Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop. The Mysterious Pr. Oct. 2024. 288p. ed. by Otto Penzler. ISBN 9781613165720. $19.95. M

Penzler (editor of Golden Age Detective Stories) opened the doors of his famous Mysterious Bookstore on a Friday the 13th in April 1979, behind New York City’s Carnegie Hall. It’s still around 45 years later, now relocated to Lower Manhattan. In the 1990s, he began commissioning a different writer every year to write a Christmas mystery, some of whose action would take place in the bookshop. Penzler published the stories as booklets that he gave to customers as a present. In this collection, the second gathering of these Christmas season tales, Loren D. Estleman offers up a hilarious Nero Wolfe parody, Jeffery Deaver gleefully details the turning of tables on relatives plotting to dispose of their ailing uncle, and Thomas Perry traces the path of an exorbitantly expensive bottle of cognac whose successive owners sample it, then top it up with something else, reseal it, and pass it on to a new owner. In his lighthearted introduction, Penzler cautions that, although a character with his name appears in some of the stories, any resemblance is pure fiction. VERDICT None of the 13 stories in this collection disappoints; several are superior.—David Keymer

Delany, Vicki. A Slay Ride Together with You. Crooked Lane. (Year-Round Christmas Mystery, Bk. 7). Sept. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781639108794. $29.99. M

Welcome to Rudolph, NY, known as Christmas Town, U.S.A. Gift shop owner Merry Wilkinson is back for another caper in Delany’s seventh “Year-Round Christmas Mystery” (following Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas). Merry’s best friend Vicky Casey has a lot to celebrate, including her upcoming wedding to chef Mark Grosse and the purchase of the infamous Cole House. This dilapidated home has a history of intrigue and tragedy and just might be haunted! With the nuptials just around the corner, eerie nighttime noises and the appearance of estranged relatives of the former homeowner have the couple stressed. During one strange late night, Vicky and Merry get a call from Mark, who has found a body in the garden. He then becomes a suspect in the murder, so Merry, and Vicky set out to discover who the real killer is and clear the groom’s name. VERDICT This festive novel is perfect for fans of Amanda Flower, Jacqueline Frost, and Ellie Alexander and for readers who enjoy mysteries and suspense with a dash of Christmas cheer.—Linsey Milillo

Flower, Amanda. Gingerbread Danger. Kensington. (An Amish Candy Shop Mystery, Bk. 9). Oct. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781496743756. pap. $8.99. M

Bailey King, candy shop owner and star of TV’s Bailey’s Amish Sweets, is back for another mystery-filled adventure in the town of Harvest, OH. It’s right before Christmas, and Bailey has a lot to be excited for this holiday season. She’s engaged to Sheriff Aiden Brody, celebrating the grand opening of her new candy factory, and looking forward to a long-overdue visit from her jet-setting parents. However, between a series of burglaries worrying townsfolk, an unexpected wedding planner, babysitting a troublesome pig, and the tragic demise of one of her employees, Bailey is once again searching for answers. When she learns her employee’s death was more than an accident, Bailey’s innocent pursuit of answers and empathetic effort to reunite a local family put her in danger and illuminate secrets that some wish would stay hidden. VERDICT This follow-up to Blueberry Blunder is perfect for series fans and readers who enjoy cozy mysteries and books that explore the Amish way of life. Even readers unfamiliar with the series who crave a holiday read will enjoy Flower’s respectful balance of Amish culture with genre expectations.—Linsey Milillo

Haines, Carolyn. Blue Christmas Bones. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, Bk. 28). Oct. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781250885968. $28. M

It sounded like the perfect vacation: enjoying the Christmas Elvis Festival held in Tupelo, MS, the birthplace of the King. However, soon after Sarah Booth Delaney and her crew arrive, they find themselves on a working holiday instead. Someone has boosted a jewel-bedazzled belt (a replica of one once worn by Elvis himself), shortly after Sarah and her friends had been admiring it. Now with no shortage of suspects—and a plethora of Elvis impersonators providing distractions of their own—Sarah and company need to retrieve the belt and ensure that Christmas won’t be blue for the people of Tupelo. With 28 entries and counting in this popular series, Haines knows what her fans crave (including a cast of endearingly quirky characters, writing leavened with plenty of Southern-flavored sass and charm, and a mystery plot that functions in many ways as a love letter to all things Elvis), and she delivers it with great gusto. VERDICT Fans of character-driven mysteries with madcap plots will find they can’t help falling in love with Haines’s latest (after Lights, Camera, Bones).—John Charles

Ireland, Liz. Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year’s. Kensington. (Mrs. Claus Mystery, Bk. 5). Sept. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781496748935. pap. $17.95. M

It’s bad enough that Nick Claus is missing after his round-the-world trip, and April Claus is worried. Then she gets word that three strangers, humans, have been found unconscious and injured and brought to Santaland. Although they’re hospitalized, Mrs. Claus worries that they’ll realize the land is different and will want to capitalize on Santaland. She asks everyone to cooperate and hide the town’s identity: no singing snowmen, no racing reindeer. The elves dress as humans, which causes all kinds of trouble when they slip wearing unfamiliar shoes. An even bigger issue arises when one of the humans dies in the hospital. April and the doctor know he was murdered. April tries to keep the remaining humans under observation by moving them to Castle Kringle, but it’s hard to juggle that while investigating the murder and worrying about Santa, who is stranded in Greenland with ill reindeer. It’s up to April, the elves, and a doughnut-loving witch to find a killer and protect the secrets of Santaland. VERDICT The sequel to Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys is another delightful mystery filled with humor and mishaps.—Lesa Holstine

Johnsen, Kjersti Herland. Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge. HarperVia. Oct. 2024. 400p. tr. from Norwegian by Olivia Lasky. ISBN 9780063339293. pap. $17.99. M

When an avalanche destroys her career and her joy in mountain climbing, Ingrid Berg returns to her small Norwegian hometown to run the family inn, Glitter Peak Lodge so that Nana Borghild, who raised Ingrid, can retire. Ingrid hopes the lodge will take the place in her life that mountain climbing did. But in the days before Christmas, she must deal with leaky pipes and abrupt reservation cancellations. Also, Nana Borghild seems secretive and withdrawn. The normal December routine is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious American and her husband, along with the long stay of a pregnant influencer. While Ingrid can’t forget the avalanche accident and the man who led the ill-fated expedition, Borghild’s secrets from the early 1980s still haunt the village where a young bride-to-be vanished on her wedding day. It’s the American woman who brings the past crashing back into the lodge’s story. VERDICT Although the mystery (Johnsen’s first to be published in English) is slight, the atmospheric Hallmark-style book is set up as if it were an Advent calendar: 24 chapters, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. The multiple storylines offer a little for everyone: mountain climbing, village secrets, romance, bullying. The Norwegian customs and recipes are an extra treat.—Lesa Holstine