Best Christmas Mystery Books: 22 Cozy Whodunits & Thrillers

Book Summary

After her annual holiday party, burnt-out, working mom Anna is hungover and already sick of Christmas and all the different to-do lists it entails. Unfortunately, she’s just added a new task after wrapping presents and peeling potatoes. Now she’s also stuck trying to solve Santa’s murder!

After his mysterious death, the police officers assigned seem more like caricatures, and her husband and kids are more interested in watching Christmas movies. As usual, it’s up to her to solve the little problem of the dead body in her house. She does have the help of her murder-mystery obsessed BFF, Jenny.

Book Summary

San Diego cop Nick Pappas has been suspended from his job, alienated from his family, and persecuted by the press. He has zero holiday spirit this year, but things start to change when he agrees to work at the local mall as an undercover officer posing as Santa to help catch muggers who have been preying on holiday shoppers.

Nick deals with crying kids, pushy parents, and a chronically cheerful “elf” sidekick to catch the criminals, but that’s not the most challenging part of the job. How can he fulfill the next-to-impossible Christmas wishes of two children in need?

Book Summary

Maggie, a cozy mystery author, and Ethan, who writes thrillers, have both been sent cryptic invitations to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan. When they arrive, they discover that their host is the most famous mystery writer in the world, Eleanor Ashley.

But overnight, Eleanor disappears from a locked room. While Maggie and Ethan are NOT fans of each other, they will have to get along to solve the mystery of Eleanor’s disappearance.

Book Summary

After finding a priceless antique book in her great aunt’s attic, Mirren Sutherland stumbled into an unexpected career as an antiquarian book hunter. This Christmas season, she’s been hired by the young laird of a Highland clan to search for a book that may or may not exist. Desperate to save his family’s estate, which includes a vast, crumbling castle, Jamie McPherson is hoping that the family lore proves true and that somewhere in the castle’s collection is a rare book so valuable it could solve all his problems.

On her train journey to the Highlands, Mirren knows it’s no coincidence when she bumps into a rival book hunter named Theo. He always seems to turn up whenever a treasure needs to be located.

Shortly after Mirren and Theo arrive at the castle, they are snowed in by a blizzard. Together with Jamie, they begin trying to piece together the clues left by Jamie’s grandfather, the former laird of the castle.

Book Summary

This series revolves around midwife Sarah Brandt and her detective significant other, Frank Malloy. In this book, however, these two main characters are off on their honeymoon, and their family and friends are carrying on without them.

Una, the daughter of their neighbor, Mrs. O’Neill, has recently married a wealthy man. However, her happiness soon comes to an end when she is found with her husband’s dead body. With Una being the chief suspect, and Frank and Sarah away, the others work together to uncover the real murderer.

Book Summary

Brooklyn, a book restoration specialist, and her husband, Derek, a security expert, are on a Christmas trip abroad when they get a frantic call from a friend. Claire is in Scotland and has gotten engaged. She wants Brooklyn & Derek to fly in for a quick wedding and to investigate the mysterious disappearance of twelve rare books from the castle library.

When they arrive at the castle, the case of the missing books is just the beginning. Another guest is poisoned, and then another is killed with an arrow. They must now race to find the missing books and the killer.

Book Summary

Newlywed April Claus has a lot to adjust to. She is constantly cold in her new home in the North Pole. She shares the family home, a castle, with her regal mother-in-law, goofy but affable brother-in-law, her sporty sister-in-law, her adorable nephew, and his broody mother, the widow of the last Santa. April’s husband is none other than Nick Claus, the current Santa.

Nick wasn’t destined to be Santa, but his older brother died in a mysterious accident, and Nick needs to fill the spot until his nephew reaches adulthood. Things sour quickly when a widely disliked elf accuses Nick of murdering his brother and then turns up dead soon after.

In a world filled with moving snowmen, talking reindeer, friendly and unfriendly elves, and abominable snow monsters, April seeks to clear her husband’s name. But his reluctance to speak to her has April wondering if she really knows her new husband.

Book Summary

Ernest Cunningham was a big fan of golden-age mysteries, but now he gets stuck solving them in real life. He thought he’d have a break from unraveling mysteries over the holidays, but he was wrong.

Erin, his ex-wife, has become a suspect in the murder of her new boyfriend, a wealthy philanthropist, and it’s up to Ernest to clear her name. But the crime seems impossible, and all the other suspects are skilled in the art of illusion. Luckily, Ernest has an Advent calendar of 24 clues to help him find the real killer.

Book Summary

A personal tragedy has Abby looking for a fresh start, so she packs up her home in San Francisco and moves across the country to Holiday Bay, Maine, where she’s purchased an old seaside mansion sight unseen. Abby just wants some time alone to heal, but the giant Maine coon cat that’s been living in the house has no intention of leaving. Abby is not a cat person… or at least she doesn’t think she is.

Around the time that Abby arrives in Holiday Bay, a local girl is murdered. When Abby finds boxes in the basement of her new home that she thinks might provide clues about the killer, she finds herself caught in the middle of a complicated case. But Abby is up for the challenge – after all, she’s a New York Times bestselling mystery writer and the widow of a homicide detective, so she knows a thing or two about investigating.

Book Summary

Lilly is a single mom to two teenagers, the owner of a jewelry shop, and the president of the local Chamber of Commerce. She is as busy as ever this Christmas and definitely didn’t have time to find a dead body on the floor of her store.

On top of that, she has to deal with her deadbeat ex-husband and the declining mental health of her mother. When a second dead body appears, Lilly is now the prime suspect and hopes the local police can figure out what is really happening ASAP for any hope of a merry Christmas.

