Festive whodunits: 6 Christmas mystery novels to read this holiday season

The third instalment in Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series, Blackmail and Bibingka, follows Filipino-American baker Lila Macapagal as she returns home to Shady Palms, Illinois, for the holidays. Her estranged cousin, Ronnie, has just come back to town and is soon accused of murdering a local brewery owner. Determined to clear his name, Lila investigates while running her café and preparing traditional Filipino Christmas dishes such as bibingka and puto bumbong. Blending culinary detail with humour and family dynamics, it reimagines Christmas mystery novels with a distinctly Filipino-American twist.

Mary Higgins Clark’s All Through the Night (1998) opens with a desperate young woman who steals a handbag during a Christmas Eve church service, only to discover that it contains a key linked to a long-unsolved kidnapping. The plot follows private investigator Alvirah Meehan and her husband, Willy, as they attempt to reunite a missing child with her family while navigating deception, redemption, and faith against the backdrop of New York at Christmastime.

In Allie Pleiter’s Riverbank Knitting Mystery series, It Came Upon a Midnight Shear follows yarn shop owner Libby Beckett as she prepares for a festive competition in the small town of Collinstown, Maryland. When one of the contestants is found dead, Libby swaps knitting needles for sleuthing to protect her friends and business. Pleiter, known for her cosy tone and precise plotting, balances the charm of small-town life with a satisfying puzzle. The novel highlights how Christmas mystery novels can mix light-hearted humour, craft culture, and genuine suspense.

This posthumous collection brings together four short stories written by P.D. James between the 1960s and 1990s, two of which are set during Christmas. The Mistletoe Murder and A Very Commonplace Murder unfold within the polished confines of English domestic life, where civility masks guilt and resentment. Across the collection, James demonstrates her trademark clarity of motive and control of tone, offering compact studies of human weakness that reveal how much menace can exist within the ordinary.

Published in 2023 and authorised by Agatha Christie’s estate, Sophie Hannah’s Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night continues the adventures of Christie’s famed Belgian detective. Set in 1931, the novel finds Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool summoned to a Devon country house during Christmas to investigate the murder of a retired police officer and protect his gravely ill daughter from further danger. Hannah maintains the period atmosphere and Poirot’s meticulous reasoning while expanding on the emotional stakes often only hinted at in the originals. It stands among the most recent Christmas mystery novels to honour classic detective fiction while offering a fresh voice.

For readers who like their mystery novels laced with holiday flair and their festivities with a side of intrigue, these Christmas mystery novels offer the ideal seasonal escape.

NOW READ

Most charming Christmas villages around the world to visit this winter

6 countries that start the holiday festivities unusually early

Winter travel: 9 magical destinations to visit for cool climates and snowy scenery