Best Christmas Cozy Mystery Books - Festive Whodunits
Coziest Christmas mystery novels. Small-town sleuths, festive settings and satisfying endings.
Looking for the best Christmas cozy mystery books to read this year? This list brings holiday cheer, crime, and suspense into one festive package for adults, kids, and mystery lovers alike.
Cold weather, warm drinks, and a cozy blanket—now all you need is a good book with a touch of murder. Sounds weird? Maybe. But trust me, there’s something oddly comforting about a cozy Christmas mystery while the snow falls outside.
I used to think holiday books were all fluff and glitter. That was until I read one where the Christmas party ended in a locked-room murder. Since then, I’ve been hooked on these oddly cheerful whodunits. They’ve got the holiday charm and a dead body. Go figure.
Some notable Christmas cozy mystery books: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie, The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict, and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding—yes, that’s a real title. These stories mix sleuthing with snowflakes, and let’s be honest, who can resist that?
What I love most is how these books create an atmosphere—snowy villages, nosy neighbors, and suspiciously quiet holiday guests. You get the tension of a crime thriller without the gritty gore. Perfect for reading by the fire or stuffing in someone’s stocking.
If you’ve ever wanted to escape awkward family dinners or avoid holiday party small talk, slip into one of these books instead. Just don’t be surprised if there’s a cat involved in solving the mystery. No, really—it happens more often than you think.
So, which one should you read first? That depends. Are you into psychological thrillers, classic detective stories, or sweet-and-suspenseful village tales? I’ve got a few more recommendations if you’re curious. Just don’t blame me if you end up binge-watching mystery after mystery till New Year’s.
1. Just William: Home for the Holidays
So first up, I wanted to recommend Just William at Christmas by Richmond Crompton. Richmond Crompton wrote many books for children under the Just William series. Just William is a very naughty boy
And he has friends, he has lots of friends, and they gather together as a group called the outlaws, and they all get up to no good. Her writing actually reminds me a bit of a sort of P.G. wood house for children.
I think that's why adults still love reading these because all of the stories are so tightly plotted, you always wonder how William is going to get out of his latest scrape, but he always does manage it, or almost always anyway
And I love the Christmas stories that are gathered together in this volume there's also an audible edition of this book which is read by Martin Jarvis and I do recommend that it's just so funny and light-hearted that I always giggle when I read or listen to the just William books so this is a real favorite of mine.
2. Who Killed the Curate?
Then I wanted to share this book called Who Killed the Curate, a Christmas Mystery by Joan Coggin. I love reading cozy mysteries at Christmas, there's always at least one by my bedside table
I always hope to get a new one on Christmas Day. I just love cozy mysteries generally, but there's something special about reading them at this time of year, especially one set at Christmas, which is why I read this book years and years ago
And I actually discovered this author because I loved her schoolgirl stories. There's a book called Audrey, A New Girl that I absolutely adored as a child, and Joan Coggin wrote those stories under the name Joanna Lloyd.
But her mysteries by Joan Coggin are great reads for adults, and this is a really funny one. They're very light-hearted. It's about a very scatter-brained newlywed young woman, she's the new sort of wife of the village vicar, and she's really struggling in the role
And then the vicar's curate is killed, and she sets out to find out who the killer is, but she's rather dismayed that all of the suspects actually seem to be much nicer people than the curate
And it's just a very light-hearted entertaining golden age-style mystery, and quite a nice Christmas read too, so I recommend it.
3. Mistletoe and Murder
Then I absolutely love the murder most Unladylike Mysteries by Robin Stevens. This is a fabulous Christmassy one in this set, it's called Mistletoe and murder. These are set in a boarding school
But they follow the stories of two young friends, Daisy and Hazel, who set themselves up to be young lady detectives and solve all sorts of crimes that occur in and outside of their school.
