Monday, December 8, 2025
MIDSOMER MURDERS, Series 25, starts streaming today!
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Friday, December 5, 2025
Thursday, December 4, 2025
CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES: AUTHORS A-E

Crime for the Holidays. Christmas time is a major time
for murder! Every year I post a list of mysteries set during the Christmas holidays. It's such an extensive list, that I divide it into multiple parts. Here's the first installment, Authors A-E, of what will be a huge Christmas Crime Fiction list. I'll
be posting the rest of the list over the next week, so be sure and stop back. I will be updating as the month goes on. There's something for everyone, from cozy to noir to thriller. Enjoy!
Although the list is updated every year, I'm sure I've still managed to miss a few authors and titles.
Let me know, and I'd be glad to add them. I will be updating throughout the month. Please comment below or send me an email.
Christmas Mysteries: Authors F-L (to come)
Christmas Mysteries: Authors M-Z (to come)
Christmas Mysteries: Short Story Anthologies and Novellas (to come)Authors A-E
Abbott, Allyson: Shots in the Dark
Abbot, Anthony: About the Murder of a Startled Lady; About the Murder of Geraldine Foster.
Abresch, Peter: The Faltese Malcom.
Adams, Deborah: All the Crazy Winters.
Adair, Gilbert: The Act of Roger Murgatroyd.
Adamson, Lydia: A Cat in the Manger; A Cat in the Wings; A Cat on Jingle Bell Rock; A Cat Under the Mistletoe.
Alan, Isabella: Murder, Served Simply.
Albert, Susan Wittig: Mistletoe Man; Rueful Death; Holly Blues: The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsetta Puzzle.
Alexander, David: Shoot a Sitting Duck.
Alexander, Ellie (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): A Cup of Holiday Fear; A Holiday Homicide.
Alexander, Hannah & Jill Elizabeth Nelson: Season of Danger; Silent Night; Deadly Night/Mistletoe Mayhem.
Alexander, Maria: Snowed.
Alexander, Victoria: What Happens at Christmas.
Allan, Barbara: Antiques Flee Market.
Allen, E.A.: The Fifth Christmas; The Dandridge Charter.
Allen, Michael: Spence and the Holiday Murders.
Ambrose, Terry: The Killer Christmas Sweater Club.
Amo, Gary: Silent Night.
Amsden, Pat: A Christmas to Die For.
Andre, Joel: A Death at the North Pole.
Andrews, Donna: How the Finch Stole Christmas; Six Geese A-Slaying; Duck the Halls; The Nightingale Before Christmas; Lark! The Herald Angels Sing; Owl Be Home for Christmas; The Gift of the Magpie; The Twelve Jays of Christmas; Let It Crow, Let It Crow; Let it Crow; Rockin' Around the Chickadee
Andrews, Mary Kay (Kathy Hogan Trocheck): Fatal Fruitcake; Blue Christmas; Christmas Bliss; Midnight Clear.
Traci Andrighetti & Elizabeth Ashby: A Poison Manicure and Peach Liqueur.
Angela, Mary: A Very Merry Murder.
Appignanesi, Lisa: The Dead of Winter.
Archer, Gretchen. Double Deck the Halls.
Armstrong, Vivien: Fly in Amber.
Arnold, Carolyn. Christmas is Murder.
Arsenault, Emily: The Broken Teaglass.
Arts, David Jay: Quiet Desperation.
Ash, Maureen: Murder for Christ's Mass.
Ashe, Ellie: Chasing Tinsel.
Atherton, Nancy: Aunt Dimity's Christmas; Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold.
Atkins, Ace: Leavin' Trunk Blues.
Aubert, Rosemary: The Feast of Stephen.
Avon, Joy: In Peppermint Peril.
Baantjer, Albert: Murder in Amsterdam.
Babcock, Dwight V.: A Homicide for Hannah.
Babson, Marian: Twelve Deaths of Christmas; Line Up for Murder; Murder on a Mystery Tour.
Bailey, Jodie, Debby Giusti & Susan Sleeman: Holiday Defenders.
Bain, Donald (as Jessica Fletcher): A Little Yuletide Murder; Manhattans and Murder.
Baker, Deb: Murder Trims the Tree.
Baker, North: Dead to the World.
Baldacci, David: The Christmas Train.
Ball, Donna: Silent Night.
Ballard, Mignon F.: Deadly Promise; Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed.
Barnett, T.L.: Murder for the New Year.
Barre, Richard: Bethany.
Barrett, Kathleen: Homicide for the Holidays.
Barritt, Christy. High-Stakes Holiday Reunion; It Came Upon a Midnight Crime.
Barron, Stephanie: Jane and the Wandering Eye; Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Bartlett, Lorraine & Gayle Leeson: Yule Be Dead.
Barton, Beverly: Sugar and Spice.
Battison, Brian: The Christmas Bow Murder.
Baxt, George: Scheme and Variations; A Christmas Story.
Bayard, Louis: Mr Timothy.
Beaton, M.C.: Death of A Snob; A Highland Christmas; Agatha
Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye; Death of a Prankster; Christmas
Crumble; Busy Body.
Beaumont, Cyril: The Mysterious Toyshop.
Beechy, Alan: Murdering Ministers.
Bell, Cindy: Mistletoe, Makeup and Murder; Christmas Chocolates and Crime.
Bellairs, George: The Dead Shall Be Raised.
Benedict, Alexandra: The Christmas Murder Game; Murder on the Christmas Express; The Christmas Jigsaw Murders; The Christmas Cracker Killer; The Merry Christmas Murders.
