Christmas Crime

Christmas begins with a bang. Someone has given Sir Osmond the gift of a bullet. In the head. Every member of the Melbury family has a motive to murder their patriarch, but ho-ho-ho dunnit?

Spend the twelve days of Christmas enjoying tales of holiday hostilities. Bestselling mystery author, Charlotte MacLeod, gathers fellow partners in crime for a stockingful of seasonal short stories to die for.

As the Italian city of Naples prepares for Christmas, a fascist militia officer and his wife are brutally murdered in a luxurious beach apartment. In a town where there's a visible divide between rich and poor, the blame could lie anywhere.

Just when Banks thought it was going to be a dull Christmas, he stumbles upon a case.

When a hated old man is found murdered on Christmas Eve, fingers point in all directions. Poirot certainly has his work cut out for him…

Two teenage friends, a whole bunch of secrets and a dead body newly unearthed. In Cold Light is that one unforgettable tale of friendship and memory, and one which definitely enter the ranks of our Hall of Fame for thriller and crime stories.

Memories define us. So what would you do if you wake up without remembering a thing? Not even your past, your identity or the people you love? Who can you trust? And can you really trust them ?

Before I Go to Sleep is an example of tight writing, solid plot and the insanity that follows when you're full of distrust. Definitely one for the cold, icy winter.

This is yet another chilling story set in the thick of winter. By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. Is that a miracle, or pure good luck? Or is something else at play?

But now Delaney is drawn to death. Is she predicting it like a sixth sense, or does she have powers now? And if so — is she the bad luck around town now?

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. But let's be real, it's almost impossible to live off the grid these days.

Lisa Lutz's psychologically thriller is about pursuing the path to survival and defining yourself. In a bad, bad world that's out to get you.

How about a fiery tale to warm up your cold Christmas winter? Beneath the Ashes is Jane Isaac's much-anticipated second book in her trilogy crime series (last book out next year!). It may be cold as 2016 draws to an end, but it's perfect for plowing through this fiery disaster of murder, kidnap and secrets.

Bone by Bone is one chilling read. And one heartbreaking tale of a fierce motherly love. We love it for its suspense and thrill, and yet for its themes of family.

Laura is making a fresh start, and she's carving a new life for herself and her nine-year-old daughter, Autumn.
But when Autumn fails to return home from school one day, Laura finds a crowd of older children taunting her little girl. In the heat of the moment, Laura is overcome with rage and makes one terrible mistake. A mistake that will have devastating consequences for her and her daughter…

A car is found on a deserted beach on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura. On the back seat lies a cardboard box containing the body of a small boy buried in newspaper cuttings. No one knows his name, and there is no trace of a driver. The last thing an ailing tourist resort needs is a murder, and the police are desperate to close the case.

Thomas Rydahl presents to us a gripping thriller fraught with lies and plenty of tension and dilemma. Can an old man cut off from the modern world solve this crime and restore order within this community?

Fans of historical fiction will love Jane Finnis' second installment of the Aurelia Marcella Mysteries. Set in 95AD, Innkeeper Aurelia Marcella's plans for a peaceful year-end holiday are shattered when her brother brings news that Rome is about the invade Britannia. She must keep her head amongst rumours that her family might be implicated in a plot to overthrow Caesar, rowdy quarrelsome guests and preparation for the holidays. #HolidayMayhem

Ariel Nel finds the bodies of four young women who disappeared thirty five years ago when she renovates a house in Parktown. She decides to investigate on her own and deduces that someone must have placed the bodies in the house. And when she finally teams up with the local police force, she realises that there might be some bad cops in there. Can she trust them, or will she run out of time and lose her life?

When a wealthy Chicago businessman dies, Laura March stands to inherit a fortune, as does the orphaned girl whom she befriends. Within days, numerous heirs emerge from the woodwork, including a man claiming to be the girl's father. And when he turns up dead, accusing fingers point to Laura.

A small time crook gets his teenage daughter suddenly taken away from him — but was it the police or the mafia that did it? Private detective Jacob Lomax takes on the case, but when the crook gets killed in a car bomb meant for his teenage daughter, Lomax decides he must hurry before the girl suffers the same fate.

No Christmas would be complete without a collection of 60 classic, rare and fun Christmas mysteries. Apparently some of these books are so rare that you literally can’t find them anywhere else. Featuring classics from Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Isaac Asimov.

Each December, the faculty of Balaclava Agricultural College goes wild with Christmas lights. And after years of resisting the Illumination festival, professor Peter Shandy snaps, installing a million-watt display of flashing lights and blaring music perfectly calculated to drive his neighbors mad. He skips town to spend a quiet Christmas by himself but comes home to extinguished Christmas lights and a dead librarian in his living room. Just who did it?

Every year, Sarah Bailey marks the coming of the solstice with a pageant of song and drama for the people in Harvard University. On the eve of this year’s Revels, ta singer is struck down in the street by an SUV driven by Sarah’s husband. The police dismiss it as a freak accident, but Mary Kelly, who witnessed the singer’s death, is not so sure. Soon, Mary Kelly's husband begins to piece more murders together and finds out that Mary might be right…

Carols, eggnog, fruitcake and snuggling by the fire — yes it's the season of goodwill and feel-good vibes. But gathered here as an antidote to all these heart-warming pleasures are spine-tingling stories that will transport you from the comfort of your cozy hearth to places where your bones will be chilled. This collection ranges from classic tales by acknowledged masters of the macabre like Arthur Conan Doyle and M.R. James.