"The oldest mystery bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers, written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere--before now. The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The dozen tales included in this volume-- by celebrated crime fiction authors such as Laura Lippman, Lyndsay Faye, Ragnar Jonasson, and Jeffery Deaver-- are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition, sure to charm any reader looking for a holiday-themed escape. -- Page 4 of cover.