Nightmare Before Christmas...

Check out this post for some great murder and mayhem reading suggestions if you are not one for warm and fuzzy holiday reads! 

“H” is for Homicide    By Sue Grafton

As a part of Grafton’s Alphabet series Kinsey Millhone is at it again, but this time she has taken on a false identity to uncover insurance fraud for the California Fidelity insurance company.  Everything changes when one of Kinsey’s close friends is murdered and she is taken in for questioning. She is arrested with Bibianna Diaz who is connected to the gang suspected of killing Kinsey’s friend. Things spiral downward quickly as more and more information gets out and people are getting hurt and even killed.  Will Kinsey be able to keep Bibianna Diaz alive and keep things sane in her own life? You’ll just have to read the mystery to find out.

Hour of the Hunter  by J.A. Jance

Diana Ladd is trying to piece her life back together 6 years after her husband took his own life to escape the trial for the death of a young Papago Indian girl.  The other suspected killer in the case, a once professor, Carlisle, is convicted of the murder and sentenced to serve jail time after Diana and the dead girl’s grandmother, Rita Antone, push for Carlisle’s conviction for the murder. Now 6 years later Carlisle is being released from prison and he has a hunger for killing.  Diana and her son’s lives are all at stake as they try to stay hidden from Carlisle as the police search for him. Can Diana stay alive long enough for the authorities to catch him?

The General’s Daughter by Nelson Demille

Captain Ann Campbell is the daughter of General Joe Campbell.  She is found dead on the firing range at Fort Hadley and Paul Brenner is brought in to investigate her murder.  As a member of the Army’s elite undercover detective unit, Brenner finds out that the general’s daughter isn’t as innocent as first believed when he finds out how many people she had been seeing on the base.  The honor code has kept all the different types of relations she was having a secret up until now and Brenner has to put everything together to find out just who killed Ann Campbell and why.

Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

Ranee Ballard was just returning from working the night shift as a police officer when she returns to her office and finds a man rummaging through her old files. The man identifies himself as Harry Bosch, a retired detective. There was a cold case that he could not get out of his head and he had to search into the matter. Ballard kicks him out of her office and later researches the case files that Bosch was looking at. He was looking at the murder of a 15 year old runaway named Daisy Clayton. Ballard also find outs that what sparked Bosch’s interests in the murder is that he has taken in the girl’s father who is a recovering addict. Ballard teams up with Bosch on the case and they end up within the area of the Varrio San Fer 13 gang, the most dangerous gang in California.  Are they able to survive the gang and find Daisy’s murderer?

Voodoo River  By Robert Crais  

Elvis Cole is hired by a hollywood starlet and her agent to find out who her birth parents really are.  When Cole arrives in Louisiana and starts investigating he quickly finds out that this in not a simple case.  Blackmail, murder, and love is the mess that he has to put together and find out the facts of what really happened and why. After putting all the pieces together it’s time for Cole and the blackmailed victims to go after their blackmailer. Things get even deeper though as Cole finds out that it’s more than just blackmailing they are facing. He calls in his partner to help him when they find out that they are dealing with forces that shouldn’t be dealt with.

Long Road to Mercy By David Baldacci

13 years ago Atlee was spared by a kidnapper when he chose between taking her or her twin sister Mercy. After he chose Mercy, Atlee never saw her again. Daniel James Tor was convicted of other murders but Atlee believes that he was also the one who took Mercy. Atlee is now an adult working for the FBI in Arizona keeping watch over the Grand Canyon. She has a need to help find those that are missing as she's living with survivor's guilt.  A mule is found stabbed multiple times at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the rider is missing. Atlee will have to put all of her skills to the test for this case and will perhaps have to face the demon of her past.

Killer Pancake  by Diane Mott Davidson

Goldy is running her own catering business with her assistant Julian who is dating Claire Satterfield a sales associate with the  Mignon Cosmetics Company. Mignon asks Goldy to cater an event for them with one of the most difficult menus that she has ever had. Everything that she is to prepare has to be low calorie.

Things are  going great until Claire Satterfield gets hit and killed by a car before the event starts. Goldy thinks that it is just an accident but the police think that there are other motives. Goldy and her detective husband then go on the search for Claire's killer, finding out along the way that the corporate cosmetic world is a cutthroat industry.

This book also has recipe’s that are a part of the story and are also included for you to give them a try.

To Die But Once By Jacqueline Winspear

This book is set in the 1940s with European advance during World War II. Maisie Dobbs investigates as to why a local pub owner’s son, Joe Coombes, has not checked in with them in a while. He is working on a government contract as an apprentice to a painting and decorating company but he was acting strange and complaining of headaches before they lost contact with him. She finds out during her investigation that a very well known London family is involved in organized crime and may be involved in the disappearance of Joe.  Maisie is also dealing with her own problems as she is taking in an orphaned child and the person she loves makes a life changing choice for the both of them.

Death of a Village by M.C. Beaton    

As a part of the Hamish MacBeth series, Hamish returns to visit the fishing town of Stoyre, Scotland.  The residents are acting a little strange. He heads to the pub where everyone should be to only find it empty but he then finds everyone at the church.  He can tell things are not right just by the feelings in the air, and he knows that everyone is scared. A well known cottage was leveled by an explosion and Hamish thinks that it was foul play and so he starts looking in the matter.  He enlists the help of a journalist to help him investigate the situation when his good old friend unexpectedly dies. It is not all just coincidence and if he isn't careful Hamish may lose the loved ones around him.

Christmas Cake Murder  By Joanne Fluke
It’s a very merry murder Christmas story with Hannah Swensen’s dreams of opening up her own bakery in Lake Eden.  She’s asked to recreate a Christmas Ball from days of old in honor of Essie Granger; a woman who lives in Lake Eden but now resides in an assisted living. Hannah asks Essie for notes about how to make the Christmas Ball and is given permission to look at all of her notes.  Hannah soon finds that Essie has written a very exceptional crime novel, but Hannah but Hannah starts to think maybe it isn't all just fiction as things in her life start to match the story line of Essie’s unpublished book. Is Essie’s book just a story, or is it something that is real that went unreported all these years?

Missy