This one is set outside of their school, it's set in the Christmas holidays in Cambridge, and it's just so atmospheric. I loved it the first time I read this
I went to Cambridge at Christmas time and it was just such a beautiful time of year to visit the city we had buns at Fitz Phillies which is their famous cafe there to have buns and they go and visit that tea shop in Mistletoe and Murder too and the lights were all out it was just charming and robin stevens really brings that feeling of Cambridge at Christmas time to live in this book
So I really enjoyed it, it's a great read for young children but also for adults, I still love reading this.
4. Snowdrift and Other Stories
Next up, I really enjoy short story collections. Generally, at this time of year, they're nice, easy reads to read at bedtime, or hopefully by a roaring fire, hot chocolate to hand, and this is the collection I got a few years ago
I think it's Snowdrift and other stories by Georgette Hare now, if I remember correctly, only about the first one or two short stories in this were particularly sort of snowy or wintry and Christmasy, the rest weren't, you know, particularly sort of festive reads at all
However, I love Georgia's hair; she's one of my favorite cozy reads Generally, she writes books that are set in the Regency period rather than in the style of Jane Austen.
But I would say they're much more just light-hearted fun and funny reads. Her heroines are always um eloping with romantic love interests, and they're just full of fun and humor, and they're great cozy reads
And I love this short story collection. Georgia Heroes wrote a really great Christmas mystery. She wrote a few Golden Age crime mysteries too, which were first published under the title Envious Casca
But I think it's now been republished as a Christmas mystery, something quite standard like that, and that's a really fun Christmas read too. I also wanted to point out these short stories because I read them on Christmas and just really enjoyed them; they were wonderful, cozy reads.
5. ADVENTURE OF XMAS PUDDING
And then next up, I have to read Agatha Christie at Christmas time, and there are some great festive collections of her stories. This one is the adventure of the Christmas Pudding, and it's a collection of classic Archie Paro stories. Again, not all of them are Christmasy, but there are a couple.
I think at least good Christmas ones in here. The adventure of the Christmas Pudding is the most famous one that's in here, and it's just a really nice collection.
I think I enjoy short stories; it might just be the Christmas pudding one that is Christmassy in here, but it is worth getting for that one, and like I said, I just generally enjoy short stories and golden age crime at this time of year, so I do like this collection.
6. Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery
And then midwinter murder by Agatha Christie, and this is a sort of collection of some of her Christmas festive sort of short stories, it's got The Chocolate Box, a Christmas tragedy that's actually one of my favorite Miss Marple short stories.
I always either read or listen to that short story at Christmas, so there are some festive reads in this one as well, and those are just some really good short stories of the golden age style of crime.
So I love the cover of this one too, I think it's fabulous, so I'm looking forward to that one this year.
7. Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot Mystery)
Then, of course, there's the classic Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie. This is a full-length novel, one of Hercule Poirot's Mysteries, and it is a favorite of mine. I think it's a really clever one, of course, it's all set over the Christmas period too.
And it's just so atmospheric if you haven't read it before, then I do recommend curling up with it one evening, because I really enjoy this one.
8. The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories
The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories by P. D. James
More Christmasy short stories, this is the collection called the mistletoe murder and Other Stories by PD James, again, not all of them are Christmasy in this collection, but I think at least one or two
And I just love the cover, I love to read, I love reading all of these stories. I think PD James is such a brilliant writer.
I love her short stories as well as her longer novels, and this is a great read. I'm looking forward to returning to this, actually, because I think I read it a couple of years ago first
And I'd like to come back to them because I don't remember who did it half the time, so unfortunately, I can't re-read them now.
9. A Child's Christmas in Wales
A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas is just a family favorite of hours at Christmastime. I absolutely love to listen to Dylan Thomas reading this; it's such a wonderful listen
I'll put the link to the Audible as well as the physical book in the description box down below. My dad would always put this audiobook on every Christmas.
It really sort of signaled the start of the Christmas season in our household when we listened to this, and it's just a very poignant, nostalgic look back at the childhood spent in Wales; listening to the author reading it is even more important
I think because it is such a poetic tale, and reading and hearing it in his voice is really special, so yes, this is the Christmas classic for me.
