Four Festive Tales Of Foul Play . . . With All The Trimmings

A Way to the Manger
Susan Slater

A local teen is missing and Native American psychologist Ben Pecos begins to piece together some disturbing facts. The girl, a high school basketball star, harbors a dark and painful secret, one that puts her on a collision course with a ring of human predators.

The Santa Claus Murders
Ed Gorman

Iowa lawyer turned private eye Sam McCain stumbles over a dead Santa at a Black River Falls Christmas party. Sam knows the real tragedy is that the victim will hardly be mourned. Sam begins to look for answers and finds deception, blackmail and . . . A second body . . .

What Child Is This
Irene Marcuse

It's Christmas morning and New York Social worker Anita Servi goes out to buy bagels -- and comes home with a baby. The infant belongs to a struggling addict trying to go clean, but it was the woman's sister who handed Anita the baby -- as well as the mystery of his mother's murder.

The Gold Band
Michael Jahn

When NYPD Captain Bill Donovan finds a gold ring inside a Christmas goose, his curiosity gets the better of him. His investigation leads to Manhattan's meat district, where he finds himself sorting through a rash of break-ins, a henhouse full of ex-cons and the kind of mayhem that promises a holiday to remember.