Benison, C.C. Death at Sandringham House.
Bennett, Virginia K.: I'm Dreaming of a Battered Christmas; Hand Caught in the Christmas Cookie Jar.
Benrey, Ron & Janet: Season of Glory.
Bentley, Jennie: Home for The Homicide.
Berenson, Laurien: Jingle Bell Bark; Once Bitten; Wagging through the Snow.
Bernhardt, Susan: Murder Under the Tree.
Bernhardt, William: The Midnight Before Christmas.
Berry, Carole: This Year Will Be Different; The Year of the Monkey.
Bingham, John: Crime at Lark Cottage.
Bird, Nigel. Let It Snow.
Black, Gavin: Dragon for Christmas.
Black, McGarvey: Twice on Christmas.
Black, Sarah & John Lanyon: I'll be Dead for Christmas.
Blackburn, Cindy: Three Odd Balls.
Blake, Bethany. Paw Prints and Predicaments; A Midwinter's Tale.
Blake, K.B.: Crisis at the Christmas Party.
Blake, Nicholas: The Corpse in the Snowman; The Smiler With the Knife; Thou Shell of Death.
Blanc, Nero: A Crossworder's Delight; A Crossworder's Gift; A Crossworder's Holiday; Wrapped Up in Crosswords.
Bodelson, Anders: Think of a Number.
Bohart, Lynn: Inn Keeping with Murder.
Boland, Peter. The Christmas Market Murder.
Bolen, Cheryl. The Theft before Christmas.
Bolton, Ginger (aka Janet Bolin): Deck the Donuts.
Borger, Gale: Totally Decked.
Borthwick, J. S.: Dude on Arrival; The Student Body.
Boucher, Anthony: The Night Before Christmas.
Bowen, Rhys: The Twelve Clues at Christmas; Away in a Manger; The Ghost of Christmas Past; God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen.
Boyd, Eunice Mays, with Elizabeth Reed Aden: Slay Bells.
Boylan, Eleanor: Pushing Murder.
Boyle, Thomas: Post-Mortem Effects.
Bradley, Alan: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches; I Am Half Sick of Shadows; As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust.
Brady, James: Hampton's Christmas.
Bramble, Forbes: Dead of Winter.
Bran, Helen. Silent Night.
Braun, Lilian Jackson: The Cat Who Turned On and Off; The Cat Who Went into the Closet.
Bredes, Don: Cold Comfort.
Breen, Jon: Probable Claus.
Brett, Simon: The Christmas Crimes at Puzzle Manor; The Shooting in the Shop; The Cinderella Killer.
Bright, Verity: Murder on the Cornish Cliffs.
Brightwell, Emily: Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of St. Stephen;
Mrs. Jeffries & the Yuletide Weddings; Mrs. Jeffries & the
Mistletoe Mix Up; Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight; Mrs. Jeffries and the Three Wise Women; Mrs. Jeffries and the Alms of the Angel.
Brockman, Suzanne: All Through the Night.
Brook, Allison. Read and Gone.
Brown, Benedict: A Corpse for Christmas; The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall; The Snows of Weston Moor; The Christmas Bell Mystery; The Christmas Candle Murders; The Alpine Christmas Mystery; The Holly Village Murders; Murder at Everham Hall.
Brown, Carter: A Corpse for Christmas.
Brown, Frederic: Murder Can be Fun.
Brown, Rita Mae: Rest in Pieces; Santa Clawed; Homeward Hound; Hiss & Tell.
Bruce, Leo: Such is Death.
Brunette, Lisa: Framed and Burning.
Bruns, Catherine: The Enemy You Gnocchi: Planes, Candy Canes, and Hearses.
Bryan, Mollie Cox: A Crafty Christmas.; Christmas Cow Bells.
Buchanan, Edna: The Ice Maiden.
Buckley, Julia: Cheddar Off Dead.
Buchanan, Edna.The Ice Maiden.
Budewitz, Leslie: As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles; Peppermint Barked
Burdette, Lucy: Death with all the Trimmings.
Burke, Anna Celeste: A Merry Christmas Wedding Mystery.
Burke, Declan: Eightball Boogie.
Burke, James: A Present for Santa.
Burley, W. J.: Death in Willow Pattern; Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin.
Bush, Christopher: Dancing Death.
Byron, Ellen: A Cajun Christmas Killing; Grave Appeal.
Cahoon, Lynn: If the Shoe Fits; Have A Holly, Haunted Christmas; Merry Murder Season; A Killer Christmas Wish.
Caine, Leslie: Holly and Homicide.
Cairns, Alison: New Year Resolution.
Callaghan, Hope. Reindeer & Robberies; Merry Masquerade in Savannah.
Carl, Joanna: The Chocolate Bear Burglary; The Chocolate Snowman Murders.
Cantrell, Rebecca: The World Beneath.
Carr, Carol K.: India Black and the Widow of Windsor.
Carrier, Warren: Justice at Christmas.
Carson, Jo-Ann: The Nanaimo Bar Christmas Mystery
Carver, A. The Christmas Miracle Crimes.
Caunitz, William J.: Exceptional Clearance.
Challinor, C. S.: Christmas is Murder.
Chan, Cassandra: Spider on the Stairs.
Chapman, Brenda: Cold Mourning.
Chaput, W. J.: The Man on the Train.
Chase, Erika: Read and Buried.
Chastain, Thomas: 911 (aka The Christmas Bomber).
