Maisie Dobbs
historical mystery
Series · historical mystery
The Christmas Novellas
The Christmas Novellas series by Anne Perry has 21 known books (21 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with A Christmas Journey (2003).
- Books
- 21 known books (21 novellas)
- Published
- 21
- First published
- 2003
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime, Historical Fiction
- Last checked
Start here: A Christmas Journey (2003) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
A Christmas Journey
A Christmas Journey, published in 2003 at 180 pages, is the opening entry in what became Anne Perry's annual Christmas mystery tradition -- a self-contained Victorian- or Edwardian-era whodunit built around a seasonal setting, usually featuring a minor character borrowed from her Pitt or Monk novels rather than either series' central cast. Perry would return to this shorter, gift-book-friendly form every autumn for twenty-one consecutive years.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Journey - Book 2:
A Christmas Visitor
A Christmas Visitor, Perry's second annual Christmas novella, appeared in 2004 at 133 pages. Like the rest of the sequence it stands entirely on its own -- a Victorian or Edwardian whodunit set against a wintry backdrop, with no need to have read A Christmas Journey the year before or any other title in the run.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Visitor - Book 3:
A Christmas Guest
Published in 2005 at 173 pages, A Christmas Guest is the third of Perry's annual gift-book mysteries. As with the whole sequence, it's a self-contained case set in the depths of winter, unconnected to any ongoing plot from the previous two entries.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Guest - Book 4:
A Christmas Secret
A Christmas Secret, the fourth of Perry's Christmas novellas, came out in 2006 at 198 pages. It follows the pattern she kept for two decades: a compact, self-contained Victorian or Edwardian mystery timed for the autumn gift-book market, built around a seasonal setting like a family Christmas disrupted by an old secret.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Secret - Book 5:
A Christmas Beginning
A Christmas Beginning, published in 2007 at 190 pages, is the fifth in Perry's annual run of Christmas novellas. It can be read entirely on its own, as every entry in the sequence can -- there's no connected arc linking it to A Christmas Secret or the books that came before it.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Beginning - Book 6:
A Christmas Grace
A Christmas Grace appeared in 2008 at 210 pages, sitting between A Christmas Beginning and A Christmas Promise in Perry's yearly sequence. Five years into the tradition, she was still delivering a fresh, self-contained wintertime whodunit every autumn, often built around an isolated setting like a country house cut off by snow.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Grace - Book 7:
A Christmas Promise
A Christmas Promise, published in 2009, followed A Christmas Grace as the seventh of Perry's annual Christmas mysteries. Like its predecessors it's a stand-alone case rather than a continuation of anything from the earlier books, part of a tradition Perry would keep up for over a decade more.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Promise - Book 8:
A Christmas Odyssey
A Christmas Odyssey, the eighth entry in Perry's Christmas sequence, was published in 2010 at 153 pages. It carries the title's suggestion of a journey undertaken in the depths of winter, one of the recurring seasonal frames Perry used across the twenty-one-book run, and like every entry it's fully self-contained.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Odyssey - Book 9:
A Christmas Homecoming
A Christmas Homecoming followed A Christmas Odyssey as the ninth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas, appearing in 2011 at 212 pages. Nine years into the tradition, Perry was still producing a new self-contained wintertime mystery every autumn, generally built around a minor character borrowed from her Pitt or Monk novels.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Homecoming - Book 10:
A Christmas Garland
Published in 2012 at 194 pages, A Christmas Garland is the tenth of Perry's annual Christmas mysteries -- a milestone in a tradition that would eventually run to twenty-one consecutive years. Like every entry, it stands alone, with its own case and cast rather than continuing a plot from earlier titles.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Garland - Book 11:
A Christmas Hope
A Christmas Hope, published in 2013 at 168 pages, is the eleventh entry in Perry's yearly Christmas novella sequence. As with the rest of the run, it's a complete, self-contained Victorian- or Edwardian-era whodunit, requiring no familiarity with the ten novellas that preceded it.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Hope - Book 12:
A New York Christmas
A New York Christmas, the twelfth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas, appeared in 2014 at 164 pages -- a rare entry set outside Britain, though it keeps the same self-contained seasonal-mystery format Perry used throughout the twenty-one-book tradition.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A New York Christmas - Book 13:
A Christmas Escape
