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In 1921, the bloodied bodies of Colonel Fletcher, his wife and two staff are found in a manor house in Surrey. The police have put the murders down to a violent robbery, but Detective Inspector Madden from Scotland Yard has his own suspicions. In the meantime the killer is plotting his second strike.

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho Crime authors! Featuring short crime fiction by: Helene Tursten, Mick Herron, Martin Limon, Timothy Hallinan, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Ed Lin, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R.

In "Bryant & May in the Field," a woman is found with her throat slashed in a snowy park, yet the killer managed to escape without leaving any footprints. In "Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman," a businessman drowns in the pool of a posh club, and the only suspect is a young woman who remains almost too calm during questioning. And in "Bryant & May Ahoy!" the pair go on holiday on a friend's yacht in Turkey, but Bryant realizes there's something fishy about their fellow passengers.

The Hummel case has bothered William Wisting for more than six months. The investigation into what happened when taxi-driver Jens Hummel disappeared has been fruitless, and he has to endure criticism. A crucial discovery directs suspicion at Dan Roger 'Danny' Brodin. The problem is, however, that Danny is already in prison, convicted of another murder. Wisting is accustomed to building up a solid case for the prosecution, but this time things are different.

In the wake of Fourth of July fireworks in Montana's Madison Valley, Hyalite County sheriff Martha Ettinger and Deputy Sheriff Harold Little Feather investigate a horrific scene at the Palisades cliffs, where a herd of bison have fallen to their deaths. Victims of blind panic caused by the pyrotechnics, or a ritualistic hunting practice dating back thousands of years' The person who would know is beyond asking, an Indian man found dead among the bison, his leg pierced by an arrow.

Sarah Booth Delaney knows the perfect way to begin recovering from both the recent attack on Scott Hampton's blues club and her broken heart. She's going to host a Thanksgiving feast for all of her friends at her ancestral home in Zinnia, Mississippi. But one bitterly cold night with the holiday just around the corner, Sarah Booth awakens to the insistent ring of her doorbell. She opens the door to find a newborn baby in a basket sitting on her front porch.and a pool of blood slowly seeping out from the basket. Before she can respond, an engine guns and a dark vehicle takes off.

With his father as the prime suspect in a boy's disappearance, Francis must confront his family's dark past-and his brother's unsolved murder. Twenty-three years ago, at a small dinner party in a Chicago suburb, Francis Scroll's nine-year-old brother, Lucas, was found floating face down in his parents' bathtub. Lucas's friend Sam is the only person who can reveal the truth, but he is unable--or unwilling--to speak, and Lucas's death is ruled a tragic accident.

New York City, 1907. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Americans believe that science, especially the medical sciences, will soon conquer all of mankind's ills. For a brief time medical schools open their doors to women, allowing them to join the scientific crusade. Genevieve Summerford is one woman who answers the call... After a past family tragedy for which she holds herself to blame, Dr. Genevieve Summerford wants nothing more than to succeed in her new career as a psychiatrist, and win back the respect of her family and peers.

The perfect family. The perfect house. The perfect life. All gone now. What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built' This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect. DeMarco knows-or thinks he knows-that Huston couldn't have been capable of murdering his family.

For the first female Pinkerton detective, respect is hard to come by. Danger, however, is not. In the tumultuous years of the Civil War, the streets of Chicago offer a woman mostly danger and ruin--unless that woman is Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective and a desperate widow with a knack for manipulation. Descending into undercover operations, Kate is able to infiltrate the seedy side of the city in ways her fellow detectives can't.