CHRISTMAS IS MURDER: A CHILLING SHORT STORY COLLECTION

Short Stories & Anthologies Detective & Mystery Stories

By Val McDermid

Synopsis

The Queen of Crime Val McDermid is a master of the dark and sinister story, and these powers are demonstrated in full force in Christmas is Murder, a festive collection of chilling tales. From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to an author who is haunted by the spiteful presence of a jealous writing partner, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous, never above suspicion. Follow Tony Hill and Carol Jordan as they track a deadly killer who is preparing to strike on Christmas Day, and lose yourself in a festive exclusive - a recently unearthed case for a classic detective duo, set as the lights are going out across Europe.

Sample Player

Narrator	Ann Stutz
Length	6hrs
Catalogue No.	15200
Publisher	Sphere; 2020

Other audiobooks by Val McDermid

1979

1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom, and she needs something explosive for the boys' club to take her seriously. Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies - and Allie won't stop there. When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she's a woman in a man's world...and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.

1989

It's 1989, and Allie Burns is back. Older and maybe wiser, she's running the northern news operation of the Sunday Globe, chafing at losing her role in investigative journalism and at the descent into the gutter of the UK tabloid media. But there's plenty to keep her occupied. The year begins with the memorial service to the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, but Allie has barely filed her copy when she stumbles over a story about HIV/AIDS that will shock her into a major change of direction. The world of newspapers is undergoing a revolution, there's skulduggery in the medical research labs and there are seismic rumblings behind the Iron Curtain. When kidnap and murder are added to this potent mix, Allie is forced to question all her old certainties.

BENEATH THE BLEEDING (X Rated)

An explosion rips through the football stadium in the city of Bradfield leaving dozens dead and many more injured. Is it a terrorist attack? Or something even more sinister? Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan must ask themselves questions they would never have thought possible, to find a killer they are unable to imagine.. X rated, contains graphic violence.

BOOKED FOR MURDER

Why would anyone want to kill Penny Varnavides, bestselling author of the 'Teen Dreams' series? Her demise is an exact replica of the murder method in her forthcoming book. Only three people knew the plot of Penny's unpublished novel: her literary agent, her editor and her ex-girlfriend Meredith. Lindsay Gordon delves beneath the glittering facade of the publishing world in search of a murderer.

BROKEN GROUND

When a body is discovered in the remote depths of the Highlands, DCI Karen Pirie finds herself in the right place at the right time. The victim seems to belong to the distant past - until new evidence suggests otherwise, and Karen is called in to unravel a case where nothing is as it seems. It soon becomes clear that she's dealing with a version of justice terrifyingly different to her own . . .

CLEAN BREAK

When a Monet is stolen from a stately home, Manchester-based private eye Kate Brannigan goes head to head with organized crime as she hunts the thieves through Europe. Meanwhile, someone is leaving a trail of bodies across the Northwest. As Kate confronts some harsh truths in her own life, the case stretches her love and loyalty to its limits.

COMMON MURDER

A protest group hits the headlines when unrest at a women's peace camp explodes into murder. Already on the scene, journalist Lindsay Gordon desperately tries to peel back the layer of deception surrounding the protest and its opponents. She finds that no one – ratepayer or reporter, policeman or peace woman – seems wholly above suspicion. Then Lindsay uncovers a truth that even she can scarcely believe…

CRACK DOWN

Manchester-based private eye Kate Brannigan thought it would be safe to let her boyfriend help out with her investigation. But now he’s behind bars and she’s been left caring for his eight-year-old son. Soon Kate finds herself drawn into the world of drug traffickers, child pornographers, and violent gangland enforcers – bringing her face to face with death in the most terrifying investigation of her career.

CROSS AND BURN (X Rated)

Guilt and grief have driven a wedge between long time crime-fighting partners psychologist Tony Hill and ex-DCI Carol Jordan. But someone is killing women. Women who bear a disturbing resemblance to Carol Jordan. And when the evidence begins to point in a disturbing direction, thinking the unthinkable seems the only possible answer. X rated, contains offensive language and graphic violence.

