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Christmas Cozy Mystery Recommendations – 2015

Yikes! It’s only a day over a week until Christmas! I’m way behind with my gift-wrapping, however, for some reason, I seem to have found the time to read my Christmas Cozy Mysteries! (Shows you where my priorities seem to be these days!) I just finished my latest Christmas Cozy, and am now at the find another Cozy to read stage in my reading process.  Hmmm…

I mentioned before that I have re-read some of my favorite Cozies from the past. I also read some new-to-me Christmas Cozies. I revisited Jessica Fletcher in Cabot Cove while reading Donald Bain‘s A Little Yuletide Murder, and I had a hankering for re-acquainting myself with Leslie Meier‘s Lucy Stone while reading Mistletoe Murder. I also caught up with three of my favorite authors while reading Cleo Coyle‘s Holiday Buzz (Yes, I was that far behind chronologically!), Joanne Fluke‘s Plum Pudding Murder (Another author with whom I’m playing catch-up!), and Margaret Grace‘s Manhattan in Miniature. That’s a whole lot of Christmas Cozy-reading!

As I said in my first paragraph, I’m trying to decide what to read next. I’m not sure if I should attempt another Christmas themed Cozy. I know I have eight days before Christmas, but our daughter is coming home (from D.C.) for a visit on Monday, and I’m really looking forward to having both our son and daughter here for the holidays, so I doubt I’ll get much reading done.

With that in mind, I thought I would ask you ALL for some ideas about good Christmas Cozies. I know we have done this before (in 2012 and 2013) but I’m curious to ask this again: Which Christmas Cozies would you recommend for the rest of us to NOT miss reading?

So, which Christmas themed Cozy Mysteries would you recommend that the rest of us read? If you mention more than one, please list them in order of your preference so that I can post one or two on the list. Just post a comment. Thank you!

Christmas Mystery Book Recommendations:

Susan Wittig Albert: Mistletoe Man

Stephanie Barron: Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas

M. C. Beaton: A Highland Christmas

Josie Belle: Buried in Bargains

Rhys Bowen: Twelve Clues of Christmas

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of St. Stephen, Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings, & Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen 

Isis Crawford: A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange

Krista Davis: The Diva Cooks a Goose & The Diva Wraps It Up

Vicki Delany: Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen

Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, & Leslie Meir: The Candy Cane Murder & Ginger Cookie Murder

Sally Goldenbaum: Trimmed With Murder

Martha Grimes: Jerusalem Inn

Karen Harper: The Queene’s Christmas

Sofie Kelly: A Midwinter’s Tail

Kate Kingsbury: Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas mysteries

Charlotte MacLeod: Rest Ye Merry

Anne Perry: Christmas mysteries

Livia Washburn: Christmas Cookie Killer

P.S. If you need help remembering other Christmas themed Cozies, you can take a look at the Christmas Mystery Book List page on my site.

Also, here are the two previous lists we came up with:

Christmas Mystery Book List Recommendations – 2013

The Best Christmas Cozy Mystery Book – 2012

Comments

  1. I have just read and enjoyed Mistletoe Man by Susan Wittig Albert and Buried in Bargains by Josie Belle. Next up is The Diva Cooks a Goose which I am sure I will like.

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  4. Danna and company: In case there are some gentlemen in our midst, I don’t want to leave anyone out! Okay, Danna; here it goes

    Emily Brightwell’s Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen, The Yuletide Weddings, Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of St. Stephen

    M.C. Beaton’s Highland Christmas (a Hamish McBeth) and any Christmas books of the Agatha Raisin series

    Anne Perry’s Christmas books (I’m just starting the Christmas Escape), and the other 11 or 12 books in her Christmas Novellas

    Maggie Sefton’s Knitting series with Fleece Navidad and I think there is another Christmas offering in the knitting shop series

    Margaret Grace’s Miniature books with Manhattan Murders,

    Shelley Freydont’s Silent Knife (Celebration Bay series)

    That should get you a good head start and I agree, Danna. We always have time to read good books no matter what Christmas season work we have to do.