A Christmas Escape sits between A New York Christmas and A Christmas Message as the thirteenth entry in Perry's annual sequence, published in 2015 at 150 pages. It's a self-contained wintertime mystery in the same mold as its twelve predecessors, with its own case and characters.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Escape - Book 14:
A Christmas Message
A Christmas Message followed A Christmas Escape into print in 2016 as the fourteenth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas, running 160 pages. Well over a decade into the tradition, Perry was still delivering a fresh, self-contained seasonal whodunit every autumn.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Message - Book 15:
A Christmas Return
A Christmas Return, published in 2017, is the fifteenth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas and, at 500 pages, by far the longest of the sequence -- several times the length of most of its predecessors. It remains a self-contained wintertime mystery, unconnected to any ongoing plot from earlier entries.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Return - Book 16:
A Christmas Revelation
A Christmas Revelation came out in 2018, sitting between the unusually long A Christmas Return and A Christmas Gathering in Perry's annual sequence. Sixteen years into the tradition, it continues the format of a self-contained Victorian- or Edwardian-era case built around a seasonal setting.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Revelation - Book 17:
A Christmas Gathering
A Christmas Gathering, the seventeenth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas, was published in 2019 at 120 pages. Like every entry in the run, it's a complete, stand-alone mystery -- no connection to the sixteen novellas published before it is required.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Gathering - Book 18:
A Christmas Resolution
A Christmas Resolution, published in 2020 at 119 pages, is the eighteenth of Perry's yearly Christmas mysteries. Nearly two decades into the tradition, it keeps the same self-contained format: a Victorian- or Edwardian-era whodunit built around a wintertime setting, with no ongoing arc to track from prior books.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Resolution - Book 19:
A Christmas Legacy
A Christmas Legacy followed A Christmas Resolution as the nineteenth of Perry's annual Christmas novellas, appearing in 2021 at 320 pages -- one of the longer entries in a sequence that had mostly run under 200 pages. As always, it's a self-contained case rather than a continuation of anything from earlier titles.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Legacy - Book 20:
A Christmas Deliverance
Preceded by A Christmas Legacy and followed by A Christmas Vanishing, A Christmas Deliverance holds the 20th spot in The Christmas Novellas, dated 2022.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Deliverance - Book 21:
A Christmas Vanishing
A Christmas Vanishing, published in 2023, is the twenty-first and final entry in Perry's annual Christmas novella tradition, appearing the year of her death and closing out a run that had begun with A Christmas Journey in 2003. Like every book in the sequence, it's a self-contained Victorian- or Edwardian-era mystery built around a seasonal setting.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Christmas Vanishing
About The Christmas Novellas
Starting in 2003, Anne Perry published a new short mystery novella every autumn, timed for the Christmas gift-book market, for twenty-one consecutive years. Each is a self-contained Victorian- or Edwardian-era whodunit, generally featuring a minor character borrowed from her Charlotte and Thomas Pitt or William Monk novels -- a friend, relative, or supporting player given their own case to solve away from the main series -- rather than continuing either series' central cast, and each is built around a seasonal setting: a country house cut off by snow, a family Christmas disrupted by an old secret, a journey undertaken in the depths of winter.
Read individually rather than as a connected arc, the novellas were Perry's annual return to shorter-form, gift-book-friendly mystery writing alongside her longer series, and together they form one of the longest-running annual crime-fiction traditions in the genre -- ending only with A Christmas Vanishing (2023), published the year of her death.
Frequently asked questions
How many Christmas novellas did Anne Perry write?
Twenty-one, published annually from A Christmas Journey (2003) through A Christmas Vanishing (2023), the year of her death.
Do I need to read the Christmas novellas in order?
No -- each is a self-contained mystery with its own case. They aren't a continuing storyline.
Are the Christmas novellas connected to Anne Perry's main series?
Loosely. Many feature a minor character borrowed from the William Monk or Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, given their own standalone case, rather than continuing either series' central plot.
What is the last Anne Perry Christmas novella?
A Christmas Vanishing (2023), published the year Anne Perry died.
Are the Christmas novellas full-length novels?
No, they're shorter gift-book-length novellas, published annually each autumn ahead of the Christmas market, distinct from her full-length series novels.
If you like The Christmas Novellas
Reading order last verified .