Holidays

For most people, that means a time of celebration, relaxation and inebriation, but not for the staff of The Stranger Times. While a book club meeting ending in a triple murder isn’t unprecedented, it is at least noteworthy.

Halloween: it’s a holiday where people shed their boring everyday personalities and become fantastic beings ready for an epic party. Well, guess what? That’s Billy Boston 24/7, 365, baby! It’s who I was before I became a millionaire and it’s who I’ll always be.

Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie Walsh has always done the right thing....

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.

Autumn Laine has lost her creative sparkle. After losing her grandad and her job as an illustrator in quick succession, she is at a crossroads in life and needs a break....

It’s Christmas Eve and Stella Hansen is broke. She is so broke that despite working two jobs, she can’t even afford a present for her husband on their first Christmas as man and wife. But then a mysterious storekeeper at a pawn shop offers Stella an intriguing trade....

Spring has sprung, and I'm finally getting out of town with my monster-hunting boyfriend. However, our cozy little rental cabin in the woods turns out to have a serious problem—an angry leprechaun infestation....

In this captivating holiday novella following the events of The Unbound Witch, Marley, a witch burdened by a dark history, possesses an extraordinary gift—the power to hunt shattered hearts with her enchanting magic....

When firefighter and single dad Steve Springfield moved his four kids to a Colorado Christmas tree ranch, he intended for it to be a safe haven. But he never expected danger to follow them to his childhood home or that he would come face-to-face with the one girl he could never forget....

Professional gambler Rhett Butler Blaylock is everything Abbie Maven doesn't want in a man—flamboyant, flashy, and unreserved. After a horrible experience in her youth, she has spent her life trying to make all the right choices....

It's nearly Christmas and Leon has had a Brilliant Idea. A holiday - to enable a very reluctant Max to recover from her recently acquired injuries. Devon, 1924 - Martingale Manor. Because this is the world of Agatha Christie and before long one of them is dead.

Natalie Bennett has a plan: survive her big sister's Christmas Eve wedding, avoid her estranged father, and absolutely do not fall apart in front of the ex she walked away from...even if he does look annoyingly good in red velvet.

Someone is trying to ruin Christmas. Two of the town’s annual traditions have gone sideways so far. Now it’s starting to get personal for Zara Riddle, a witch who’s just trying to enjoy the season with her family....

Now successfully running the Cockleberry Café and wishing to start a family herself, Rosa feels the time is right to let her inherited Corner Shop go. However, her benefactor left one important legal proviso....

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime… In reality it was a business trip, prettied up as a romantic mini break, but the man behind the wheel was meant to be Candice Hart’s boss and (married but separated, I swear!) lover. Not Danny the new guy!

New Year's Eve, Loloma Island, Fiji. At one of the most exclusive island resorts in the Pacific ocean, the champagne is poured, the fireworks are ready, and the countdown to new year is just beginning. It's set to be a night that no one will forget.

A year of taking chances.... After a nightmare year, Mia Sutherland is hoping for a fresh start....

Meet old and new characters in the Bay for Christmas fun and frolics. With both the Corner Shop and Cockleberry Café in safe hands, Rosa turns her attention to Ned’s Gift, the charity set up in memory of the great-grandfather whose legacy turned her life around....

From the author of the number one bestselling The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay. The cast of the runaway bestseller, The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay, are back - including Rosa, Josh, Mary, Jacob, Sheila, new mum Titch....

Everyone in Halfmoon Quay, the picture-perfect village clinging to the edge of the Cornish coast, knows Rick Penrose is the person to turn to for help.

On a leafy suburban street in Dublin, beautiful, poised Stella Greene lives with her successful husband, Matt. They're the perfect couple in every way, and Stella appears to have it all....

As a published novelist, Lila Rose has been writing about fictional weddings all her life. But disaster strikes on her own big day when she hears her philandering fiancé, Daniel, whispering sweet nothings to someone else....

The venue is booked, the dress is picked and senior midwife Anna Jones only has to say ‘I do!’ to the man she loves! Theirs might have been a whirlwind romance but Brae Penrose is everything Anna dreamed her husband would be, and she can’t wait to start a family with him....

After ten years of loyal service, Daisy Butterworth has been made redundant. Like any clever woman, she knows the cure to redundancy is a little too much wine and her best friend. Only the next morning, Daisy has more than a hangover...she has a whole new house—in France....

It's three days before Christmas. Tilly boards a plane on the other side of the world. She's determined to reach Roone, a small island off the west coast of Ireland, in time for Christmas Day....

