8 Holiday Cozy Mysteries To Read As You Prepare for Santa 

You should certainly add this mystery anthology to your Christmas list this year! It includes 13 cozy Christmas mysteries full of twists and turns, including a counterfeiting Scrooge, snowy graveyard secrets and a Christmas murder scheme. These New York Times-bestselling mystery writers will have you staying up all night for Christmas Eve—not to catch a glimpse of Santa, but because you’ll want to know how each mystery is solved!

Retired professor Andrew Basnett looks forward to a quiet, relaxing Christmas while visiting his close friends. He was expecting to spend his days warming up by a fireside and drinking hot cocoa, not witnessing a neighbor getting blown to smithereens. Andrew knew that Sir Lucas Dearden was supposed to be out of town for the holidays, so what made him change his mind? Was the bomb perhaps for someone else entirely? This novice detective might just have the skills necessary to crack this Christmas caper! 

This dual-perspective holiday mystery allows readers to hear the thoughts of a serial killer first-hand while also providing the point of view of police who are scrambling to catch the criminal before they can commit any more callous Christmas murders. Authorities know that the killer resides in Maude Daneson’s rooming house, but they also know that any of its residents can be responsible. Readers will enjoy uncovering the killer and their motive for committing such atrocities during the happiest season. 

A Crossworder's Holiday includes five short stories centering around husband-and-wife sleuthing team Belle Graham and Rosco Polycrates, who solve various cases set during the holidays. Each story involves crossword puzzles; whether it be discovering evidence hidden in puzzles or unearthing clues to catch crafty killers, this couple will use their puzzle-solving expertise to reveal the truth. The book also contains five crosswords for readers to solve, with answers at the back, to test if you’re as clever as the detective duo. 

It’s Christmas in Canada, and the small coastal village of The Shores is decorating their houses and hoping for lots and lots of snow. Until they wished they hadn’t, because the snow did not bring festive merriment—snowmen and snowball fights like they had anticipated—instead, it brought with it death. Namely, Fitz Fitzpatrick, a former acrobat whose unlikable personality left many residents not too sorrowful over his untimely passing. Nevertheless, Mountie Jane Jamieson must figure out whether his death was an unfortunate accident or an intentional murder. 

This one is an oddly comforting murder mystery, despite spotlighting a walking, talking skeleton who also solves crimes! Dr. Georgia Thackery is home for Christmas after accepting a new adjunct position at Bostock College and is looking forward to spending it with her parents and her daughter. But it isn’t long until their calm Christmas is disturbed when their dog presents a bone to them that Dr. Georgia Thackery primarily believes to be from her companion Sid, the wise-cracking, clever skeleton residing with them. 

However, soon after, she realizes the bone is not from her buddy’s anatomy; it’s from a murder victim. Could one of Georgia’s adjunct friends be responsible? Will the mystery duo solve the case? And can they untangle the mystery before Georgia’s dog starts gnawing on Sid?  

The Pennyfoot Hotel has decked its halls and is booked for Christmas. But when a guest is murdered in the laundry room with a note from a maid in his pocket, owner Cecily Sinclair Baxter knows the hotel’s Christmas curse has struck again. Refusing to let the holiday season fizzle, Cecily sets out to find the killer.

Set in the early twentieth century, Cecily has to solve a murder using nothing but her wits, as telephones and motor cars are still brand new. These details make A Merry Murder a fun mystery—with an old-fashioned twist.

All Addie Greyborne wants for Christmas is a successful bid on her rare 1843 edition of A Christmas Carol at the upcoming charity auction. Instead, her late-ex’s father walks into her bookstore to dredge up the past before having lunch with auction director Teresa Lang. When Addie goes to Teresa’s office to meet with her, she finds Teresa’s body. But the valuable book she was donating is missing. With a Nor’easter looming, Addie has to appraise more than first editions to find her book—and the killer.

Murder in the First Edition is a tension-filled romp through a seaside New England town. There’s enough romantic suspense to break out the mistletoe, and bookworms will love the bookstore setting.