Chaze, Elliott: Goodbye Goliath.
Cheever, Sam: Christmas Grift.
Chesbro, George C.: Second Horseman Out of Eden; Colde Smell of Sacred Stone.
Childs, Laura: The Teaberry Strangler; Eggs on Ice; Twisted Tea Christmas.
Christie, Agatha: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (aka Murder for Christmas, aka Holiday for Murder); The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (novella); The Sittaford Mystery.
Christmas, Joyce: Dying Well; Fete Worse than Death.
Churchill, Jill: Farewell to Yarns; The Merchant of Menace; From Here to Paternity.
Clad, Noel: Savage.
Claire, Edie: Never Mess with Mistletoe.
Clark, Carol Higgins: Iced.
Clark, Mary Higgins: All Through the Night; Silent Night; My Gal Sunday; Silent Night.
Clark, Mary Higgins and Carol Higgins Clark: Deck the Halls; The Christmas Thief; He Sees You When You're Sleeping; Dashing Through the Snow; Santa Cruise.
Cleverly, Barbara: Fall of Angels.
Coco, Nancy: All I Want for Christmas is Fudge.
Coggin, Joan: Who Killed the Curate; Dancing with Death.
Cohen, Charles: Silver Linings.
Cohen, Tammy: Dying for Christmas.
Collette, Abby: A Deadly Scoop Inside.
Collier, Christine: Christmas at Cliffhanger Inn; A Holiday Sampler.
Collings, Rex: Clerical Crimes for Christmas.
Collins, Kate: Missing Under the Mistletoe.
Collins, Max Allen: Blue Christmas and Other Holiday Homicides (collection); No Cure for Death; Spree.
Colt, Jennifer: The Con Artist of Catalina Island.
Connelly, Lucy: Death at a Scottish Christmas.
Connelly, Michael. The Black Ice.
Constantine, K.C.: Upon Some Midnights Clear.
Conte, Cate: Whisker of a Doubt; Shock and Paw.
Cook, Sharon Love: A Deadly Christmas Carol.
Cooper, Natasha: Evil is Done.
Cordani, Andreina: The Twelve Days of Murder; Murder at the Christmas Emporium; A Scrooge Mystery.
Cornish, Constance: Dead of Winter.
Cornwell, Patricia: Scarpetta's Winter Table.
Corrigan, Maya: Gingerdead Man.
Cortez, Donn: Miami--Harm for the Holidays.
Cousins, Caroline: Fiddle Dee Death.
Coyle, Cleo: Holiday Grind; Holiday Buzz; Latte Trouble.
Craft, Michael: Body Language.
Craig, Alisa: Murder Goes Mumming.
Craig, Philip R.: A Deadly Vineyard Holiday; Off Season.
Crane, Hamilton: Starring Miss Seeton.
Cranston, Kathy: Mistletoe is Murder.
Crawford, Isis: A Catered Christmas; A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange.
Creasey, John: Death of a Postman.
Crespi, Trella: Trouble with Thin Ice.
Crider, Bill: Cursed to Death.
Crighton, Michael: Coma.
Crockett, Jessie: Live Free or Die.
Crombie, Deborah: Water Like a Stone; And Justice There is None.
Cross, Amanda: No Word from Winifred.
Cox, Helen: A Body at the Christmas Book Fair.
D'Amato, Barbara: Hard Christmas.
Daheim, Mary: The Alpine Christmas; Nutty as a Fruitcake; The Alpine Winter.
Dain, Catherine. The Last Noel.
Daley, Kathi: Christmas Cozy; The Cat of Christmas Past; Alaskan Alliance; The Mystery Before Christmas; Celtic Christmas; The Catnap Before Christmas.
Dams, Jeanne M.: The Body in the Transept; Indigo Christmas; Winter of Discontent.
Dane, Joel: The Christmas Tree Murders.
Danielewski, Cynthia: Night Fire.
Darrell, Elizabeth: Czech Mate.
Davenport, Chari: The Christmas Party.
Davidson, Diane Mott: Sweet Revenge.
Davidson, Mary Janice: Undead and Unreturnable.
Davis, Frederick: Drag the Dark.
Davis, Kim: Frosted Yuletide Murder.
Davis, Krista: The Diva Runs Out of Thyme; The Diva Cooks a Goose; Not a Creature was Purring; The Diva Wraps It Up.
Davis, Mildred B.: Tell Them What's Her Name Called; Three Minutes to Midnight.
Dawson, Janet: Nobody's Child.
Day, Maddie: Candy Slain Murder.
Day, Marlis: Curriculum Murders.
De Castrique, Mark: Grave Undertaking.
Dean, Spencer: Credit for a Murder.
DeAndrea, William L.: Killed on the Ice.
Dee, Ed: Little Boy Blue.
Deeb, Mary Jane: Christmas Mystery in Provence.
Delaney, Devon: A Holiday for Homicide.
Delany, Kathleen: Murder Half-Baked; Purebred Dead; Dying in a Winter Wonderland.
Delany, Vicki: Winter of Secrets; Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen; We Wish You a Murderous Christmas; Hark the Herald Angels Slay; Dying in a Winter Wonderland; Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas; A Slay Ride Together With You.
Demaree, Steve. A Body under the Christmas Tree.
Dengler, Sandy: Murder on the Mount.
Dentinger, Jane: The Queen is Dead.
DeSmet, Christine: Holly Jolly Fudge Folly; When Rudolph Was Kidnapped.
Deverell, Diana: Twelve Drummers Drumming.