A DARKER DOMAIN (X Rated)

1984. The miners' strike is dividing the country. Twenty-three years later, a young woman is asking the police to trace her missing father, miner Mick Prentice. Soon, DI Karen Pirie and DS Phil Parharta of the Cold Case Team, find themselves investigating a forgotten disappearance. X rated, contains offensive language and graphic violence.

DEAD BEAT

As a favour, private detective Kate Brannigan agrees to track down a missing songwriter, Moira Pollock, a search that takes her into some of the seediest parts of Leeds and Bradford. But little does she realize that finding Moira is a prelude to murder…

THE DISTANT ECHO (X Rated)

Twenty-five years after the unsolved rape and murder of a young girl, four student friends, having been falsely accused of the crime, find themselves targeted by someone who still believes that they are guilty, prompting a search for the real killer. X rated, contains graphic violence.

FEVER OF THE BONE (X Rated)

When teenager Jennifer Maidment’s murdered and mutilated body is discovered, it is clear that there is a dangerous psychopath on the loose. But it’s not long before Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan realise it’s just the start of a brutal campaign. Struggling with the ghosts of his own past, Tony battles to find the answers. X rated, contains graphic violence.

FINAL EDITION

Lindsay Gordon finds herself in a sordid world of blackmail, prostitution, lies and murder when she investigates the case of a former colleague jailed for killing a notorious Glaswegian journalist Alison Maxwell. Maxwell was a serial seductress who kept a secret record of her encounters - including one with Lindsay herself, and she knows all too well the feelings of rage, fear and passion that Alison could invoke.

GHOST WRITER

Gavin is an excellent writer; but he can never seem to come up with a credible plot. On meeting Natasha at a creative writing group he thinks he has met his soulmate. She is attractive and her plots are amazing. Combining their skills, their stories become internet sensations. But when tragedy strikes, will the stories survive? Quick Reads

HOSTAGE TO MURDER

Spraining an ankle is rarely a stroke of luck, but for Lindsay Gordon, jobless in Glasgow, the injury is her introduction to freelance journalist Rory McLaren. When a local car-dealer's stepson is kidnapped, Lindsay and Rory are invited to trade journalism for detection. But it soon becomes clear that Lindsay and Rory have stumbled into a bigger, more violent piece of business than either of them could have guessed – and one which will test Lindsay to her absolute limits.

HOW THE DEAD SPEAK

After an explosive case that forced Tony Hill and Carol Jordan to reassess everything they thought they knew about right and wrong, both are dealing with the fallout in their own separate ways. But when a shocking discovery is made on a construction site, and skeletal remains are found to belong to a killer who is supposedly alive and in prison, suddenly, Tony and Carol are brought into each other's orbit once again…

INSIDIOUS INTENT (X Rated)

When single women start to disappear from weddings, a pattern soon becomes clear: Someone is luring the women away, only to leave the victims’ bodies in their own burned-out cars. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are called upon to investigate but this may be the toughest case they’ve ever had to face. Contains graphic violence.

KICK BACK

Kate Brannigan, feisty Manchester-based PI, is investigating the bizarre case of the missing conservatories. Before long she’s up to her neck in crooked land deals, mortgage scams, financial chicanery – and murder. But when a favour for a friend puts Kate’s own life in danger, bizarre is not the first word she thinks of…

THE LAST TEMPTATION (X Rated)

A twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe. Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home… X rated, contains graphic violence.

THE MERMAIDS SINGING (X Rated)

Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But then Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills, where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive. X rated, contains graphic violence.

NORTHANGER ABBEY

For Cat Morland life being home-schooled in Dorset is unendurably ordinary. To cope, she devours as many novels as possible, especially anything supernatural. If Cat can tear her eyes away from the page, she’s in for a shock: the very stuff of her dreams is about to come true. Part of ‘The Austen Project’, where renowned authors adapt Austen’s novels for the present day.

