It’s become a holiday tradition almost as entrenched in our culture as decorating a tree, singing carols, admiring elaborate displays of colored lights and burning the sugar cookies — publishers releasing a slew of mystery novels that give a criminally cozy twist to the holidays.
The holidays are, in fact, a perfect setting for the traditional whodunit; while it is supposed to be a time of peace on earth and good will toward men, any time a diverse group of people gets together, some ill will is sure to surface, and the fragile peace might be disrupted by the discovery of someone done in with a candlestick in the library.
For those who enjoy a bit of genteel crime at Christmastime, here are five books by well-known writers who make merry with mayhem.
‘The Gift of the Magpie’
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By Donna Andrews
(Minotaur Books, $25.99)
Andrews’ series character Meg Langslow is working for a local charity that does odd jobs for people during the holidays, when one of the recipients of this good deed turns up dead. Harry the Hoarder had long been the subject of rumors that buried with the junk he amassed was something valuable — maybe even worth committing murder.
‘A Christmas Resolution’
By Anne Perry
(Ballantine, $21)
Perry’s latest entry in her long-running series of Christmas-themed novels set during Victorian times features Detective John Hooper, who gets caught up in a case of potential scandal when his wife, Celia, requests he look into the background of a man who is set to marry Celia’s best friend. But it soon develops that neither the bridegroom nor the bride to be are being totally truthful about their respective, checkered pasts.
‘Christmas Cupcake Murder’
By Joanne Fluke
(Kensington, $22.95)
For those who “come for the recipes, stay for the story,” be it known that this installment of the Hannah Swensen mysteries contains more than a dozen recipes for holiday treats. For those interested in the story, in this one, Hannah discovers a man near death in a building close to her bakery. He has no idea who he is but proves himself a dab hand at restoring furniture — one of the clues that point to a much darker past and potentially dangerous present.
‘Silent Bite’
By David Rosenfelt
(Minotaur, $25.99)
Rosenfelt’s annual mystery featuring lawyer and dog lover Andy Carpenter centers around Andy’s partner in a local dog rescue organization who needs help at proving his friend is innocent of murder.
‘A Christmas Carol Murder’
By Heather Redmond
(Kensington, $26)
Redmond has written two previous mysteries with a young Charles Dickens as sleuth; this episode is a riff on Dickens’ beloved Christmas ghost story, as Charles is the accidental witness to a man’s death. The victim is one Jacob Harley, partner in a money-lending firm with a miserly fellow called Emmanuel Screws, with whom Dickens has some unfinished personal business.
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