10. The Ultimate Christmas Cracker
And then next up, I love the um Christmas crackers that John Julius Norwich would compile every Christmas. I think it started as a personal project that he would do, he'd make selections from the commonplace book that he kept throughout the year
And he'd send it off to friends and family, and gradually some of his friends and acquaintances would contribute some of their own, extracts sayings, clever quotes, things like that.
He also ended up putting in his own Christmas crackers I've bought a few of his Christmas crackers sadly the last one was in 2018 he died that year um which was very sad but then they brought out this ultimate Christmas cracker which has sort of collected the best of his Christmas crackers through the years I think he was creating them from the 1970s or something like that.
So it was a real feature of his Christmas and something that came to be shared amongst so many people as well. I love reading commonplace books at Christmastime and books that have little extracts
I mean, they're not necessarily Christmasy or festive extracts, that's not the point of them, they're just entertaining, amusing, interesting stories, quotes, short little snippets that are compiled in a single volume
And this book has collected the best of them. I think it's a really good Christmassy read, so again, one that I would recommend.
11. Christmas Pudding
Next up, you know how I love Nancy Mitford, so, of course, I have to recommend her Christmasy book, which is Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford. In all honesty, this isn't one of my very favorites of hers because it's quite an early work
And I just don't think it's one of her best works, and not all of it is, you know especially festive but there's a really funny scene involving Christmas stockings where the guests are staying in this big country house and the master of the house insists on upon sort of filling the Christmas stockings
And his rather terrifying sight to the poor guests who are often woken up in the early hours of the morning by him not so silently finishing their stockings, it's just really funny.
I do recommend reading this, but if this is your first Nancy Mitford, I do think that she's written better books like The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, so don't expect this to be the best of hers, but it still is a fun, entertaining read over Christmas
If you like evil and war, then I would definitely recommend giving Nancy Mitford a go. There's a bit of similarity in their writing styles especially perhaps in her earlier work but yes, I do recommend this one.
12. The adventure of the blue carbuncle, 1892: Sherlock Holmes in
It's Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a Sherlock Holmes short story that I either read or listen to every Christmas. It's just one of those Christmas standards for me, and I love this short story. I love that a goose figures very highly in this book.
We always have a goose for Christmas, and a very precious gemstone is discovered within a goose. Sherlock Holmes has to figure out how Earth got there and who this stone belongs to, and it's just a really fun mystery
I really enjoy it, I'm a huge Sherlock for Sherlock Holmes fan anyway, so that's part of the reason why I listen to this one every Christmas, it's a real favorite.
13. Christmas with Dull People
And then daunt books also compiled so you can see that this little volume, which is called Christmas with Dole People, is a collection of Christmas Christmasy short stories by Saki, who is such a gifted short story writer and a lot of.
But a lot of these short stories are very entertaining, they're really funny, they're about people behaving rather badly at Christmas time, and they just really put a smile on my face; they're very entertaining reads.
14. Murder In The Snow
Then this is a book I haven't read yet, but it's on my cozy Christmas to-be-read pile, and it is Murder in the Snow, a cocktail Christmas mystery by Gladys Mitchell
I have to admit that the cover really caught my eye, but Mrs. Bradley has gone to spend Christmas in the Cotswolds.
And of course, a mystery unfolds, and this just sounds like quite a fun, gentle, cozy sort of reading, so this is what I'm looking forward to curling up with myself for the first time this December.
15. Miss Read's Christmas Tales: Village Christmas, The Christmas Mouse
And then I can't do a cozy Christmas video without talking about the misread books. She wrote some lovely chapters for Christmas, including 'The Christmas Mouse' by Miss Reed and No Holly by Miss Quinn. I think perhaps this might be one of the very favorites. I love this one.
Paul Miss Quinn wants to enjoy a sort of quiet Christmas on her own, but those plans get spoiled. However, it's all for the best in the end, and it's just a lovely, gentle tale.
