Holiday Theme in Mystery Books

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 3:26 pm

More and more people are reading cozy mystery books. And within the cozy mystery genre, holiday themed cozies have also been increasing in popularity.

As holiday themed cozies rise in popularity, certain authors have begun specializing in this new field of mystery. These books are often written in a series, with each covering a different holiday.

The following is a list of a few authors whose mysteries take place during major holidays and other special occasions, like birthdays and weddings.

Kate Borden (aka Kate Grilley)

The Peggy Jean Turner series is written by Kate Borden. Borden’s mystery books are holiday theme mysteries which take place in a quaint, small New England town, and feature the mayor of the town as the person who solves the mysteries, along with her life-long best friend.

Mary Higgins Clark

Although Mary Higgins Clark writes mystery books not set during all of the special holiday settings, she has written several mysteries which take place during the Christmas season. Several of these Christmas theme mystery books are co-authored with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark.

Jane Haddam (aka Orania Papazoglou)

Jane Haddam pens the Gregor Demarkian mystery series which features a retired FBI agent as the series’ sleuth. Demarkian and Bennis Hannaford (an author he teams up with) solve mysteries during different holiday settings: Hanukkah, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and even New Year’s.

Lee Harris

Lee Harris writes a mystery book series which features Christine Bennett, an ex-nun. Harris is one of the few mystery authors to have included a Cinco de Mayo holiday theme mystery.

Kate Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent)

Kingsbury writes the Pennyfoot Hotel mystery series. This particular mystery book series takes place in Great Britain, during the early 1900s. Only recently have Kingsbury’s books begun to focus on the holidays, especially Christmas.

Leslie Meier

Leslie Meier writes the Lucy Stone series, which stars a housewife with several children who also finds time to solve mysteries. Unlike many holiday themed writers who concentrate on the “big three” of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Meier includes “lesser” holidays such as the Fourth of July and Mother’s and Father’s Days.

Livia J. Washburn

Washburn writes the Fresh Baked mystery book series. This holiday theme mystery series features a Texan who leaves the teaching profession and then becomes a baker, with a penchant for sleuthing.

Valerie Wolzien

Wolzien writes the Susan Henshaw mystery series. Several of the mystery books in Wolzien’s series take place during the holiday season, especially the Christmas holiday season.

The above list of mystery authors should provide the reader with just some of the authors who feature holiday theme mystery books. This new mystery book holiday theme is a growing phenomenon with many devoted mystery book fans.

Taylor writes on a variety of subjects, including holiday mystery books and Christmas mystery books.