Dexter, Colin: The Secret of Annexe 3; Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories (collection).
Dickson, Carter: The White Priority Murders.
Diehl, Lesley. Claws for Concern.
DiRico, Maria. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder.
Dobbs, Leighann: Grievance in Gingerbread Alley.
Dobson, Joanne: Quieter Than Sleep.
Donnelly, Deborah: Died to Match; May the Best Man Die.
Donovan, Rose: The Mystery of Ruby's Mistletoe.
Dorsey, Tim: When Elves Attack.
Douglas, Carole Nelson: Cat in a Golden Garland.
Douglas, Charlotte: Holidays are Murder.
Downing, Todd: The Last Trumpet.
Drew, Ana T.: The Twelve Suspects of Christmas.
Driscoll, Patricia: Shedding Light on Murder.
Drummond, John Keith: Tis the Season to be Dying.
Dubois, Brendan: The Gift of King Herod.
Duffy, James: The Christmas Gang.
Dunbar, Sophie: Shiveree.
Duncan, Elizabeth: A Killer's Christmas in Wales.
Duncan, Francis: Murder for Christmas.
Dunn, Carola: Mistletoe and Murder; Death at Wentwater Court.
Dunnett, Kaitlyn (Kathy Lynn Emerson): A Wee Christmas Homicide; Ho-Ho-Homicide.
Durham, Laura: Marry and Bright.
Durham, Mary: Keeps Death His Court.
Early, Barbara: Murder on the Toy Town Express; Death of a Russian Doll.
Eason, Lynette: Holiday Hideout.
Eberhart, Mignon G.: Postmark Murder.
Eddenden, A. E.: A Good Year for Murder.
Edwards, Martin: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.
Egan, Lesley: Crime for Christmas.
Ehrhart, Peggy: Silent Knit, Deadly Knit; Death of a Christmas Card Crafter.
Eickhoff, Randy Lee: Then Came Christmas.
Ekwensi, Cyprian: Restless City; Christmas Gold.
Emerson, Kathy Lynn (as Kaitlyn Dunnett): A Wee Christmas Homicide; Ho-Ho-Homicide.
Emrick, K.J.: Murder, Wrapped Up; Christmas Spirit; The Naughty List.
Englehart, Steve: Christmas Countdown.
Erickson, Alex: Death by Eggnog; Death by Peppermint Candy.
Erskine, Margaret: A Graveyard Plot.
Estleman, Loren D.: The Glass Highway.
Everett, F.L.: Murder at Mistletoe Manor.
AND MORE TO COME! I'll link here when available.
Christmas Mysteries: Authors F-L.
Christmas Mysteries: Authors M-Z.
Christmas Mysteries: Short Story Anthologies and Novellas
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
LEFT COAST CRIME 2027 News!
BIG NEWS: Congratulations to the Guests of Honor!
Left Coast Crime 2027: The Big Chile Rides Again
We are thrilled to announce our Special Guests for LCC 2027.
Monday, December 1, 2025
DIANE A.S. STUCKART: R.I.P.
Sunday, November 30, 2025
DANIEL WOODRELL: R.I.P.
My heart and sympathy go out to his family and friends. He was an amazing writer, and a valued member of the mystery community. He will be missed.
Mr. Woodrell was best known for his 2006 novel, “Winter’s Bone,”which became an acclaimed, Oscar-nominated movie four years later. A teenage Jennifer Lawrence starred as Ree Dolly, a girl in rural Missouri whose family home will be seized unless she finds her father, a meth cook on the lam.
Two more of Mr. Woodrell’s novels were adapted as films: “Woe to Live On” (1987), which became “Ride With the Devil” (1999), directed by Ang Lee, and “Tomato Red” (1998), which in 2017 became a movie of the same title starring Julia Garner.
Getting Serious about Writing a Series: Guest Post by donalee Moulton
At its heart, Melt is a puzzle. Luke Castle is arrested for transporting narcotics in the back of a food truck. He confesses. Everyone knows the teenager is not the mastermind behind the $6 million in cocaine nestled among 150 sacks of flour. The lead prosecutor, the defence attorney, and the reluctant detective first class hauled into the judge’s office all admit the kid is innocent. The problem is his professed guilt – a confession he refuses to recant. The legal eagles are at a loss. First question that must be answered: Why is Luke Castle lying?
At its heart, Melt is about friendship. Three women met at a yoga studio. They’re now part owners of that studio – after helping to catch a thief. Now, they’re asked to help figure out what is going on with Luke Castle, bringing new approaches and new ways of ingratiating themselves with the likely suspects: drug lord, drug lord’s sons, bitter daughter-in-law, rebellious younger brother. Lending a helping hand brings them together in unexpected and ultimately profound ways. We root just as much for these women as we do for the dealer (or dealers) to be unveiled. There is a cast of regulars, including the police detective and the yoga instructor. Each a three-dimensional, likeable, and flawed human being. (Madoff, a Westie, makes periodic appearances.)
At its heart, Melt is funny and fun to read. It’s like coming home to a steaming bowl of tomato soup on a cold winter day. Comfortable and delicious. Like a perfect downward dog.
donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published and won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). donalee has two books out in 2025, Bind and Melt, the first two books in the Lotus Detective Agency series.
donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business.
