Upon the sheep's back

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Linda Barnes

Boston P.I. Carlotta Carlyle investigates the murder of an elderly woman who wanted Carlotta to burglar-proof her apartment.

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editedby Thomas Godfrey

The murder for Christmas guide to gift giving / A.A. Milne -- Back for Christmas / John Collier -- Mr. Big / Woody Allen -- Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle / Arthur Conan Doyle -- The adventure of the Christmas pudding / Agatha Christie -- Dancing Dan's Christmas / Damon Runyon -- Cambric Tea / Marjorie Bowen -- Death on Christmas Eve / Stanley Ellin -- A Christmas tragedy / Baroness Orczy -- Silent Night / Baynard Kendrick -- The stolen Christmas box / Lillian de la Torre -- A chaparral Christmas gift / O. Henry -- Death on the air / Ngaio Marsh -- Inspector Ghote and the miracle baby / H.R.F. Keating -- Maigret's Christmas / Georges Simenon -- To be taken with a grain of salt / Charles Dickens -- The adventure of the Dauphin's daughter / Ellery Queen -- Markheim / Robert Louis Stevenson -- The necklace of pearls / Dorothy L. Sayers -- Blind man's hood / Carter Dickson -- Christmas is for the cops / Edward D. Hoch -- The thieves who couldn't help sneezing / Thomas Hardy -- The case is altered / Margery Allingham -- Christmas party / Rex Stout -- The flying stars / G.K. Chesterton -- Boxing Day bonus : Ring out, wild bells / D.B. Wyndham Lewis.

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Kate Wilhelm

Attorney Barbara Holloway has taken on the sort of cases no one else wants - hopeless messes, all of them - and with the help of her father, Frank, she has pulled through each time. But even from the start, this new case is different. Mitch Arno always meant bad news for the coastal town of Folsum, Oregon. When they ran him out of town seventeen years ago, he left behind a wife with two daughters and a family that never wanted to see him again. When he returns, he brings trouble in the form of a lot of suspicious money. As Barbara attempts to counsel Mitch's wife about the money, a second form of trouble arrives: a corpse, Mitch's. And now Barbara is in a morass of conflicting interests, and the only way out could lead her straight into the arms of the devil.

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Randy Wayne White

It's taken ten years for former assassin Doc Ford to reinvent himself on Florida's Gulf coast. Now the abduction of his only son--the legace of a long-ago love affair--has pulled him back into the shadow of his vilent past, and more is at stake than ransom. The kidnapper is a legend known as Incendiario. Torture by fire is his speciality--and his pleasure. In the pay of a vengeful politco with twisted ties to Doc, Incendiario is arranging a private hell reserved for the innocent. The trap has been set. And Doc has no choice but to brave it.--From publisher's description.