    All my best all of you cozy mystery readers for a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.
    Rob

    Reply

  5. I have read all of the Christmas mysteries in the Pennyfoot Hotel series by Kate Kingsbury and enjoyed them. I also recommend A Midwinter’s Tail by Sofie Kelly.

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  6. I have several new holiday books sitting on the shelf which I haven’t gotten to yet. Yikes! I used to ‘laugh’ when Danna commented on her TBR pile. Now I find I’m way behind in my reading, too. Most likely I’ll be reading ‘Ornaments of Death’, ‘Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen’, and the ‘Candy Cane Cupcake Killer’ well into January!

    Last month I recommended ‘Trimmed With Murder’ by Sally Goldenbaum. Set on the snowy east coast – it’s a nice holiday read with all the Christmas trimmings. If you haven’t read it yet, ‘The Diva Wraps It Up’ by Krista Davis is also enjoyable.

    Reply

    • MJ, you’re not kidding >>> yikes to you! I always feel like I’ve been “left behind” when people recommend a current mystery by an author who I follow >>> who I am not quite caught up with. I remember being way behind with my Hannah Swensen series when everyone else found out about her marriage plans (in Double Fudge Brownie). I finally couldn’t take it anymore and absolutely “had” to go over to Amazon and read the spoiler alerts to find out who Hannah finally picked!

      Reply

  7. One of my favs is is an entry in Krista Davis’ domestic diva series: THE DIVA COOKS A GOOSE. Krista has another Christmas entry in the series: THE DIVA WRAPS IT UP, but I have not yet read that one although I do own it. ?

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  9. I love holiday themed cozies. I recommend the following:

    “Rest Ye Merry” by Charlotte MacLeod

    “The Candy Cane Killer” and “Gingerbread Cookie Murder” — each contains 3 novellas, by Leslie Meier, Laura Levine and Joanne Fluke

    “Christmas Carol Murder” by Leslie Meier

    “Six Geese A-Slaying”, “Duck the Halls” and “The Nightingale Before Christmas” by Donna Andrews

    “Aunt Dimity’s Christmas” by Nancy Atherton

    “Sugar Plum Dead” by Carolyn Hart

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  11. I just finished reading “A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange” by Isis Crawford. She has another Christmas themed book in this series, which I haven’t read yet- “A Catered Christmas”.

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  12. Merry Christmas from Australia. Great start to the day for me with finishing a Christmas themed short story anthology of classic British writers. Hope to start another after family has departed following Christmas lunch.

    Merry Christmas one and all. Look forward to more interesting blogs and info from everyone on this site next year.

    Reply

  13. Don’t forget Stephanie Barron’s fine Jane Austen title, “Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas”.

    I also love Karen Harper’s Queen Elizabeth I mystery series. The Christmas title in that series is “The Queene’s Christmas”.

    I think these would be suitable for the young adults we’ve been discussing in another thread. I don’t recall bad language or sexual situations.

    Reply

  14. I would really like to recommend a book I received as a christmas present, A readers guide to the Classic British Mystery by Susan Oleksiw.

    Reply

  15. Does anyone know if you have to read the Joanne Fluke mysteries in the order that they were released? I have 2 different Christmas mysteries from her and have never known the answer to this.

    Reply

    • Cheryl, Joanne Fluke is one of my favorites, and I think that reading the books in order is better because of the way she builds the characters over time. However, if you just want to read her Christmas books, it might not make much difference.

      Reply

  16. Thanks to this site I discovered the Kate Kingsbury Pennyfoot Hotel series this year (and many other enjoyable reads).
    It looks like the Christmas stories came out much later in the series. Would love to read a Christmas themed one but is there a spoiler alert? I just started the series. Thanks

    Reply

  17. more for your Christmas list:
    Much Ado About Murder by Elizabeth J Duncan, Christmas Crazy, Christmas Cozy, Candy Cane Caper, Reindeer Roundup, The Cat of Christmas Past, The Cat of Christmas Present, The Cat of Christmas Future, Murder at Christmas, Christmas in Paradise, The Christmas Letter all by Kathi Daley

    Reply

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