With the season of holiday lights and Jack Frost upon us, there is no better time to think about the books that will keep you company through what many are foretelling to be a long, dark winter. So, cozy up by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa and one of these five titles — all perfect for your wintertime reading list.
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
Harriet Reed is a novelist who is engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir of a powerful, wealthy family. Though Edward has distanced himself from the eccentric clan, they will do anything to stay in his life. At first, Harriet finds them welcoming, until Edward’s father hands her a tape of a book he’s writing. But what she hears isn’t fiction. It’s a confession to murder. Harriet must figure out if The Family Game (Ballantine) is a plan to test her loyalty or something more sinister.
The Christmas Spirit by Debbie Macomber
New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber knows how to pen a holiday novel. Her latest book finds a pastor and his bartender friend swapping jobs until Christmas. What happens next will change their lives forever. The Christmas Spirit (Ballantine) shares the true meaning of the season and the love that binds us all.
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
The Cloisters (Atria) is a literary suspense novel that crosses genres. This Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick unfolds with a group of researchers who find a 15th Century deck of tarot cards that could reveal the secret of how to predict the future. But what begins as curiosity about the history of fortune-telling swiftly becomes an obsession that turns deadly. (Read our review here.)
Holmes Coming by Kenneth Johnson
Kenneth Johnson, the creator of Emmy-Award-winning projects such as The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation, and V, brings us Holmes Coming (Blackstone). Inspired by his friend H.G. Wells to investigate the mysteries of the future, Sherlock Holmes devises a method to hibernate in 1899. He is accidentally awakened by a doctor in modern-day San Francisco who reluctantly becomes the new Watson and is perilously involved in a series of bizarre murders being committed by a descendant of Holmes’s late archenemy, Professor Moriarty. With fish-out-of-water humor and a spark of romance, you are in for a treat.
Write Christmas by Thommy Hutson
Write Christmas (Rosewind) calls to mind classics such as A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life. What’s better than a modern Christmas story with a magical twist? In Hutson’s novel, a cynical greeting card businesswoman has her lack of faith in the spirit of the season tested when she wakes up to find Christmas has disappeared, and only she can save her family and friends who were altered when the holiday vanished. (Read our review here.)
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/05/11/678/n/1922564/5eada73d6a01f2d3b10453.48636618_.jpg "Lisa Wore an Under-0 Bra Top to the Met Gala After Parties Plus More Celebrity Looks")
