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Mystery, love or cookies: Choose your holiday tale

December 16, 2009 


Here is a round-up of some holiday-oriented books, which include mystery, humor, feel-good and romance.

— "A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books" by Charles Dickens (Everyman, $18 , 411 pages): Let's not forget the original Christmas-season storyteller, who not only wrote of Scrooge and Tiny Tim but also "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life" and "The Haunted Man."

— "A Rumpole Christmas" by John Mortimer (Viking, $21.95 , 176 pages): London barrister Horace Rumpole shows up for the holidays in five delightful, previously unpublished stories.

— "The Body in the Sleigh" by Katherine Hall Page ( William Morrow , $15.99 , 272 pages): The "Faith Fairchild" mystery series continues, with Faith and her husband enjoying Christmas on Sanpere Island off the Maine coast. The community is rocked when a body is discovered – and a newborn baby is found in a manger in a barn.

— "Holly and Homicide" by Leslie Caine ( Dell , $7.99 , 352 pages): The new entry in the "Domestic Bliss" series finds interior designers Erin Gilbert and Steve Sullivan accused of murder.

— "Merry, Merry Ghost" by Carolyn Hart ( William Morrow , $15.99 , 288 pages): Blithe spirit Bailey Ruth Raeburn is on assignment for Heaven's Department of Good Intentions when she is called on to "protect a little boy, foil a murderer and save Christmas."

— "Mrs. Miracle" by Debbie Macomber ( Avon , $7.99 , 352 pages): The New York Times best-selling author (more than 60 million books in print) offers a feel-good story about a magical nanny who comes to the rescue of a single dad at Christmastime.

— Macomber also has this title: "The Perfect Christmas" (Mira, $16.95 , 232 pages): A cute tale about a single woman looking for a potential husband. She consults a professional matchmaker, who gives her three Christmas- oriented tasks before introducing her to the "perfect mate." Of course, there's a big surprise waiting at the end.

— "A Christmas Promise" by Anne Perry (Ballantine, $18 , 208 pages): The seventh title in Perry's holiday series is set in Victorian England, where two children search for a golden box that might hold a treasure — or something sinister.

— "The Christmas Secret" by Donna VanLiere ( Thorndike , $14.99 , 322 pages): A young single mother and a young man whose accounting job has been downsized turn out to be star-crossed in a holiday tale of love lost and found.

— " The Christmas Cookie Club " by Ann Pearlman ( Atria , $24.99 , 288 pages): On the first Monday of every December, the 12 women in the Christmas Cookie Club gather to share the secrets of their lives. The book includes cookie recipes along with lots of drama.

— "Christmas Cake" by Lynne Hinton ( Avon , $13.99 , 304 pages): As a group of women in Hope Springs , N.C., work on a cake cookbook, one of their members hears bad news. Because of it, her Christmas wish is to pay a visit to a small Texas town, where she is reminded of just what the ultimate Christmas gift can be.

— "Wishin' and Hopin' " by Wally Lamb (Harper, $19.99 , 288 pages): Best-seller Lamb ("I Know This Much Is True") sees the world in 1964 through the eyes of Felix, who is having boyhood troubles in and out of school, as Christmas approaches.

— "Christmas Jars Reunion" by Jason F. Wright ( Shadow Mountain , $17.95 , 176 pages): The author's "Christmas Jars" sold 500,000 copies and led to a Web site, www. christmasjars.com. The sequel follows the further adventures of Hope Jensen and her Christmas Jars Ministry , which she runs out of Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits diner.

— "A Christmas Blizzard" by Garrison Keillor (Viking, $21.95 , 192 pages): The host of "A Prairie Home Companion" turns his talents to a funny but cautionary tale of James Sparrow and how his life changes one Christmas when he is confronted by "figures from his childhood" as "he hears the harkening angels sing."

— "The Gift" by Cecelia Ahern (Harper, $19.99 , 320 pages): A workaholic executive is shown the real meaning of Christmas by a mysterious homeless man who has "heavenly intentions."

— "A Creed Country Christmas" by Linda Lael Miller (HQN, $16.95 , 256 pages): Set in 1910 Montana, the heartwarming tale brings together a widowed rancher with a daughter in need of a mother figure, and an unwed schoolteacher whose school has been closed. To complicate things, a brutal winter approaches.

— "Lakeshore Christmas" by Susan Wiggs (Mira, $21.95 , 384 pages): The "Lakeshore Chronicles" series continues. Can a Christmas-loving librarian and a former child star make peace long enought to co-produce the annual holiday pageant? And are they falling in love?

— "A Season of Gifts" by Richard Peck (Dial, $16.99 , 176 pages): The Newbery Medal-winning children's author reprises "eccentric, forceful, big-hearted Grandma Dowdel," who helps her new neighbors understand what Christmas really means.

 


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