto LUCK BE A LADY by Gemma Halliday & T.Sue Versteeg and the novella: THE CHRISTMAS CURSE by Wendy Byrne

    When the local authorities refuse to help, they turn to retired Maine game warden Charley Stevens and his young protege Mike Bowditch for protection. But Charley begins to suspect there is more to the mystery than the couple is letting on--and if he and Mike don’t act fast, the situation will explode into violence.

    Nobody except his former physician's assistant who hasassumed his identity.Serenity was to be a fresh start and the fulfillment of a vowmade years ago. Being a doctor there is supposed to be a quiet, non-descript job. But it is in this touristy, seaside town wheredrugs flow, insurance is defrauded and people are dying.As the mystery around these suspicious activities and deathsunfolds, so does the new doctor's false identity. If the pretendercan survive the allegations and keep the unconditional love he'sdiscovered, he just may find the serenity he was seeking.

    She has since retired from the Chicago Police Department in order to raise her toddler daughter.But old grudges never die. They fester until the right opportunity comes along.While on vacation in the Wisconsin north woods, Jack learns--too late--that her old adversary is out of prison. He has revenge on his mind. And he's bringing an army with him.Outnumbered, outgunned, and cut off from the outside world, Jack Daniels is about to learn the meaning of last stand.L A S T C A L LThis is where it all ends. An epic showdown in the desert, where good and evil will clash one last time.His name is Luther Kite, and his specialty is murdering people in ways too horrible to imagine. He's gone south, where he's found a new, spectacular way to kill. And if you have enough money, you can bet on who dies first.Legendary Chicago cop Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has retired. She's no longer chasing bad guys, content to stay out of the public eye and raise her new daughter. But when her daughter's father, Phin Troutt, is kidnapped, she's forced to strap on her gun one last time.Since being separated from his psychotic soulmate, the prolific serial killer known as Donaldson has been desperately searching for her. Now he thinks he's found out where his beloved, insane Lucy has been hiding. He's going to find her, no matter how many people die in the process.All three will converge in the same place. La Juntita, Mexico. Where a bloodthirsty cartel is enslaving people and forcing them to fight to the death in insane, gladiator-style games.Join Jack and Phin, Donaldson and Lucy, and Luther, for the very last act in their twisted, perverse saga.Along for the ride are Jack's friends; Harry and Herb, as well as a mob enforcer named Tequila, and a covert operative named Chandler.There will be blood. And death. So much death...W H I T E R U S S I A NJust when you get out...Former Chicago cop Jack Daniels thought she'd left her former life behind. She'd traded her badge for a toddler, and her lifelong pursuit of heinous serial killers for a boring house in the suburbs....they pull you back in.Then Jack sees some pictures. Pictures of men who were supposed to be dead. And once again, against the fierce insistence of her husband, Phineas Troutt, Jack reluctantly straps on her gun and goes hunting. Hunting for the worst of the worst.This leads to a trek across the Great Plains, searching for a modern slavery ring, on a collision course with three of the most horrible villains Jack has ever faced.But Jack, and her irritating buddy Harry McGlade, will face them, and much more. Because they're prepared to go to hell and back to rescue an old friend.The trick will be getting back in one piece. And--spoiler alert--they don't.About JA KonrathJA Konrath is the author of twelve novels in the Jack Daniels thriller series.

    A random accident - or something more sinister?Tragedy strikes when sixteen-year-old Rebecca Patton fatally injures a woman while having a driving lesson. The driving instructor, Andrew Newell, appears to be drunk at the crime scene, and Detective Katie Logan reckons this is a case of vehicular homicide. But when a handbag is retrieved, the victim is discovered to be Newell's wife.Tough, gritty, full of atmosphere, and with characters who engage you from the very first page, here is Grand Master Ed McBain at the top of his form.

    Blessed by great wealth, they can get what they want, even what they shouldn't have. Cursed by great wealth, they become the targets of others who will risk everything to become affluent. In THE RICH AND THE DEAD, bestselling author Nelson DeMille introduces twenty original tales by today's most elite mystery writers who explore the life (and death) styles of the rich and infamous. In Ted Bell's ?The Pirate of Palm Beach, ? an arrogant society columnist feels the unsociable ? and deadly ? backlash from his poison pen. In Lee Child's ?Addicted to Sweetness, ? a swaggering drug lord plots a nasty payback against a thieving underling. In David Morrell's ?The Controller, ? a seasoned protection specialist may need to be protected from the mercurial finance titan who purchases his services... and tests his loyalties. From multinational boardrooms to palatial mansions to exotic playlands, these suspenseful, gold-standard tales reveal in scary, funny, and riveting ways just how much trouble money can buy. Featuring stories by Nelson DeMille, Ted Bell, Peter Blauner, Karen Catalona, Tim Chapman, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Frank Cook, David DeLee, Joseph Goodrich, Daniel J. Hale, Roberta Isleib, Harley Jane Kozak, David Morrell, Carolyn Mullen, Twist Phelan, S. J. Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Elaine Togneri, and Angela Zeman.

    Everybody goes to Olivier's Bistro―including a stranger whose murdered body is found on the floor. When Chief Inspector Gamache is called to investigate, he is dismayed to discover that Olivier's story is full of holes. Why are his fingerprints all over the cabin that's uncovered deep in the wilderness, with priceless antiques and the dead man's blood? And what other secrets and layers of lies are buried in the seemingly idyllic village?Gamache follows a trail of clues and treasures―from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spiderweb with a word mysteriously woven in it―into the woods and across the continent, before returning to Three Pines to confront the truth and the final, brutal telling.It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society--where an obsessive historian's quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly four hundred years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?Meanwhile, Gamache is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesn't make sense," Olivier's partner writes every day. "He didn't do it, you know."As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive a terrible event from his own past before he can begin to bury his dead.

    NOTE: This edition has a linked "Table of Contents" and has been beautifully formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your Amazon e-book reader.

    

    

    Carol Shields' first novels, "Small Ceremonies" and "The Box Garden," each told from the viewpoint of a sister, published as one.

    He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. The Likeness: Still traumatised by her brush with a psychopath, Detective Cassie Maddox transfers out of the Murder squad and starts a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill. When he calls her to the scene of his new case, she is shocked to find that the murdered girl is her double. Faithful Place: The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Broken Harbour: In Broken Harbour, a ghost estate outside Dublin - half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned - two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder squad's star detective. The Secret Place: Even in her exclusive boarding school, in the graceful golden world that Stephen has always longed for, bad things happen and people have secrets. The previous year, Christopher Harper, from the neighbouring boys' school, was found murdered on the grounds. The Trespasser: Being on the Dublin Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed. Her working life is a stream of thankless cases and harassment. Antoinette is tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point.

    This set is no longer available.

    A party girl’s addiction gives birth to a monster within. Man’s best friend must fend off a woman’s greatest nightmare…Scare Street is proud to present eleven chilling tales of the supernatural, in one monstrous volume. Horror authors Ron Ripley, David Longhorn, Sara Clancy, and many more unite to bring you a terrifying collection of short stories, each one guaranteed to haunt your dreams. And each one more chilling than the last.Once you start reading you won’t be able to stop. Because when these authors sink their teeth into you, it’s already too late.The only way to escape from these nightmares… is to wake up screaming.