OUT OF BOUNDS (X Rated)

When a teenager crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from twenty-two years before. Meanwhile, Karen Pirie finds herself drawn into another mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. X rated, contains graphic violence.

A PLACE OF EXECUTION

When 13-year old Alison Carter vanished from the village of Scarsdale in the winter of ’63, everyone assumed it was an unsolved murder. Journalist Catherine Heathcote, a child herself when Alison vanished, persuades DI George Bennett to speak of the hunt for Alison. But when a fresh lead emerges, Bennett tries to stop the story – plunging Catherine into a world of buried secrets and revelations...

REPORT FOR MURDER

Freelance journalist Lindsay Gordon agrees to cover a fund-raising gala at a girls' public school. But when the star attraction is found garrotted with her own cello string, Lindsay finds herself investigating a vicious murder. Who would have wanted Lorna Smith Cooper dead? And who could have slipped out of the hall at just the right time to commit this cold-blooded crime?

THE RETRIBUTION (X Rated)

There is one serial killer who has shaped police profiler Tony Hill's life. A killer who has the power to chill him to the bone: Jacko Vance. And now he is back, focused on wreaking revenge. Tony doesn't know when Jacko will strike, or where. All he knows is that Jacko will cause him to feel fear like he has never known before... X rated, contains graphic violence.

THE SKELETON ROAD (X Rated)

When a skeleton is discovered hidden at the top of a gothic Victorian building in Edinburgh, which is scheduled for renovation, Cold Case Squad detective Karen Pirie is given the task of identifying the decades-old bones. Her investigation leads her back to past conflicts, false identities and buried secrets... X rated, contains graphic violence.

SPLINTER THE SILENCE (X Rated)

When psychological profiler Tony Hill comes across a series of suicides among women tormented by vicious online predators, he begins to wonder if there is more to these tragedies than meets the eye. Could it be murder? But what kind of serial killer wants his crimes to stay hidden? X rated, contains graphic violence.

STILL LIFE

On a freezing winter morning, fishermen pull a body from the sea. It is discovered that the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file and is drawn into a sinister world of betrayal and dark secrets. She uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years. But secrets can turn deadly when someone is determined to keep them hidden for good..

THE TORMENT OF OTHERS (X Rated)

A girl lies dead in a scene that matches a series of murders which ended with the conviction of Derek Tyler. But Tyler's been locked up in a mental institution for two years. Dr Tony Hill thinks this is not a copycat murder but something much stranger, and heads towards a terrifying face-off with one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered.... X rated, contains graphic violence.

TRICK OF THE DARK

Barred from practice, disgraced psychiatrist Charlie Flint receives a mysterious summons to Oxford from an old professor who wants her to look into the death of her daughter's husband. But as Charlie delves deeper into the case and steps back into the arcane world of Oxford colleges, she realizes that there is much more to this crime than meets the eye.

UNION JACK

While at a trade union conference in Sheffield, Lindsay Gordon finds herself in the company of old friends - and enemies, including union leader Tom Jack. When Tom is found dead, having catapulted out of Lindsay’s tenth-floor hotel room, she is taken in for questioning by the police. Hoping to clear her name, Lindsay searches the delegates for a murderer who may have struck once before. Along the way she uncovers a seething cauldron of blackmail, corruption and abuse of power.

THE VANISHING POINT (X Rated)

Five-year-old Jimmy Higgins is brazenly snatched from the middle of a busy airport. Jimmy’s mother is a reality TV star who, dying of cancer, entrusted the boy to her friend Stephanie Harker. Stephanie, reaching into the past to discover the motive, encounters a shocking tale of murder and conspiracy, and is faced by the most difficult choice of her life. X rated, contains graphic violence.

THE WIRE IN THE BLOOD (X Rated)

Young girls are disappearing around the country, and Dr Tony Hill tasks his team to discover links between the cases. But when one of their own is murdered it becomes a matter for personal revenge for Tony. Joined by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed. X rated, contains graphic violence.