Books-Holiday-Mysteries-Jane Haddam

Death, Snow, and Mistletoe
Valerie S. Malmont

It was Christmas in Lickin Creek, and all through the town something was stirring..The borough council was quarreling about the color of the Christmas lights. A social worker wouldn't let a living baby be part of the town's living crèche. And some ladies were stretching the limits of their leotards in a pageant called the Nutcracker. All in all, former New Yorker Tori Miracle was basking in the quaint glow of her adopted Pennsylvania town, when suddenly the season went sour. A boy was missing. A thirty-year-old mystery resurfaced. And now two people have been murdered. With her boyfriend—the town police chief—out of town, Tori must help his befuddled replacement. And what she finds out, or should be finding out, is making Tori the next target—of someone only in the mood for murder.

Bride and Doom
Jean Hager

Wedding bells will soon be tolling for Tess Darcy, who is finally to tie the knot with longtime love Luke Fredrik. To celebrate the much anticipated occasion, Tess's Aunt Dahlia and Cousin Cinny are hosting a bridal shower at the Victoria Springs Country Club, the sacred domain of Julian Walker, superchef extraordinaire, who is as thoroughly despised as his culinary masterpieces are adored. So it is not a complete surprise when the dictatorial kitchen artiste is real shock is when Iris House cook Gertie Bogart is fingered as the prime suspect.
This lethal brouhaha could easily ruin Tess's upcoming wedding — and land Gertie in the slammer for a crime Tess is certain her friend did not commit. To rescue both, Tess will have to temporarily exchange her wedding veil for a sleuthing hat. But by doing so, she risks raising the ire of a killer — which, in turn, raises the likelihood of Tess winding up dead before wed.

TURKEY DAY MURDER
by Leslie Meier

Tinker’s Cove has a long history of Thanksgiving festivities, from visits with TomTom Turkey to the annual Warriors high school football game and Lucy Stone’s impressive pumpkin pie. But this year, someone has added murder to the menu, and Lucy intends to discover who left Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan deader than the proverbial Thanksgiving turkey—with an ancient war club next to his head.

The list of suspects isn’t exactly a brief one. Nolan had a habit of disagreeing with just about everybody he met. He’d made a lot of waves with the Tinker’s Cove board by first petitioning to have the Metinnicut tribe recognized—a move that would allow the Metinnicuts to build a casino—and then blasting the current building plans for not being true to his tribe’s heritage. The very idea of a gambling hall in cozy Tinker’s Cove raised bitter arguments on both sides of the issue. But could it have also inspired murder?

IF YOU LOVE NORA ROBERTS!
HOLIDAY IN DEATH
By J.D.Robb
On the trail of a sadistic "Santa Claus" serial killer who is gradually working his way through "The Twelve Days of Christmas," homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is led to Personally Yours, an elite matchmaking agency, and the upscale clientele it serves. Colorful charactersand a few red herringsabound, and the patina of the holiday season adds a macabre dimension to the real horror of these murders in a fast-paced, superbly crafted story that is an amazingand possibly uniquecombination of topnotch suspense, futuristic detection, and intensely romantic sensuality. Readers will be waiting for this one. Robb (Immortal in Death, LJ 8/96) is a pseudonym for best-selling, award-winning romance writer Nora Roberts; she lives in Keedysville, MD.

Purchase Holiday In Death

FOUNTAIN OF DEATH

The ad says "Bring your body to the Fountain of Youth Studios for a New You for the New Year." This mystery> begins as Frannie Jay arrives in town to begin her new job as an aerobics instructor. Other interesting characters are introduced, each with a reason to want to start the New Year anew. Then Frannie hears an odd noise and looks out the window to see what the problem is...and the problem is a dead body in the bushes below. The local police call in Gregor Demarkian, although it soon appears it may have been more of a publicity stunt than actually wanting assistance but once Gregor is on a job, he doesn't leave until he has solved the mystery.

A STILLNESS in BETHLEHEM
By Jane Haddam

Christmas in Bethlehem, Vermont with everyone getting ready to stage the annual Nativity play...except for one outsider who wants to stop the pageant. Then she is stopped with a rifle! Gregor Demarkian, in town as a tourist, is soon involved, accompanied by Bennis Hannaford and Father Tibor Kasparian.

[TUMBLING TBR HOME] [DOG MYSTERY] [FANTASY]
[CAT MYSTERY] [SOUTHWEST MYSTERY]
[VICTORIAN MYSTERY] [MISC.MYSTERY] [RICHARD JURY PAGE]
[HOLIDAY MYSTERY] [WOLF PAGES]
[MEMORIAL PAGE]

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