Thanksgiving may not be as popular as Christmas for book settings, but there are stories out there that take place during this lets-get-the-family-together holiday. All the joy, drama, tension, and hilarity that can ensue is captured for your reading pleasure. (Though I’ll have to admit, I was somewhat taken aback at the amount of murder mysteries that are set during Thanksgiving. It makes me wonder what authors think about as they are sitting around the family dinner table eating turkey!)
Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich
When Megan Murphy discovered a floppy-eared rabbit gnawing on the hem of her skirt, she meant to give its careless owner a piece of her mind, but Dr. Patrick Hunter was too attractive to stay mad at for long. Soon the two are making Thanksgiving dinner for their families.
Bittersweet by Susan Wittig Albert
It’s Thanksgiving in Pecan Springs, and China Bayles is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother’s husband, Sam, who are enthusiastically embarking on a new enterprise—turning their former game ranch into a vacation retreat for birders. She’s also looking forward to catching up with her friend, game warden Mackenzie “Mack” Chambers, who was recently transferred to the area. Of course, murder interferes.
The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun
It’s Fall in Moose County and the Great Food Explo is underway! As veteran journalist Jim Qwilleran, aka Qwill, takes a class on how to make a turkey, hosts a cheese tasting, and participates in a bachelor auction, he also must trace a killer who has stuck twice and doesn’t plan to stop! Funny, cozy, and endearing, this is the 18th book in the popular Cat Who series.
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis
Few can compete with Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but her childhood rival, Sophie Winston, certainly tries. Natasha may have stolen the spotlight and Sophie’s husband but Sophie is determined to rob her of the prize for the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. She just needs the right ingredient. But Sophie’s search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse.
A Fatal Feast by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain (A Murder, She Wrote novel)
Jessica Fletcher would like to relax as Thanksgiving comes to Cabot Cove, but she’s hosting a bountiful dinner for an ever-growing guest list. She couldn’t be happier with the results-until she stumbles upon a body with a carving knife stuck in its chest…
The Ghost at the Table by Suzanne Berne
When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include her long-estranged father. Cynthia, her sister, however, doesn’t understand how Frances can ignore the past their father’s presence revives, a past that includes suspicions about their mother’s death twenty-five years earlier.
A Quilter’s Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverini
For the Elm Creek Quilters, the day after Thanksgiving marks the start of the quilting season. This year, in keeping with the season’s spirit of gratitude, Master Quilter Sylvia Cooper is eager to revive a cherished family tradition. A recent remodeling unearthed a cornucopia that once served as the centerpiece of the family’s holiday table. Into it, each person would place an object that symbolized something he or she was especially thankful for that year. On this quilter’s holiday, Sylvia has invited her friends to continue the tradition by sewing quilt blocks that represent their thankfulness and gratitude.
Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes
On Thanksgiving Day 2007, three generations of the Olson family gather. Eleanor and Gavin worry about their daughter, a single academic, and her newly adopted Indian child, and about their son, who has been caught in the imploding real-estate bubble.
Thanksgiving in Connecticut by May McGoldrick (eBook)
After a four year absence, Paige Coleman decides the time has come to face up to her past when her quirky grandmother throws the mother of all Thanksgivings to celebrate her recent marriage to ‘younger man’ Ed Fenwick. But with former flame Stanley Fenwick, grandson of the groom, sure to be a part of every event, Paige must now protect her heart as well as retain her sanity, even as her matchmaker grandmother uses every resource at her disposal to rekindle old fires of passion.