Book Summary

Stella is about to spend her first Christmas season as the “Lady” of Morrington Hall. As an expat who married an aristocrat, she’s eager to embrace all the yuletide traditions in the English countryside. She’s thrown herself into starting a horse farm charity for the holidays. Initially, she doesn’t notice items disappearing from her bedroom. But then her housekeeper, Mrs. Nelson, is found dead in the cold on Mistletoe Lane.

Stella wonders if someone else on her staff knows the killer, but then another person dies at a Boxing Day race. Stella and her husband, Lyndy, must figure out what to do to save the estate’s reputation and keep themselves alive until the new year.

Book Summary

Meg has been drafted to organize the town’s Christmas parade. It’s a mile-long extravaganza featuring all 12 elements from the popular song, along with a host of other participants. And it’s lining up at Meg and Michael’s stuffed-to-the-gills-with-guests home.

In the midst of the chaos, Meg’s young nephew notices that something is wrong with Santa. He’s dead. Now Meg not only needs to get the parade off without a hitch, but also assist the Chief of Police in stopping a killer.

Book Summary

Darling is a small rural town in Alabama where the residents are trying to get by during the Great Depression. The Darling Dahlias are the local garden club, made up of people from different backgrounds who are united by their love of gardening.

In this book, set in the Christmas season of 1934, the club members are confronted with two problems. The first problem is how to help Mildred and Earlynne open the bakery of their dreams.

The second problem is far more serious. Cupcake, a young girl living with one of the Dahlias and her partner, has gained some attention with her talent for performing. Unfortunately, that has also brought her to the attention of a shadowy figure from her past who seeks to uproot her from her happy home.

Book Summary

If you enjoyed Arsenic and Adobo, we think you’ll love this follow-up set in the Christmas season. In this book, Lila is trying to make a profit at her new coffee shop, The Brew-ha Cafe. She’s also starting a romance with her friend, Jae, so things should be good.

But her cousin Ronnie, who left Shady Palms fifteen years ago, is back. While Tita Rosie is happy the prodigal son has returned to buy a local winery, Lila knows better. Before long, Ronnie is accused of murder, and Lila has to figure out how to prove the jerk’s innocence because surely he wouldn’t go that far.

Book Summary

The O’Sullivan brood has gone off to West Cork to spend the holidays with brother James’s fiancée, Elise’s family, including her grandfather, the famous orchestral conductor Enda Elliot. Holiday spirits are crushed when the cantankerous conductor is discovered under a ninety-pound harp in a local concert hall.

As both families are snowed into a lavish cliffside farmhouse, Siobhan must figure out who is to blame for Enda’s death before there is another victim.

Book Summary

Ellie is trying to juggle jobs and a sick daughter, and her wish is to make it to the New Year without any more problems. But then her mother-in-law moves in.

Things get even worse when her estranged friend, Andrea, collapses, and it becomes clear she was murdered. Along with her daughter and mother-in-law, Ellie follows the clues to solve the mystery. This unlikely trio of Blix women must find the killer, even if that really annoys her detective inspector ex-husband.

Book Summary

This series is set on a Christmas Tree farm in Mistletoe, Maine. Cat lovers will enjoy the feline character, Cindy Lou Who. In the first book, Twelve Slays of Christmas, the local grinch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society, Margaret Fenwick, is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly’s family tree farm.

Holly’s father, Bud, is the main suspect, and it doesn’t help that he and the reindeer keeper were seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father and is determined to exonerate him.

Book Summary

On Christmas Eve, four estranged brothers have been called home by their widowed father. But, the reunion goes awry when there is a crash and scream after dinner. The family rushes upstairs to find their father dead with a slash in his throat.

Everyone seems to have an alibi, along with their own reasons for disliking the man. Hercule Poirot arrives to investigate, but the family is resistant to his help.

Book Summary

FBI Agent Ava James thinks she’s getting a break from work when she agrees to attend the wedding of her college boyfriend’s little sister. However, her retreat to a fancy Chalet in the mountains of New Hampshire takes a turn when the groom’s sister is found frozen in the snow.

Ava reaches out to the local sheriff and begins her own investigation, which is full of dead ends…until another guest is murdered.

Book Summary

Looking for a very non-traditional Christmas read? Try this Christmas mystery thriller! Edward Holbeck was born into a highly eccentric, old-money family in the 1%. He left them behind to escape their control and forge his own path. His wife, Harry, is a novelist on the brink of stardom, and their life is good.

However, the family’s eyes and ears are everywhere. They’re not okay with Edward’s separation from the family because he’s still set to be the sole heir to the fortunes.

When the head of the family, Robert, slips a shocking taped confession to Harry, their world begins to spin. As she searches for the truth, she finds herself involved in the Holbecks’ savage Christmas tradition, even though she knows losing the game can be deadly.

Book Summary

On Christmas Eve in Northwest England, four men who had gone on a walk are missing. Finding them before nightfall is essential because they’re unlikely to survive the brutal cold after dark.

After several hours, the first man is found. But it’s clear he’s been murdered. With a snowstorm approaching, DI Walker must catch the killer before the trail is buried forever.

Book Summary

On Christmas Eve sixty years ago, a deliveryman made a gruesome discovery that forever changed the small town of Tambilla. In the present day, Jess is a journalist in London when she gets a call to return home to Australia to help with her grandmother, Nora. Nora was more like a mother to Jess after Jess’s mother, Polly, left her with Nora and moved to Brisbane when Jess was only 10. 

Nora fell in her attic while searching for something, and now she is mumbling about an event from her past, making it difficult to understand. As Jess tries to piece things together, she learns that Nora was agitated and restless even before the fall. She knows something is going on and is determined to figure it out. As she searches the house for clues, she finds a true crime book about the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve. But what does this cold case have to do with her family?