As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Friday, November 28, 2025
Black Friday: Death in Department Stores By Aubrey Nye Hamilton
The History of Retail: a Timeline by Matt Portnoy, https://metrobi.com/blog/the-history-of-retail-a-timeline/, states that initially the exchange of goods was a barter system since currency did not exist. Once a universal currency was established, trade commenced in the form of bazaars and marketplaces, where goods and buyers met in a central location. Then sellers became itinerant, seeking out their customers. When trade routes became more well-known, merchants set up storefronts near the river ports and train stops where their goods arrived, and the buyers had to come to the seller. These vendors focused on a narrow range of products, creating the requirement for multiple stores to meet a growing community’s demands.
The introduction of the department store, where many kinds of merchandise are sold under one roof, was revolutionary. The first department store, Bon Marché, opened in Paris in 1838, pioneering the concept of fixed-price shopping. Macy’s was founded in 1858. Others soon followed. The department store catered to the emerging middle class, which had more leisure and money than earlier generations due to the economic impacts of industrialization. The department store became the equivalent of the marketplace of ancient times, where people met to shop, eat, and socialize. And as the following list of crime fiction titles shows, they also came to kill.
One of the earliest instances of fictional murder in a department store is The French Powder Mystery(Frederick A. Stokes, 1930), the second Ellery Queen mystery. A model demonstrating furniture in the display window pushes a button to unfold the bed and the murdered body of the owner’s wife falls out. The case comes to Inspector Richard Queen of the New York Homicide Department and his son Ellery Queen.
Killers seem to be fond of the large plate glass display windows in department stores. Inspector Devenish of Scotland Yard encounters one in The Shop Window Murders (Collins, 1930) by Vernon Loder. Both the owner and a shop assistant are found murdered in the display window of Mander’s Stores, the newest department store to grace Oxford Street in London.
Murder in the French Room (Mystery League, 1931) by Joan Hultman is set in a Midwestern department store near the Indiana-Ohio border. A customer is found dead in the designer clothing section of the store and the detective in charge tries to trace everyone who was in the vicinity on a busy Saturday.
Dead Man Inside (Doubleday, Doran & Company Crime Club, 1931) by Vincent Sterrett is the second book about amateur sleuth Walter Ghost. Chicago haberdashery clerk Rufus Ker finds a sign on the door to Bluefield, Inc. that says “Dead Man Inside”. Once inside Ker realizes the mannequin in the window is the body of the store owner Amos Bluefield. Ghost, who is in Chicago for business, becomes involved in the investigation.
The Case of the Shoplifter’s Shoe (William Morrow, 1938) by Erle Stanley Gardener starts with Perry Mason and Della Street entering a department store to avoid a sudden rainfall. After lunch they see an elderly lady being accused of shoplifting by the store detectives and Mason intervenes. Of course murder soon ensues.
Zelda Popkin wrote five books about investigator Mary Carner beginning in 1938. Carner was on the security staff in a large department store in New York City and a forerunner of the female detectives of the late 20thcentury.
Minna Bardon used her advertising agency experience to describe murder in the back office of a large department store in the Midwest during its annual store-wide sale. The Case of the Advertised Murders was first published in 1939 by Hillman-Curl.
In Death Demands an Audience (Doubleday Crime Club, 1940) by Helen Reilly, the 10th of her 31-book series about Inspector Christopher McKee of New York Police Homicide, the browsers along Fifth Avenue are used to seeing elaborate presentations in the windows of Garth & Campbell but not a bloody body in an evening dress.
Another author with an advertising background Eleanore Kelly Sellars wrote a mystery surrounding the fashion show planned by an exclusive Fifth Avenue department store. Murder a la Mode seems to be her sole contribution to the genre. It won the Dodd, Mead Red Badge prize for best new mystery by a new author in 1941.
The Red Carnelian (Ziff-Davis, 1943) by Phyllis A. Whitney was originally published as Red Is for Murder. It is set in Cunningham’s, a gigantic Chicago department store. When store sign-writer Linell Wynn’s ex-boyfriend Michael Montgomery is found dead in a display window, she’s immediately a prime suspect. However, Montgomery had plenty of enemies.
File for Record (W.W. Norton, 1943) by Alice Tilton was retired academic Leonidas Witherall’s sixth case. Deficient customer service at Haymaker's Department Store moves him to call on Mr. Haymaker to complain, only to find Haymaker stabbed with a samurai sword. Witherall enlists the assistance of an ill-assorted group to track down the murderer.
Stolen Goods (Harper, 1949) by Clarence Budington Kelland has advertising copywriter Sherry Madigan in Prothero’s, the colossal metropolitan department store, on the scene when a body is discovered in the fitting room. And she’s around when the next one is discovered so she takes an interest in investigating the crimes.
In Everybody Always Tells by E.R. Punshon (Gollancz, 1950) Bobby Owen of Scotland Yard and his wife Olive are busy bargain-hunting in a famous London department store. Olive discovers a necklace stuffed in her handbag which turns out to have been placed there by one Lord Newdagonby, whose stout denial of the act is swiftly followed by a fatal knife blow to a prominent scientist in a locked-room mystery.
The Knife Behind You (Harper & Brothers, 1950) by James Benet is an inside look at the skullduggery of a large department store. California lawyer Allen Tinker works to save truck driver Bill Olmstead who was framed in the murder of Spargo, Rand Department Store’s detective. Another murder soon follows.
Private investigator Carney Wilde is hired by a large department store in Philadelphia to discover who is stealing its merchandise in The Golden Door (Dodd, Mead & Company, 1951; Collins Crime Club, 1951), the fourth title in a series of seven by Bart Spicer.
