These are the five books that i’ve picked to help me read my way into the Christmas spirit this year. Of course, my version of Christmas may be different to yours. My version is evoked by genre reads that include horror, dark Bristish humour, a serial killer in the North of England, a cosy mystery and a psychologicial thriller. I hope at least one of them will carry you towards your Christmas spiri.
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25 days, 25 chapters. This December, the countdown to Christmas will chill you to the bone.
Hoping to bring his family closer together, Adam Gray arranges a vacation in a remote cabin on a snowy mountain. Things take a dark turn, however, when someone starts leaving gifts in the Christmas stocking mounted on the barn door.
Each morning brings something new, and with every passing day, the contents become more terrifying. Soon, the family makes a spine-chilling realization: they’ve been dragged into a deranged game of Secret Santa, and if they want to survive, they will have to fight.
I love the concept of a Horror Advent Calendar. I’m going to try limiting myself to one chapter a day but I’m going to start a day early so i can finish by Christmas Eve.

Hungover and exhausted after her family’s annual party, all Anna Johnson wants for Christmas is to finish her to-do list and finally sit down with the world’s biggest glass of wine.
But when she stumbles across a dead body in her larder, her plans are well and truly buggered.
A mysterious death in her home really is the last thing she needs, but with her judgemental in-laws arriving in less than twenty-four hours, turning her house into a crime scene is not an option. If she’s going to save Christmas, it’s up to Anna to find out what the hell’s gone on. Oh – and figure out what to do with the body before one of the kids finds it.
The title and the cover both made me smile. To me, they seem quintessentailly English. I went for the audio version because the narrator’s voice is a perfect fit for the exasperated Bloody Marvellous! Now What Do I D0? tone of the book.

In the picturesque village of Kibblesworth, DI Tom Stonem is dreaming of a quiet Christmas alone.
But in the shadow of the Angel of the North, a body lies waiting. The dead man is posed with a child’s Christmas list in his pocket, and the first mysterious item – 1. No angel – is crossed off.
When a second body is found – a woman, stabbed in the abdomen after her work Christmas do – Stonem is convinced there’s a grim connection between the crime scenes and the seemingly innocent list. 2. Red partee dress. Could this be a murderer’s twisted code?As a blizzard rages in the Tyne & Wear countryside, the body count is snowballing. Can Stonem stop the killer before they get everyone on their Christmas list?
I decided to buy this when I saw that the publisher’s described is as “An anti-cosy Christmas crime novel.” It’s also the start of a new crime series so I’m hoping I’ll get yet another author to follow.

Meg’s sister-in-law, Delaney, is pregnant. Since her due date is on or around Christmas Day, this is putting a bit of a damper on the usual holiday festivities. Meg and Michael are NOT hosting the usual house full of relatives and parties. Instead, Meg, along with her mother, her grandmother, her cousin Rose Noire, and her good friend Caroline, are militantly doing everything they can think of to keep Delaney quiet and healthy. All the relatives are farmed out to friends and neighbors; all the parties are being held somewhere else; and while Delaney is bored and mutinous, she’s doing well, and they’re managing to maintain a serene, peaceful environment for her . . . until a body is found in Meg and Michael’s yard.
The body turns out to be an attendee at Presumed Innocent, a nearby conference that Meg’s grandmother has organized. Some of the attendees want to learn how to exonerate a friend or family members who has been unjustly convicted, while the rest are avid true crime aficionados. And since the dead guy has been very vocal about his belief that most actual and would-be exonerees are guilty, guilty GUILTY!, nearly everyone at the conference dislikes him. But would any of them hate him enough to kill him? And can Meg still keep Delaney calm in the middle of a murder investigation, all while trying to catch the killer?
Listening to Bernadette Dunne perform a Meg Langslow Christmas book, usual while on a long drive to visit family, has become a tradition for my wife and I. We know what to expect and between them Donna Andrews and Bernadette Dunne always deliver. It’s a predicatable and satisfying as serving a Snowball (a glass of advocaat mixed with lemonade with a couple of glacé cherries on a cocktail stick),

When Sasha receives a call from her old university friend Gabby inviting her to spend Christmas at Gabby’s remote Scottish lake house, Sasha knows she shouldn’t go.
Twelve years ago, on Christmas Eve, when Sasha and her five closest friends were celebrating the festive season, something truly horrific happened that would change the course of their friendship forever. Something that meant Sasha hasn’t spoken to any of them since that night.
But Gabby is insistent that they all get together this Christmas, to finally help her move on from the events of that night, so Sasha agrees to go.
Arriving at the sprawling house overlooking a stunning loch, Sasha quickly realises that Gabby has other reasons for getting the six friends together this Christmas. And now Sasha is forced to relive a past she’s tried hard to forget.
People had always told them their friendship wasn’t healthy. That the six of them spent far too much time together. No good would come of it, they said. How could relationships with others work when the six of them were so tightly interwoven?
When a snowstorm isolates them from the outside world, old flames are rekindled and tensions run high, and it soon becomes obvious: nothing that big can stay secret forever.
What expresses the spirit of Christmas bettter than a psychological thriller about lies, betrayal and revenge? I hoping that this one will keep me guessing without straining my ability to suspend disbelief.

I like how you do Christmas. I’m going to have to check out a few of these myself. Great post!
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Thank you. I hope some of them give your Christmas a lift.
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There are some interesting books here. I look forward to reading your reviews.
I’m glad you are going to try to read the first one advent style. I was thinking as I read the synopsis that it is the only way to read it. Plus, who doesn’t love an advent calendar 🙂
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Thank you. I’m looking forward to reading a chapter at a time. I’m going to cheat a little and start on 30th November so I can finish on Christmas Eve.
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