Cat Christmas Mystery

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler collects more than 50 of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories - many of which are difficult or nearly impossible to find anywhere else. From classic Victorian tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy, to contemporary stories by Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain, this collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant.

Three irritable curmudgeons, each successful in their respective fields, find themselves thrown together on a comically arduous journey - all at the behest of a mysterious host. Arriving at their destination, the three men find their cantankerous hearts melting in the presence of a newborn infant.

Charlene's parents are in town for Christmas, and her mother is driving her up a tree. Her bed-and-breakfast's resident ghost, Jack, isn't fond of her either - and he's showing it with some haunting high jinks. But when Charlene takes her mom and dad out for dinner, the less-than-seasonal spirits take a deadly turn.

In addition to feeding the felines Aubrey and Vincent, Jeremy Goodman has a new responsibility: filling a recently vacated trustee role at a local charity that works tirelessly to house the homeless. Jeremy is initially enthusiastic—but soon begins to suspect that all is not as it seems at the nonprofit’s headquarters.

DCI Michael Yorke and Emma Gardner are still plagued by guilt over their failure to catch the murderous psychiatrist known as the Conduit, and the loss of their former colleague to insanity. On Christmas Day, following a brutal massacre in Leeds, Yorke and Gardner find themselves once again chasing the ruthless puppeteer, believing that they have the initiative.

Christmas has come to Fern Valley, and the town's decked out with enough glitter and sparkle for a month's worth of celebrations, each more over-the-top than the previous one. The idyllic setting, filled with laughter, carols, and sweet treats, is shattered, along with some of the decorations, when the current wife and the ex-wife of a big-cat showman have a knock-down, drag-out fight in the center of town. Jules Keene, owner of the Fern Valley Glamping Resort, tries to keep peace among her guests and with the town council, but it turns into a catastrophe when Tabbi Morris winds up dead.

Knitting an ugly Christmas jumper at Cardinal Woolsey's knitting shop in Oxford is supposed to be relaxing. Until a knitter keels over. It's soon clear to amateur sleuth Lucy that murder's in the air and that the culprit is one of the knitters. This is a fun take on a classic closed-room mystery. Of course, no room is every closed when vampires live downstairs. But are the undead knitters to blame? Or is there more to this Oxford knitting circle than lumpy Santas and light-up reindeer?

When her beloved dog passes away just before Christmas, Gloria isn't sure about her best friend's advice. Holiday hilarity ensues when a new cat shows up on her doorstep each day. Who's leaving the cats? And why? Will Gloria's Christmas go up a poof of pet fur, or will it prove to be the most purrfect holiday ever?

From New York Times best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon, comes a new Cat Latimer mystery. Santa's on his way, but the house Cat shares with her best friend and a monthly writing retreat isn't even decorated yet. Christmas is coming early to Cat Latimer's Writers Retreat. Cat and the gang aren't feeling the Christmas spirit. First up on her to do list, the last retreat of the year. A group of nonfiction authors dying to get into the Covington library. When one writer is found dead before the first retreat session, Cat must find the killer before he puts her on his naughty list.

In Book Two of the Cat in the Attic series, in addition to the time she spends at the animal shelter, Callie has a new sideline writing human interest stories for the regional newspaper. It is a job she loves and hopes to grow - until she is asked to reveal the man behind the mask when Secret Santa comes to town and begins committing random acts of kindness. Meanwhile, Cass has a new murder to solve, Gracie has gone crazy with the decorations, and Naomi's friend Hancock comes to town.

Polly Parrett finds herself in the midst of another murder mystery. This time it involves two little girls, a wicked stepmother, and a missing father. Oh, and Christmas is almost here. It all begins with a mysterious gift box that’s left on Polly's doorstep. Along the way she encounters problems with her pet-sitting customers and her arch nemesis, Britney Harris, who has her eye on Polly's boyfriend Tyler.

The holiday season on Daybreak Island is a mixed bag for Maddie James. On the one hand, her Christmas spirit is in the doghouse after a break-up. On the other, she's busy enough that she doesn't have to pretend to be merry. Business at her cat café is booming, and Maddie's care-taking of a feral cat colony in one of the area's wealthiest communities only helps her bottom line. But tensions between the homeowners and animal activists are escalating to catastrophic levels...and before long a body is found dead in a snowbank.

Why does Hamilton Troll live next to a tree stump? Chatterton Squirrel asks this question one spring day, so Hamilton shares the story about how this whole thing began. While trying to stay warm one cold December morning, a loud rumbling noise brought Hamilton out of his hole to discover his tree was gone!