Spencer Dean wrote nine books about Don Cadee, Chief of Store Protection at Ambletts, the high-end Fifth Avenue department store. They were published between 1954 and 1961, first by Washburn and then by Doubleday. Shoplifting, disappearing merchandise shipments, and murdered buyers are some of the crimes Cadee dealt with.
Death Department (John Long, 1959) by Bill Knox, the second Thane and Moss case, is set in a large Glasgow department store, where shoplifting is common. But when the losses increase sharply, the managing director decides the theft is organized and demands action from the police. Then the head buyer disappears and murder follows.
“Evening Primrose” by John Collier is a much-reprinted short story about a poet who decides to live in a local department store. He discovers the department store is inhabited by a society of human-like individuals. It was first published in 1940, then in Presenting Moonshine (Viking Press, 1941) and again in Fancies and Goodnights (Doubleday, 1951; Bantam 1953). Adapted for radio three times and by Stephen Sondheim for the ninth episode of ABC Stage 67 which aired on November 16, 1966.
Line Up for Murder by Marian Babson (Collins, 1980) describes Dorrie Wilson’s experience with the famous New Year's sale at Bonnard's department store which starts out great. But things begin to go south by the fourth day, and Dorrie realizes that something is rotten in the line for the Sale of the Century.
Murder in Store (Walker, 1989) by D.C. Brod is the first Quint McCauley book. Preston Hauser, owner of a famous department store, asks McCauley to investigate some threatening letters he received. Soon after Preston is poisoned and suspicion falls on Hauser’s wife, but McCauley quickly learns she’s not the only one to benefit from the millionaire’s death.
Death in Store by Jennifer Rowe (Allen & Unwin, 1993) is a collection of short stories about Australian researcher turned sleuth Verity Birdwood. The final story is a tale about Christmas in the Fredericks' department store, whose seasonal lavish decorations are famous. Verity Birdwood is assigned to gather information about Christmas in a big store for a TV program and instead investigates the murder of the store Santa Claus and his photographer.
In The Steel Kiss (Grand Central Publishing, 2016) by Jeffrey Deaver, Amelia Sachs chases an anti-consumerist killer through a department store in Brooklyn when an escalator malfunctions. One man is badly injured and Sachs is forced to let her quarry escape as she helps the victim. Forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme is working on a civil case involving a wrongful death suit against an escalator manufacturer. They eventually find the two cases intersect.
In the sixth Junior Bender case Fields Where They Lay (Soho Crime, 2016) by Tim Hallinan, Junior has been hired to find a shoplifter but instead he finds a murder victim on the upper floor of an abandoned department store in a failing shopping mall. The fading shopping mall phenomenon is thoroughly explored while Junior finds a killer.
Psycho by the Sea (Raven Books, 2021) by Lynne Truss is the fourth Constable Twitten mystery. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick, and Inspector Steine of the 1950s Brighton police force deal with the death of a U.S. researcher in the music section of Gosling’s department store as well as a missing gang member and an escaped criminally violent prisoner.
The Devil’s Draper (Fly on the Wall Press, 2025) by Donna Moore is set in 1920s Glasgow. Three story lines include one about Beatrice Price, owner of an employment agency, who discovers that the young women she places in the drapery section of Hector Arrol and Sons department store are victimized by the owner. She goes undercover to investigate.
Children’s fiction has not escaped the concept of crime in department stores. The Crimson Thread (Reilly & Lee, 1925) by Roy J. Snell is the fifth book in his “An Adventure Story for Girls” series. Lucile Tucker is working at the Marshall Fields in Chicago before Christmas in the book department. A best-selling author disappears, Lucile’s worn coat is taken and an expensive fur is left in its place, coworkers leave the store via the package chute, and other puzzles occupy Lucile’s attention.
The Clue in Blue (Grossett & Dunlap, 1948) by Betsy Allen is the first of 12 books about Connie Blair. Connie models high-end clothes at Campion's in Philadelphia, where her aunt works. Expensive clothing disappears and then reappears days later. Connie explores the back-end mechanics of the store to learn why.
Cherry Ames, Department Store Nurse (Grossett & Dunlap, 1956) is one of 27 titles in the Cherry Ames Nurse Stories by Helen Wells and Julie Tatham. Cherry investigates missing jewelry and antiques in between dealing with lost children and handing out aspirin to employees of a large department store.
British author Katherine Woodfine has written four books so far about Sinclair’s Department Store, an Edwardian emporium in London. Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lilian Rose are the juvenile detectives. The first book in the series, The Clockwork Sparrow (Egmont Books, 2015), was nominated for multiple awards including the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016.
The publication dates of these books illustrate the importance of department stores to society at the time they were written. That department stores are not common as a scene of crime now shows the focus of commerce has shifted to other settings.
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Lifelong reader Aubrey Nye Hamilton works as a systems engineer in R&D. In her other life she review newish books on Kevin’s Corner kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com, review olders mysteries on Happiness Is a Book happinessisabook.com, and writes occasional pieces for Mystery Readers Journal, mysteryreaders.org.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Monday, November 24, 2025
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Friday, November 21, 2025
My Not So Secret Love Affair: Guest Post by Jeffrey Siger
And did I mention that my entire Kaldis backlist, fitted with brand new B-2 format covers has just been re-released by my publisher Severn House and is available here: https://jeffreysiger.com/books/
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
TRISS STEIN: R.I.P.
Sad news: Mystery author Triss Stein passed away yesterday. R.I.P., Triss. You will be missed.
