In this Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas mystery, guests and staff alike are coming together under the kissing bough—only to fall victim to a cold-blooded killer… At the Pennyfoot Hotel, Cecily Sinclair Baxter and her staff are hustling and bustling more than ever. Cecily’s dear friend Madeline arrives with her new baby and adds a kissing bough to the festive decorations. Cecily gets in the spirit by kissing the precious baby beneath the bough, believing that the holiday couldn’t be getting off to a better start. But after a footman and a new maid are seen kissing under the bough and turn up dead, the staff is convinced a serial killer is spending the holidays at the Pennyfoot. And when Madeline’s baby disappears, Cecily has her hands full desperately trying to find the child. If she doesn’t catch this killer in time, everyone’s cheer will quickly turn to fear…
“As entertaining as ever.” —The Horn Book Hazel and Daisy trade mistletoe for a murder investigation and set out to save the day (Christmas Day that is!) in this fabulously festive fifth novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas holidays in snowy Cambridge. Hazel is looking forward to a calm vacation among the beautiful spires, cozy libraries, and inviting tea-rooms. But there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College and two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident—until the Detective Society looks a little closer, and realizes a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage if they’re going to find the killer before Christmas dinner.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis continues her fun, sexy new contemporary romance series with a tale of friends-to-lovers...just in time for Christmas. If she has her way . . . Willa Davis is wrangling puppies when Keane Winters stalks into her pet shop with frustration in his chocolate-brown eyes and a pink bedazzled cat carrier in his hand. He needs a kitty sitter, stat. But the last thing Willa needs is to rescue a guy who doesn’t even remember her . . . He’ll get nothing but coal in his stocking. Saddled with his great-aunt’s Feline from Hell, Keane is desperate to leave her in someone else’s capable hands. But in spite of the fact that he’s sure he’s never seen the drop-dead-gorgeous pet shop owner before, she seems to be mad at him . . . Unless he tempers “naughty” with a special kind of nice . . . Willa can’t deny that Keane’s changed since high school: he’s less arrogant, for one thing—but can she trust him not to break her heart again? It’s time to throw a coin in the fountain, make a Christmas wish—and let the mistletoe do its work . . . (A standalone Heartbreaker Bay novel)
Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe from New York Times bestselling author, Melissa de la Cruz, is a sweet, sexy and hilarious gender-swapping, genre-satisfying re-telling, set in contemporary America and featuring one snooty Miss Darcy. The basis for the Hallmark TV Movie of the same name available on streaming. Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones—one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant (just kidding). Darcy’s never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else’s drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family. Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32-years-old and has never left home. He’s a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it’s just another one night stand. But why can’t she stop thinking of Luke? What is it about him? And can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?
Enthralling children's fiction for everyone who loves Robin Steven's Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries and Frances Hardinge's The Lie Tree. Twelve mysteries. Twelve authors. One challenge: can YOU solve the crimes before the heroes of the stories? These are twelve brand-new short stories from twelve of the best children's crime writers writing today. These creepy, hilarious, brain-boggling, heart-pounding mysteries feature daring, brilliant young detectives, and this anthology is a must for fans of crime fiction and detection, especially the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries, The Roman Mysteries and The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow. The Crime Club are twelve UK-based authors who are mad about crime fiction. Clementine Beauvais, Elen Caldecott, Susie Day, Julia Golding, Frances Hardinge, Caroline Lawrence, Helen Moss, Sally Nicholls, Kate Pankhurst, Robin Stevens, Harriet Whitehorn and Katherine Woodfine can be found anywhere there is a mystery to be solved, a puzzle to be cracked or a bun to be eaten, and they are always ready for the next puzzling case.