16. A Country Christmas
A Country Christmas: Village Christmas, Jingle Bells, Christmas At Caxley 1913, The Fairacre Ghost (Christmas Fiction) by Miss Read
And then there's Village Christmas as well which I have but that is also in this collection which is called a country Christmas and this is a lovely compilation of some of her Christmasy stories it has Village Christmas in it the fair acre ghost the white robin and a few extracts jingle bells it's just a really lovely Christmas companion.
If you like Miss Reed's writing, then it's definitely worth looking out to see if you can get at least a secondhand copy of this. I don't know if this would still be in print um but generally, you can find her book secondhand, or on Kindle, so I recommend those.
17. Christmas at Thrush Green
And then I haven't read this one yet, this is another one on my chibi read pile, and it's Christmas at Thrush Green.
I haven't read this one yet because I think it was um the last one that was written. It was actually finished, I think, after she died, and her notes were sort of used to properly finish the book.
And I've just never read this one myself yet, so I don't quite know what it will be like, but I'm looking forward to hopefully reading it this year, and I hope that I enjoy it.
18. Rumpole at Christmas
And then I absolutely love the Rumpelstiltskin Stories by John Mortimer, and again, this is a brilliant collection of the rumple Christmas stories. I like this set because I think they pretty much are all Christmassy from what I remember, too, and they're just really funny, again, I mean, if you want something that'll make you laugh
Then I really recommend Rumpel, he's the old Bailey hack as he calls himself, he's a barrister and works a lot of criminal cases at the Old Bailey, but he's a defense barrister, so he's always sort of working for the underdog and again they're just such brilliantly plotted stories.
You always wonder how Rumpel is going to win over the judge or win over the jury, he'll actually find out the real solution to the crime or to the mystery. A lot of the time, he's a bit of a detective in this as well as a defense barrister
And he's just such a fantastic character, I so enjoy these. I love listening to Leo McKern reading the Rumple stories, he played Rumple in the famous TV series, and he just really became Rumpel, who's amazing, and unfortunately.
I can't get those on Audible, in fact, I can't find them anywhere, but I think on YouTube, you actually can find a few if you sort of Google that on YouTube, so I'm hoping there'll be some Christmas ones I can listen to
But I think I read this either last year or the year before, and it was a really fun Christmassy read, so really recommend this, it gives you a nice little taste of Ron Paul too, so then you can see if you want to read more by John Mortimer.
19. Twelve Days of Christmas
This book, I absolutely adore it, only takes you about 10 minutes to read it but it is absolutely hilarious, it's by John Julius Norwich. I was telling you about his Christmas crackers earlier, it's called The 12 Days of Christmas, and it's illustrated by Quentin Blake, and it's a really funny take on the famous Christmas carol 12 Days of Christmas
And it imagines the poor fiance called Emily in this who is sent on each day of Christmas first the partridge in the pear tree then the two turtle tubs and three French hens and I think by the time it gets to the hens she starts feeling a little less loving towards her fiance and it's a collection of letters that she writes to him.
Here's an example of one "28th December dearest Edward what a surprise four calling birds arrived this morning they are very sweet even if they do call rather loudly they make telephoning impossible but I expect they'll calm down when they get used to their new home anyway I'm very grateful of course I am love from Emily".
By the end, not surprisingly the engagement is no longer intact and you can see it all has sort of descended into chaos especially when the milkmaids turn up the Quentin Blake illustrations in this are just fabulous they bring the hilarious words to life and yeah it's just such a funny book I really recommend it.
20. Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days
And then next up, I love this Christmas collection by Janette Winterson, it's called Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days, and it's a collection of her festive stories
But what I especially love about this is that she's included recipes and personal anecdotes from her life that are appropriate to the festive season. There's a beautiful passage in this where she describes her Christmas Eve ritual
What she cooks on that evening, what she listens to on the radio, essentially how she prepares herself for Christmas day, but also enjoys a real moment of quiet and reflection and calmness for herself on Christmas Eve.
I believe was also friends with the writer Ruth Randall and she talks a little bit about that friendship in this book too it's a really lovely read I really recommend it for the festive season I'm looking forward to returning to this one myself I love books that mix in a bit of food because for me at least food is such an important part of Christmas
that I love hearing about other people's traditions surrounding the food that they serve at this time as well as little rituals that they have in terms of what music they listen to and what books they read for instance that really appeals to me and that's one of the reasons why I love this so much.
