Jane Haddam Knihy

Early one morning at St. Anselm's church in Philadelphia, a parishioner sneaks the body of his dead wife into the sacristy and commits suicide. His wife, a severe diabetic, is assumed to have died of natural causes - until the coroner discovers arsenic poisoning. The police are sure her husband was responsible, but one of the nuns at St. Anselm's doesn't and asks Gregor Demarkian, retired head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, to investigate. With tensions mounting among the city's religious groups, Demarkian's lover Bennis undergoing a crisis of her own, and the denizens of Demarkian's Armenian-American neighborhood - Cavanaugh Street - involved in various uproars of their own, Demarkian is facing the most difficult case of his career.

Murder, mayhem, and other unladylike behaviour erupt at the Third Annual Conference of American Writers of Romance where author Patience McKenna finds herself caught in an intrigue that would horrify her readers. This Edgar-nominated whodunit is a behind-the-scenes look at the romance business - authors, agents, editors, publishers, and fans.

Four novellas:Christmas Party: Archie Goodwin is invited to an office Christmas party. The bartender is dressed as Santa Claus, a guest winds up poisoned, and Santa disappears leaving his outfit behind in the elevator.Easter Parade: An orchid grower's wife is going to display a one-of-a-kind orchid on her outfit at a Fifth Avenue church on Easter Sunday. Nero Wolfe wants to get the orchid, but as his sketchy hireling "Tabby" reaches for it, the woman falls down dead.Fourth of July Picnic: Nero Wolfe is invited to be one of the speakers at a union picnic. Just as begins his speech, one of the other speakers is found stabbed to death behind the stage.Murder in No Joke: A woman and calls on Nero Wolfe, makes a phone call from his office, and hands the phone to Wolfe just in time for him to hear the woman on the other end of the call killed. Was it real or was it staged? The woman is dead, and another woman who may have been a conspirator is found dead also. RM

"Die Weihnachtsgesellschaft auf dem Landsitz der Familie Hannaford wird empfindlich durch das Beruhigungsmittel Demerol und eine blutbefleckte Statue gestört. Robert Hannaford, der Familienvorsitz, wurde ermordet. Während Todesglocken die Weihnachtsglocken übertönen, wird der ehemalige FBI-Agent Gregor Demarkian schneller als ihm lieb ist, in das Intrigenspiel der sieben Hannaford-Kinder verwickelt. Und alle scheinen mehr als genug Gründe gehabt zu haben, sich Daddys Tod vom Weihnachstmann zu wünschen..."