This Christmas is a special one for Kitty and Leo: not only is it their first since becoming an official couple, but it's the first in their brand new home. After a whirlwind summer together, they are planning to spend the Christmas period curled up in front of the open fire, exchanging gifts and making new traditions.

For most people, that means a time of celebration, relaxation and inebriation, but not for the staff of The Stranger Times. While a book club meeting ending in a triple murder isn’t unprecedented, it is at least noteworthy. It quickly emerges that this is no ordinary book-club-triple-murder either, as it features a librarian possessed by a chaotic entity who has broken through from another dimension and is hellbent on vengeance.

Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter can't wait for Christmas. He doesn't care much about the season, unless it's football season. Andy's excited to finally relax and watch the games. But when there's a murder related to an old case in Paterson, New Jersey, Andy puts the games on pause. Two years ago, a gas leak in an office building led to a tragic explosion that killed seven people. Jeff Wheeler was there to pick up his girlfriend and ran into the building to help. All he heard was the barking of a dog, Rufus, and was able to save him. The pup was the sole survivor and Jeff was named a hero.

Natalie Bennett has a plan: survive her big sister's Christmas Eve wedding, avoid her estranged father, and absolutely do not fall apart in front of the ex she walked away from...even if he does look annoyingly good in red velvet.

College hockey rivals turned lovers Jackson Reed and Killian Blackwell are about to face their toughest match yet: Christmas with both their families at the Reed mansion. Between sexual tension to melt the estate's ice sculptures, and a shared future that's anything but certain, this holiday season is bound to be unforgettable.

Last Christmas, I gave Liam Hargrove my heart… Okay, maybe not my heart. But I was ready to give him something else—until he panicked and dropped me on my ass, bruising both my tailbone and my ego. Now I’d like to forget the whole mortifying mess ever happened. This year, I’m moving on. I’ve traded my silly crush on my brother’s best friend for a dream come true: opening Blush & Binding, Cedar Hollow’s first romance-only bookstore. With a calendar full of holiday events, this Christmas is going to be my best one yet. Until Liam shows up.

Eva Coleman has lost her glow. After missing a well-deserved promotion at work, she's left heartbroken during what she thought was a proposal dinner. Who the hell said this was the 'most wonderful time of the year'? Unable to face her mother's disappointment, Eva decides it's time for a break. Even more, she needs an adventure! It's time to rediscover who she is and live life by her own rules. To escape the proposals under trees and two for one hot chocolate deals, Eva finds herself stumbling into a hidden antiquarian bookshop. Here, she discovers a book that just might bring her spark back.

Is there anything worse than getting sick on the four-hour flight home for the holidays? How about the fact that my childhood rival, Jasper Jensen, is there to not only witness it, but to take care of me so he can hang it over my head for all of eternity? Or maybe when an old fling is waiting to pick me up at the airport, hoping to rekindle our past over the holidays, and I’m so desperate to avoid him that I present Jasper as my boyfriend.

When Anna decides to take her family away for Christmas to avoid a repeat of the 'dead man in the larder' debacle, she finds herself plunged into another festive fiasco when a body turns up in the library of their supposedly 'idyllic' rural retreat. With a dubious double booking, an unexpected snowstorm and the mysterious Mrs Haddock to contend with, can Anna and her unlikely allies save Christmas or will this holiday be their last?

Determined to reclaim the top spot for Maske of Sanity, she and her friends, Mara and Phoebe, travel to an infamous cabin in Frosthaven Falls, where a string of gruesome murders took place just one year ago. It's the kind of story that could make or break them—if they survive long enough to tell it. But the folks of Frosthaven Falls aren't eager to revisit their darkest chapter.

All Olivia wanted was one last miserable Christmas with her husband’s awful family before moving to Australia. She didn’t expect a murder. Or another. Or another. Now the snow has cut them off and she’s stuck in a crumbling country house, with ten increasingly deranged relatives and the rising suspicion that someone is picking them off one by one. As the bodies pile up and the festive façade starts to crack, Olivia must survive the season, clear her name and uncover the killer – Or, at the very least, get through lunch without anyone else choking on a sprout.

It's been eight months since Sandra lost her beloved husband, and she knows something has to change. Her son wants her to sell up her home and move into a retirement apartment, close to him. But she doesn't feel ready for that yet. Then she bumps into her old friend Patti, heading off to get her first tattoo. Patti explains she's beaten cancer and now she's ready to make every second count… And – sitting down for a cuppa and a slice of cake – the women land on the perfect idea – a bucket list!

Kindergarten teacher Sarah Larsen has spent her whole life being the good girl. But now, she’s ready to do something bad. So wearing the shortest, tightest black dress she owns, she marches over to the nearest bar to fulfill her Christmas fantasy: a wild night with a total stranger.