21. The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for winter
And speaking of that, I have to mention Nigel Slater's The Christmas Chronicles. This is such a joyous book, I absolutely love it. If you're a bit unsure about winter, if it's a period that you struggle with
Then I would recommend reading this because I think Nigel Slater can make almost anyone love winter. He's helped me actually to enjoy this season a lot more. I mean, I never hated winter, but I always did struggle a bit with it
And when I first read this book you really opened my eyes to some of the pleasures that this season really holds like going out for a brisk walk in the cold and then coming back and having a hot chocolate or something a little bit naughtier and enjoying the sort of sights and senses smells taste of the season I think he just does that so well he.
In fact, extends winter for himself. He loves it so much that he in march often goes to Japan up in the mountains in March, where he can still enjoy the snow. This book, I think it starts at the very end of October, beginning of November, it looks like it actually starts the first of November
And he also has some essays at the beginning on things like fire the scent of winter the coldest winters eating winter the food of fairy tales coming in from the cold the landscape being out in the cold the winter light stars and shadows a walk through snow essentially some of his favorite things about the season and reading his writing about it is so special.
I mean, he's such an amazing writer, of course, there are loads of recipes in this as well, which is also wonderful. I've made quite a few of his Christmasy recipes from them, but there's also so much writing about the food, about the season, about his pleasures in the season
I think also it's a book that isn't just for Christmas it's really a book for all of the winter like I said it goes from the 1st of November, and I think it goes right through to does he go too much or does he just write about in about extending march himself, it goes to January but it's just such a brilliant read and I really do recommend this it's a lovely cozy book to curl up with.
22. Dickens at Christmas
Now I can't mention Christmas without mentioning Charles Dickens. Of course, a Christmas carol means Christmas to so many people, and I read the Christmas carol myself, probably about seven or eight years ago
And if you've never actually read it, I really recommend reading it. I think so many of us feel like we know the story, so we don't necessarily have to read it, but it is a wonderful read. I so enjoyed it.
It's quite a short read, of course, too, and this collection, Dickens at Christmas, which has the lovely Emily Sutton cover, which I love, has a lot of his Christmas stories, so it has his collection of what they call the Christmas books by him, which of course includes a Christmas carol, also the chimes
which is one of my favorites of his, actually. Again, it's just a very slim novella, really, but it's a really wonderful Christmas read. I highly recommend it.
They include 'The Qriket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, and they also have a few extracts from Household Words that he wrote for there's an extract from the Pickwick papers.
It's just a really lovely volume, and I think that this is a brilliant book to just look through during this time of year. I really recommend reading 'A Christmas Carol', like I said, the Chimes are one of my very favorite books
I think Dickens is just such a classic at Christmas, and I really think that this is a beautiful collection of his Christmas stories, so I really do recommend that one.
23. Little Women: An Annotated
And then finally Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without little women for me I mean this is such a nostalgic read I haven't talked too much about all of the childhood books that I like to read at Christmas in this video but I'll be sharing a few more in future videos but little women is always a classic for me at Christmas time
I think that December is a period of real nostalgia for me. I often turn to childhood books as sort of cozy comfort reads, so a few of those will always be on my Christmas list, and Little Women is right up there.
I love the opening scenes that are Christmasy, of course, then the book sort of goes all through the rest of the year, but it's just a wonderful read that always spells Christmas to me, and I'm holding up this huge edition, but it's my special annotated Little Women edition
And sometimes every Christmas I like to not maybe read the whole of Little Women but read some of my favorite parts from it and it's quite nice to pull out this big fat edition then which gives you some more insights into the story and to the time and Louisa May Alcott's life as well so I really enjoy this one.
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading, and I'll be back sharing more Christmasy content sort of throughout the rest of November and of course, in December I hope you enjoy it all but thanks again for reading do give this article a share if you enjoyed it and don't forget to subscribe to my blog.
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