My Top Five Christmas Mysteries

Over the past three years, I have read over thirty Christmas mysteries and these are My Top Five Christmas Mysteries for your holiday reading. Check out my picks!

My Top Five Christmas Mysteries

My top five Christmas mysteries reflect my own reading preferences, and if yours are different, you can check out my ratings of over 25 other Christmas mysteries, linked below this post!

• I prefer a Christmas mystery that is the perfect blend of creepy and cozy. Not super-sweet, but not too dark and scary either.
• Standalone Christmas mysteries have broader appeal. A lot of the cozy Christmas mysteries are set smack in the middle of a cozy series, leaving a first time reader feeling left out and confused.
• Bonus points for a book that can either make me laugh or surprise me. Or both!
• The book MUST have some Christmas cheer and Christmas spirit!

Murder Most Haunted by Emma Mason (2025)

I am really loving the trend of mysteries with midlife and older characters.

Thanks to the Thursday Murder Club, Jessica Fletcher, and Miss Marple, we all know that age equals experience, wisdom and sometimes the invisibility required to crack a case!

In Murder Most Haunted, main character Midge is a recently retired police officer whose partner Bridie buys her a ticket for a murder mystery weekend. Midge does not seem all that excited, but gamely shows up and ends up at a) at spooky (possibly haunted) manor, b) trapped in snow, c) with a murderer.

The group, which includes a doctor and his wife, a pop star, and a paranormal podcaster, underestimate Midge to their peril!

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter (2024)

If you are looking for something really fun with a touch of Christmas romance, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is for you!

Two rival authors (Ethan writes thrillers, Maggie writes cozies) are invited to a country home party of the most famous (and quite elderly) mystery writer in the world (think Agatha Christie). They are then trapped by a blizzard and their host goes missing.

Did one of Eleanor’s family do her in? Did she disappear herself? As Maggie and Ethan try to crack the case, they also fight their attraction to each other.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

If you want a cozy mystery, this is your pick. Yes, it’s technically set in the world of The Appeal (that is a link to my plot summary if you need a refresher) but it’s funny and shorter (190 pages) so it makes a perfect light read during a busy season.

The Fairway Players of Lower Lockwood are back and of course they need to put on a Christmas pantomime. But someone ends up dead and lawyers Femi and Charlotte are back to reading documents and trying to figure out what happened and who did it!

Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger

I am not generally a fan of mystery novellas. The plot is usually lacking as there isn’t enough time! Christmas Presents clocks in at a respectable 250 pages, which was plenty of time for Lisa Unger to spin her tale!

A True Crime podcaster walks into a bookstore owned by a Final Girl. What could be a better Christmas mystery plot!? Harley wants to talk to Madeline, since the man arrested for her attack is in prison and there have been several similar cases since he was imprisoned. Did they get the wrong man?

My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon

If you got this far and are thinking “none of these seem chilling enough for me,” I’ve got you!

My Darling Girl is SO creepy that I still think about it sometimes. In my review of The Darling Girl I called it a Hallmark movie gone to the dark side.

The story takes place in picture-perfect Vermont, a place that embodies everything you’d want in a Christmas setting. But things are not what they seem. Alison is estranged from her difficult mother. But when Mavis contacts her and says she’s dying and wants to spend one last Christmas with Alison and her family, Alison relents.

But as soon as Mavis arrives, disturbing things start to happen. I’m getting chills just typing this. If you love your Christmas stories dark and creepy, this is the book for you!

Need more options? Check out ALL my Christmas Mystery Posts!