A dark spirit threatens the Pennyfoot Hotel’s shiny and bright Christmas in this mystery in Kate Kingsbury’s cozy historical series. The Christmas Angel is a welcome sight during the winter season—but not this year. A killer is afoot in Badgers End, cutting a lock of hair from the victims and sticking a gold angel on their foreheads. Cecily Sinclair Baxter already promised her husband that she’d take a hiatus from sleuthing. But three killings have created a blizzard of bad publicity—and guests are canceling their hotel reservations. Cecily pokes around, but the victims seem unrelated. Then the killer claims a fourth and fifth victim, obviously not slowing down for the holidays—so neither will Cecily. She will have to stop the angel of death from striking again, leaving murder under the tree...

This book depicts angels as the heralds of God in the special areas of Joy, Peace, Salvation, Protection, Communication, Death, and Judgement. Archangel Michael is featured as well as Gabriel, Seraphim, and Cheribim. The author has interposed some humor in order to interest the reader. There is an Angel Quiz that readers will fill out and ponder before reading the book as well as an Opinion Poll asking their concept of an angel as a child and now is an adult.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.

A hard-edged covert operative crosses into Mexico—and enters a dark, dangerous spiral—in this novel from “an able practitioner” of the thriller genre (Larry McMurtry, The New York Times). A freelancer specializing in covert ops, Joe Gall has been tasked with doing a background check on a millionaire—a job that will take him into the wild and gritty world of 1960s Mexico. Unfortunately, the assignment has already come to a bad end for two different agents before him. It will put Gall in the crosshairs of some very dangerous people—not to mention piranhas—as he goes deeper and deeper undercover, into the terrifying world of heroin addiction . . . From the Edgar Award–nominated author of The White Wolverine Contract, this is lighting-paced Cold War–era action at its best.

Argues that diverse representations of the afterlife in the Oresteia require reevaluation of its fundamental ethical and political dilemmas.