Candy cane murder.

Joanne Fluke

Three big-name cozy writers contribute candy cane-themed novellas to this entertaining yuletide anthology. Levine's series heroine Jaine Austen (Death by Pantyhose, etc.) spots a wealthy suburbanite's killer in the unfortunately skimpy The Danger of Candy Canes, where the subplot about a troubled teen is more compelling than the actual mystery. Hannah Swensen (Key Lime Pie Murder, etc.) experiments with new Christmas cookies (recipes included, of course) and gets to the bottom of a Santa slaying in Fluke's complex Candy Cane Murder, which includes several plausible suspects and a surprising twist-an impressive feat in just 150 pages. Meier's powerful Candy Canes of Christmas Past takes heroine Lucy Stone (Bake Sale Murder, etc.) back to December 1983, when, newly arrived in Tinker's Cove, Maine, she found herself investigating the circumstances of a decades-old local death and struggling with her own financial and domestic difficulties.