Christmas is the most popular holiday theme for mysteries and fiction of all varieties. There are hundreds from which to choose, with some writers focusing entirely on Christmas in every book they publish.

If you are a fan of Christmas themed fiction, then this updated 2023 list of sixty-seven novels, novellas, and short stories is for you. The books were recommended by avid cozy booksellers and reviewers, as well as NBR and Kerrian’s Notebook subscribers. Click on the titles to find out more about the books, then snuggle up with a great Christmas read.

 

Susan Wittig Albert “The Darling Dahlias & the Poinsettia Puzzle”

Gretchen Archer  “Double Deck the Halls”

Donna Andrews “Dashing Through the Snowbirds”

Mary Angela “Very Merry Murder”

Joy Avon “In Peppermint Peril”

 

Laurien Berenson “Here Comes Santa Paws”

Susan Bernhardt “Murder Under the Tree”

Brittany E. Brinegar “Holly Jolly Murder”

Leslie Budewitz “As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles”

Anna Celeste Burke “Cowabunga Christmas”

Ellen Byron “A Cajun Christmas Killing”

 

Lynn Cahoon “Have a Holly Haunted Christmas”

Robyn Carr “A Virgin River Christmas”

Nancy Coco “Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas”

Cate Conte “A Whisker of a Doubt”

Maya Corrigan “Gingerdead Man”

 

Kim Davis “Frosted Yuletide Murder”

Maddie Day “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse”

Sharon Daynard  “Murder Points North”

Vicki Delany “Dying in a Winter Wonderland”

Hannah Dennison “A Killer Christmas at Honeychurch Hall”

Maria DiRico “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder”

Leighann Dobbs “Grievance in Gingerbread Alley”

 

Barbara Early “Murder on the Toy Town Express”

Peggy Ehrhart “Silent Knit, Deadly Knit”

Morris Fenris “Christmas Angel Charity”

Beatrice Fishback “Winter Writerland”

Amanda Flower “Candy Cane Crime”

Joanne Fluke “Christmas Cupcake Murder”

Jacqueline Frost “Slashing Through the Snow”

 

Daryl Wood Gerber “Wreath between the Lines”

John Gray “Manchester Christmas”

Patrice Greenwood “As Red as Any Blood”

 

Carolyn Haines “A Garland of Bones”

Victoria Hamilton “Breaking the Mould”

Jo A Heistand “A Recipe for Murder”

Julie Hennrikus “A Christmas Peril”

 

Liz Ireland “Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings”

CeeCee James “The Frosty Taste of Scandal”

Miranda James “Six Cats a Slayin”

 

Tina Kashian “Mistletoe, Moussaka, and Murder”

Laura Levine “Death of a Neighborhood Scrooge”

Sherry Lynn “Murder Under the Mistletoe”

 

Debbie Macomber “Dear Santa”

VL McBeath “A Christmas Murder”

Clara McKenna “Murder on Mistletoe Lane”

Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Peggy Ehrhart  “Christmas Card Murder ”

Ada Moncrieff “Murder Most Festive”

 

Nancy Naigle “Hope at Christmas”

Carlene O’Connor “Murder at an Irish Christmas”

Gail Oust: “The Twelve Dice of Christmas”

 

James Patterson, Maxine Paetro: “The 19th Christmas”

Kathy Manos Penn “Candy Canes, Canines & Crime”

Anne Perry “A Christmas Legacy”

 

Amy M. Reade “The Worst Noel”

Heather Redmond “A Christmas Carol Murder”

Barbara Ross “Nogged Off”

Rosemarie Ross “Christmas Candy Corpse”

 

Karen Schaler “A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale”

Julie Seedorf  “The Discombobulated Decipherers”

Ann Simas “Merry Witchy Christmas”

Jennifer Snow “A Lot Like Christmas”

 

Michele Pariza Wacek “Three French Hens and a Murder”

Heather Weidner “Christmas Lights and Cat Fights”

Jane Willan  “Abide with Me”

Traci Wilton “Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past”

Sherryl Woods: “Christmas at White Pines”