She was the author of the Erica Donato mysteries set in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Bones (2013)New York, New York. So nice they named it twice. I think I always felt that way. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my hometown, a small city in northernmost upstate New York, near the beautiful Thousand Islands and a real foreign border (exotic Canada). However, it was a place where nearby Syracuse represented quite as much excitement as most people wanted. I didn’t know anyone else who thought his or her future was in the big city. Or any big city.
When I was a child, right after the dinosaurs, it was still perfectly all right for a little girl to say, “I want to be a wife and mother when I grow up.” Not me. I wanted to be Doris Day, a career girl with a cute apartment in New York.
The surprise is that I did become a New Yorker, though it was almost by accident. I came from Boston for graduate school, owed New York state two years for a fellowship, and then I was going back to Boston. But I found a job. Fell in love. Had a family. Bought a house in Brooklyn that shouted old New York. I loved the old, I loved New York.
The moment I knew I was never leaving was when I was on the subway and two subway preachers were trying to out sing each other, shouting hymns across the aisle.
My first job was working as a children’s librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library system. I worked in nine different neighborhoods, and I was fascinated to see how different they were. Our patrons did not say they were from “New York”, or even “Brooklyn,” but “Mill Basin.” Or “Van Dyke Houses.” Or “Cypress Hills.” Many of them only ventured into Manhattan once a year. In other words, it was a lot more like small towns than most of them knew.
The history fascinated me too. How can you not love a place that sent a parade of elephants to prove the safety of that soon-to-be-famous, brand new bridge?
I didn’t know it then, but I was getting ready to write a mystery series about Brooklyn. Acting like a librarian, I was filing all those memories and oddball facts away for when I needed them.
I have lived in Brooklyn now for most of my adult life. We started out in a neighborhood that was still touch and go. The playground was dangerous late at night and we had two children’s car seats stolen from our parked car. It is called Park Slope and it has evolved into the quintessential gentrified, quaint, very chic urban neighborhood. It is tres Brooklyn, as they now say even in Paris. Could there be lots of tension around these changes? That long downhill slide and the controversial revival? And does tension create plot? How about a body discovered in a house undergoing renovation? Houses here are always undergoing renovation. That became Brooklyn Bones.
The second series book, Brooklyn Graves, is about a beautiful, historic, art-filled cemetery and a lost Tiffany window, but also about a deteriorating neighborhood saved by a flood of Russian immigrants. Saved? Or was it ruined? It all depends on who you ask.
Brooklyn Secrets, released in December, 2015, is about Brownsville, a decidedly unrenovated neighborhood where young people now struggle with many of the same pressures as young people did generations ago when it was the breeding ground of the notorious branch of the mob called Murder Inc.
I know I will never run out of Brooklyn stories to tell. The next one will be about the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which ran 24/7 during World War 11, employed 70,000 people including women, built the battleship Missouri and then died a slow, painful death. After that? I have few ideas cooking.
I haven’t yet worked out how to write about the flock of bright green tropical parrots that live on the Brooklyn College campus, or the house where Winston Churchill’s mother was born – no one is sure exactly which house it was – but they may yet find their way into a story.
And those elephants on the Brooklyn Bridge? I don’t know where they came from – was the circus in town? – but maybe I should find out.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
MIDSOMER MURDERS, Series 25, Premiere
THANKSGIVING MYSTERIES // Thanksgiving Crime Fiction
Thanksgiving is next week, so you'll want to get reading these Thanksgiving crime novels and short stories. This is an updated Thanksgiving Crime Fiction list, but let me know if I've missed any titles. It's a great mix of cozy, noir, thriller, and whodunit.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I give thanks for my family, my friends, and the wonderful
mystery community.
I'm posting daily recipes for Chocolate Thanksgiving desserts, sides, and main courses (Chocolate Turkey Rub!) on DyingforChocolate.com.
Thanksgiving Mysteries
Susan Wittig Albert Bittersweet
Dianne Ascroft Thanksgiving and Theft
Deb Baker Murder Talks Turkey
S.H. Baker The Colonel's Tale
Mignon Ballard, Miss Dimple Disappears
Sandra Balzo Hit and Run
Richard Bausch Thanksgiving Night
Bob Berger The Risk of Fortune
William Bernhardt, Editor, Natural Suspect
Kate Borden Death of a Turkey
Amy Boyles Southern Magic Thanksgiving
Ali Brandon Twice Told Tail
Lilian Jackson Braun The Cat Who Went into the Closet, The Cat Who Talked Turkey
Lizbie Brown Turkey Tracks
Catherine Bruns In the Blink of a Pie
Carole Bugge Who Killed Mona Lisa?
