Holiday cozies are exactly what they sound like: cozy mysteries set during a specific holiday or season. Christmas cozies are by far the most popular, but you will also find mysteries set during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Easter, the Fourth of July, and various regional festivals. The holiday setting amplifies everything that makes cozies appealing. The small town is decorated. Community events are underway. Everyone is gathered together, which means more suspects and more secrets. The warmth and nostalgia of the holiday season creates a contrast with the crime that makes the mystery feel more compelling. Many prolific cozy authors release holiday-themed entries in their ongoing series, so you will often find Christmas books from your favorite series scattered throughout. But there are also standalone holiday anthologies and series built entirely around the holiday calendar.
Meg Corey runs an orchard and Christmas tree farm in rural Massachusetts. The seasonal setting is integral to the story.
Merry Wilkinson runs a year-round Christmas shop called Mrs. Claus's Treasures in Rudolph, New York. Yes, the town is called Rudolph.
An ongoing sub-series within Laura Childs' catalog focused around the holiday season.
While not books, the Hallmark Channel's mystery movies have heavily borrowed from cozy mystery conventions and often air during holiday seasons.
Back to all subgenres. For a general introduction to the genre, see What Are Cozy Mysteries?