A collection of Christmas stores by a small-town, Southern, country veternarian

Christmas is around the corner and Matthew Blick is not looking forward to spending another holiday alone. His five-year-old niece, Hannah, loves her uncle so much, she asks the department store Santa to bring her uncle someone to love. When Santa shows up at Matthew’s house, he doesn’t recognize him. As memories of his first kiss rush back, he’s shocked to find the man he hasn’t been able to get out of his mind since high school. Can a kiss change the way Matthew feels about Christmas?

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Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.

A young widowed veterinarian is unexpectedly called to the North Pole the day before Christmas. He has just hours to figure out why Rudolph's nose no longer glows red. Sadly, if he cannot cure Rudolph in time to guide Santa's sleigh, there will be no more Christmas. First there was A Christmas Carol, The Night Before Christmas, and Miracle on 34th Street. Now there?s a new classic Christmas story for your child's generation:A Very Shiny Nose. Written by famed novelist R.W. Stone, author of the western epic, Trail Hand, this delightful story of A Very Shiny Nose will be one of your family's favorite Christmas stories from now on. Find out how Christmas was saved in this new holiday tale from the heart and mind of one of America's favorite authors. This exciting and heart-warming Christmas story will keep your family in the holiday spirit all season long. “I hope that you will share this very special book with family and friends for many years to come.” Sincerely, R.W. Stone

The Edgar Award-winning editor collects sixty of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories—from Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy, to Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain. • “Anyone who cares about the best mystery writing of the past century and beyond would be lucky to receive this thick volume during the holidays." —The Washington Post This collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant. Included are puzzles by Mary Higgins Clark, Isaac Asimov, and Ngaio Marsh; uncanny tales in the tradition of A Christmas Carol by Peter Lovesey and Max Allan Collins; O. Henry-like stories by Stanley Ellin and Joseph Shearing, stories by pulp icons John D. MacDonald and Damon Runyon; comic gems from Donald E. Westlake and John Mortimer; and many, many more. Almost any kind of mystery you’re in the mood for--suspense, pure detection, humor, cozy, private eye, or police procedural—can be found in these pages. FEATURING: - Unscrupulous Santas - Crimes of Christmases Past and Present - Festive felonies - Deadly puddings - Misdemeanors under the mistletoe - Christmas cases for classic characters including Sherlock Holmes, Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Inspector Ghote, A.J. Raffles, and Nero Wolfe.