Brought to you by Penguin. Jemima Jones is driving home to her family's magical hill-top farm for Christmas… And on arrival, she soon learns that her dad has been keeping a secret – all is not as it seems, and Hollybush Farm is struggling to make ends meet! Worried about losing the childhood...

Sergeant Archer Raines has worked every holiday all year for one reason: to finally spend Christmas with his wife. But when a desperate man threatens to jump from Portland’s St. Johns Bridge, Archer’s expert negotiation skills are required to defuse the situation. Rosalee, a high-powered accountant and mom-to-be, only meant to swing by home for a forgotten phone and client file. Then her car is caught in the chaos on the bridge, she unexpectedly goes into labor, and her carefully planned world begins to unravel amidst the unfolding drama.

In Book 36 of this heartwarming series, Abby joins Mackenzie Cole—niece of her boyfriend, Colt Wilder—and Colt’s father, Hank, for the town’s first-ever Holiday Bay Turkey Olympics. The trio arrives early to get settled, only to discover something far more surprising than turkeys inside the turkey truck....

Icing gingerbread men, arranging handmade toys and making up countless Christmas wreaths in her family's cozy little Christmas shop isn't usually globe-trotter Lexi's idea of fun. But it's all that's keeping her mind off romance. And, with a broken engagement under her belt, she's planning to stay well clear of that for the foreseeable future...until gorgeous single dad Cal Martin walks through the door!

Hotel sales manager Clara Jenkins has an opportunity to take over as general manager of her hotel. There’s just one problem: she’s asked to shadow her boss for a year, and her boss happens to be her ex. Clara’s not so sure about working in close quarters with him for that length of time. But her job opportunity isn’t the only major hurdle this year. At dinner the next night, her new boyfriend, Air Force pilot Brent McNally, drops the bomb that he’s being deployed on short notice for an entire year.

Christmas has served as a fertile background for mystery fiction for a very long time, perhaps because it has the appearance of a time of peace and love while being so deeply at odds with violence, crime, and even murder. Many of the stories in this anthology have been written by some of the greatest Golden Age authors, undoubtedly inspired by the juxtaposition of the disparate elements of love and hate.

Summer McKenzie hates the holidays. Maybe it’s because she’s an atheist who’s never had a reason for the season. Maybe it’s burnout from working at the second-best hotel in Yosemite National Park. Or maybe it’s because nothing has felt truly festive since she lost the love of her life in a climbing accident.

Ex-rock star Jake used to have it all. But a fall from grace has left him with his career and reputation in tatters. Just when it seems like making a comeback is impossible, his agent has an idea: send Jake to The Love Hotel’s new five-star resort in sunny California. Pair him with a match who’s also seeking the spotlight, then have Jake fake a whirlwind social media romance to reignite his star power. Simple. Except, Jake barely knows how to use a hashtag. And he’s definitely not looking for love.

Alors qu'elle est gravement malade, la grand-tante bien-aimée de Mirren ne demande qu'une seule chose pour Noël : relire une dernière fois un précieux livre de son enfance, depuis longtemps perdu. Bien décidée à lui offrir un peu de magie, Mirren part à la recherche du livre rare et écume toutes les librairies du Royaume-Uni. En chemin, elle croise le mystérieux Theo qui semble chercher le même ouvrage. Ensemble, réussiront-ils à accomplir un miracle de Noël avant qu'il ne soit trop tard ?

Romee's winter break was planned out months ahead. A week at a cabin in the woods sounded romantic, and maybe it was just what her boyfriend of two years needed to pop the question. Instead, he proposed they break up, a week before they were destined to wake up Christmas morning, happier than ever. Heartbroken but undaunted, Romee embarks on a solitary journey to the remote cabin, yearning for peace and closure in the tranquil snowscape. Six nights of isolation, wine, and TV shows seemed like the perfect remedy for a breakup.

Fully dramatized by best-selling narrator Steve Cook, with cinematic music and sound effects, this unabridged re-telling of Dickens' classic Christmas tale has something for everyone. All the sounds of 19th-century London are captured, from clopping hooves on cobblestones to booming Westminster chimes at midnight to the supernatural comings and goings of Scrooge’s four nocturnal visitors. Plus, a complete soundtrack of suspenseful and seasonal music throughout puts the finishing touches on a true, old-fashioned radio theatre-style experience.

Collected here are two different versions of the classic story. It includes not only the original, written by E. T. A. Hoffman, but also the translation/adaptation by the famous novelist Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask). These, in turn, inspired the world-famous Tchaikovsky ballet. Listeners can finally compare and contrast the two different versions, and thrill to the story in both its multifaceted variations.