From the USA Today bestselling writing team of Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens comes a hilarious first book in a brand new mystery series that will keep you guessing until the end... Melanie Hamilton is not your average artist. She brings home the bacon by inking tattoos at New Orleans's Mansion at Mystic Isle, a resort in the middle of the bayou that caters to fans of the peculiar and paranormal, but her true passion comes alive when she volunteers restoring Katrina-ravaged landmarks. Between her day job, her restoration work, and selling her paintings in Jackson Square, Mel's life is more hectic than Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday. But when a guest of the resort, a millionaire's widow, is poisoned, and Melanie's close friend is arrested for the murder, things go from hectic to downright dangerous. Mel joins forces with the resort's delish manager, Jack Stockton, to prove her friend's innocence. Soon they find themselves dealing with séances, secret passages, the ghost of the millionaire himself, gators, swamp rats, and a sinister killer who proves that not everything is what it seems in the Louisiana bayou. Come on along, and get your creep on. Mystic Isle Mysteries: Mystic Mayhem (book #1) Mystic Mojo (shorts story in the Killer Beach Reads collection) Mystic Mistletoe Murder (book #2) Mystic Mischief (book #3) Mystic Deception (book #4) What critics are saying about Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens: "A great series and smart plot told at breakneck pace...great characters, sexy, tough, intelligent, and witty....the perfect companion for the beach, planes, trains and everything else in between." —The New York Journal of Books "Smart and sassy. Classy with a twist of wry humor and just enough sentiment and romance to reel you in and keep you hanging until the end. Smith and Steffens, partners in crime, have struck gold. —Kathleen M. Rodgers, author of Johnnie Come Lately and The Final Salute "Stealing the Moon & Stars is an impossible book to put down. Jordan and Eddie are the best mystery solving duo since Nick and Nora. Is there a fire alarm ringing? Because their relationship is smokin’ hot!” —Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries and the Library Lover’s Mysteries "The action and sexual tension are as hot as an Arizona summer. The Shea Investigations team put their lives, and their hearts, on the line in this action-packed crime novel.” —Lesa's Book Critiques "This mystery unfolds with humorous zingers. Tingling with sexual tension, this is a satisfying read. I highly recommend it!" —Nancy Redd, author of The Canyon's Edge
Three romances from three of Urban Literature's best known authors. In Sealed with a Kiss by Celeste O. Norfleet, small-town boy Dean Everett struggles to go back to his high school girlfriend having been away and made it big in the tech world. In Mistletoe Lane by Regina Hart, Benjamin Brooks' marriage is ending due to his wife having had an affair. Sad though he may be, Benjamin is readying himself to launch back onto the dating scene. Though details of Deborah Fletcher Mello's contribution are yet to be announced, it is bound to be both sexy and sensational too.
As a group of apparently unconnected guests arrive for a Christmas party and a corpse is discovered in the snow, it's down to Lord Edgington to solve "The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall" and outwit the killer before his goose is cooked.
"Just because I don't run around with a stupid grin on my face all day every day doesn't mean I'm grumpy." Ryan Sosa, grumpy former corporate accountant, has had it up to here with surprises. He didn't see getting fired coming. And he certainly didn't anticipate flying across the country to the world's hippie-est, happiest, most annoying town to save his great-uncle from some mysterious emergency. Not only is there actual snow on the ground, it also appears that elves on psychedelics have decked Blue Moon's halls. But he doesn't have time to be snarky about the impending Winter Solstice and Multicultural Holiday Celebration-whatever the hell that is. Not when he's got a farm to save, a free-range sheep that he may or may not have nudged with his stupid microscopic rental car, and some small-town veterinarian telling him she can't take the animal off his hands. Dr. Sammy Ames has a practice to manage and a fundraising crisis to attend to. She doesn't have time to deal with a big-city grouch who doesn't remember being her first kiss ever. Especially not since he wants to dump a sheep named Stan on her. So not happening. No matter how cute-and pantless-Ryan is when he's drunk. Besides, as soon as he solves his uncle's problem, he'll be on the first flight out of Blue Moon, never to return again. It will take a Winter Solstice Miracle or perhaps some matchmaking interference from the Beautification Committee to get these two to see eye-to-eye under the mistletoe...unless he's the wrong Ryan after all.
