If my memory serves me correctly, I was 17 years old when I stumbled upon The Christmas Box Collection, an omnibus paperback featuring The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and The Letter by Richard Paul Evans. It was my first venture in the sentimental holiday romance genre, and I've been a fan of Evans's stories ever since.

There's nothing better to get you into the Christmas spirit than reading a holiday-themed novel. For me, I'm referring to the recently released The Noel Letters by New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans. It's the fourth entry in his standalone Noel Collection series.

The novel centers on Noel Post, a New York publishing house editor who returns to her childhood home in Salt Lake City to visit her dying father. Unfortunately, by the time she arrives, her father has already passed away. On top of grieving about the nearly two decades of estrangement from her father, she's still struggling to get over her recent divorce. Plus, she's almost sure her editing job is long gone due to her negative attitude.

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Old Saint Nick is missing, sparking shenanigans in the town of Santa Claus.

Private Eye Nala Bonne and her trusty crime-fighting rescue dog Max spend their days surfing social media for telltale signs of disability fraud and philandering husbands, but when a lucrative opportunity to investigate something entirely different, Nala readily agrees to take the case. The task: find a missing Santa impersonator.

Just in time for the holiday season is 'Tis The Season Murder (Kensington Books; $12.95; 410 pages) by New York Times bestselling author Leslie Meier, featuring two Lucy Stone Holiday Mysteries — New Year's Eve Murder and Christmas Carol Murder.

New Year's Eve Murder

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker’s Cove has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter are ready to ring in the new year in style. Elizabeth has won mother/daughter winter makeovers in Manhattan from Jolie magazine! But the all-expenses-paid trip is bound to have some hidden costs—and one of them is murder. Soon it will be up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square . . .

Christmas Carol Murder

Lucy Stone is excited about acting in the town’s production of A Christmas Carol. But a real-life Scrooge has everyone feeling frosty. While Tinker’s Cove has fallen on hard times, Downeast Mortgage owners Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner are raking in profits from misfortune. So when Marlowe is murdered, the suspects are many. But Scribner claims Marlowe’s ghost has come to warn him of his own impending demise—and he’s soon receiving death threats. Now Lucy will have to solve the case faster than she can say “Bah! Humbug!”. . .

#1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans is back with his newest holiday romance — Noel Street (Gallery Books; $21.99; 290 pages).

"The year is 1975. Elle Sheen—a single mother who is supporting herself and her six-year-old, African-American son, Dylan, as a waitress at the Noel Street Diner—isn’t sure what to make of William Smith when his appearance creates a stir in the small town of Mistletoe, Utah. As their lives unexpectedly entwine, Elle learns that William, a recently returned Vietnam POW, is not only fighting demons from his past, but may also have the answer to her own secret pain—a revelation that culminates in a remarkable act of love and forgiveness."