Lynn Cahoon A Very Mummy Holiday
Sammi Carter Goody Goody Gunshots
Lowell Cauffiel Dark Rage
Jillian Chance The Fall of the Sharp Sisters
Joelle Charbonneau Skating Under the Wire
George C. Chesbro Bleeding in the eye of a Brainstorm
Jennifer Chiaverini A Quilter's Holiday
Bobbi A. Chukran Short mystery stores in her Nameless, Texas series
Leena Clover Turkeys and Thanksgiving
Christine E. Collier A Holiday Sampler
Kate Collins: Kick the Bouquet
Sheila Connolly A Killer Crop
Cleo Coyle Murder by Mocha
Isis Crawford A Catered Thanksgiving
Bill Crider with Willard Scott Murder under Blue Skies
Jessie Crockett Drizzled with Death
Amanda Cross A Trap for Fools
Barbara D'Amato Hard Tack, Hard Christmas
Mary Daheim Alpine Fury, Fowl Prey, The Alpine Vengeance
Kathi Daley Turkeys, Tuxes and Tabbies; The Trouble with Turkeys; The Thanksgiving Trip: The Inn at Holiday Bay, Pilgrim in the Parlor; Thanksgiving in Paradise; The Catsgiving Feast; Cottage on Gooseberry Bay: Thanksgiving Past; Thanksgiving in Paradise
Jeanne Dams Sins Out of School
Claire Daniels Final Intuition
Evelyn David Murder Takes the Cake
Mary Janice Davidson Undead and Unfinished
Krista Davis The Diva Runs Out of Thyme; A Good Dog's Guide to Murder
Devon Delaney Double Chocolate Cookie Murder
Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates) Silent Night, Deadly Night
Jana Deleon Cajun Fried Felony
Wende and Harry Devlin Cranberry Thanksgiving
Michael Dibdin Thanksgiving
Leighann Dobbs Thanksgiving Dinner Death; Turkey Tragedy
Christine Duncan Safe House
Susan Dunlap No Footprints
Kaitlyn Dunnett Overkilt
Lauren Elliott To the Tome of Murder
Janet Evanovich Thanksgiving (technically a romance)*
Nancy Fairbanks Turkey Flambe
Christy Fifield Murder Ties the Knot
Maureen Fisher Deadly Thanksgiving
Courtney Flagg Criminally Ungrateful
Amanda Flower Peanut Butter Panic; Natural Barn Killer
Joanne Fluke Raspberry Danish Murder
Katherine V. Forrest The Beverly Malibu
Shelley Freydont Cold Turkey
Heather Day Gilbert Cold Drip
Noreen Gilpatrick The Piano Man
Martin H. Greenberg (editor) Cat Crimes for the Holidays
Jane Haddam Feast of Murder
Janice Hamrick Death Rides Again
Susannah Hardy A Killer Kebab
Lee Harris The Thanksgiving Day Murder
Ellen Hart The Grave Soul
J. Alan Hartman, editor, The Killer Wore Cranberry; The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Second Helping; The Killer Wore Cranberry: Room for Thirds; The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Fourth Meal of Mayhem; The Perp Wore Pumpkin
Robin Hathaway The Doctor Makes a Dollhouse Call
Richard Hawke Speak of the Devil
Victoria Houston Dead Hot Shot
Dorothy Howell Fanny Packs and Foul Play
Linda Joffe Hull Black Thursday
Carolyn Q. Hunter Killer Thanksgiving Pie
Ellen Elizabeth Hunter Murder on the ICW
Melanie Jackson Death in a Turkey Town; Cornucopia
Sue Ann Jaffarian Cornucopia, Secondhand Stiff
J. A. Jance Shoot Don't Shoot
Gin Jones & Elizabeth Ashby Deadly Thanksgiving Sampler
Karin Kaufman At Death's Door
Alex Kava Black Friday
Marvin Kaye My Son, the Druggist
Faye Kellerman Serpent's Tooth
Harry Kemelman That Day the Rabbi Left Town
Leslie Langtry, Mashed Potato Murder
Clyde Linsley Death of a Mill Girl
Georgette Livingston Telltale Turkey Caper
M. Louisa Locke Pilfered Promises
Nial Magill Thanksgiving Murder in the Mountains
G.M. Malliet Wicked Autumn
Margaret Maron Up Jumps the Devil
Evan Marshall Stabbing Stefanie
K. L. McCluskey Three for Pumpkin Pie
Robert McDavis: Stuffed
Catriona McPherson Scot in a Trap
Wendy Meadows Turkey, Pies and Alibis
Addison Moore Thanksgiving Day Murder
Meg Muldoon Roasted in Christmas River
Carol O'Connell Shell Game
Diana Orgain, Pumpkin Pie Prison
Nancy J Parra Murder Gone A-Rye
Louise Penny Still Life
Cathy Pickens Southern Fried
Michael Poore Up Jumps the Devil
Craig Rice The Thursday Turkey Murders
Cherie Richey, Dressing Up a Corpse; Stuffing the Morgue
Ann Ripley Harvest of Murder
J.D. Robb Thankless in Death
Delia Rosen One Foot in the Gravy
M.L. Rowland Zero Degree Murder
Ilene Schneider Chanukah Guilt
Maria E. Schneider Executive Retention
Willard Scott and Bill Crider Murder under Blue Skies
Sarah R. Shaber Snipe Hunt
Sharon Gwyn Short, Hung Out to Die
Paullina Simons, Red Leaves
Page Sleuth Thanksgiving in Cherry Hills
Alexandra Sokoloff The Harrowing
Rex Stout Too Many Cooks
Denise Swanson Murder of a Barbie and Ken; Murder of a Botoxed Blonde
Marcia Talley Occasion of Revenge
Sharon Burch Toner Maggie's Brujo
Teresa Trent Burnout
Lisa Unger In the Blood
Jennifer Vanderbes Strangers at the Feast
Debbie Viguie I Shall Not Want
Auralee Wallace Haunted Hayride with Murder
Livia J. Washburn The Pumpkin Muffin Murder
Leslie Wheeler Murder at Plimoth Plantation
J.A. Whiting Sweet Thanksgiving
Rachel Wood Gobble, Gobble Murder
Angela Zeman The Witch and the Borscht Pearl
***
For the Younger Set:
Ron Roy and John Steven Gurney: November Night
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Mitchell Sharmat Nate the Great Talks Turkey





