The facade of the Peter White Public Library in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Travel Marquette)

It is the most wonderful time of the year, as the old Christmas song goes.

The days are shorter, and the nights are longer. It’s a great time to curl up with a good yuletide book to ring in the holidays.

If mystery and romance are your things, “The Secret Christmas Library” by Jenny Colgan (FIC COLGAN) is what you should check out. Mirren Sutherland, an antiquarian book hunter, is contacted by the laird of a Highland clan, Jamie McKinnon, to find a rare book hidden somewhere in his family’s crumbling castle. Following clues left by Jamie’s grandfather, the two must race a rival book hunter to locate the priceless volume and save Jamie’s family estate.

If that isn’t enough mystery for you, try “A Fatal Grace” by mystery master Louise Penny (MYS PENNY). In the small town of Three Pines in Quebec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache investigates the murder of CC de Poitiers. The victim, a universally disliked Three Pines resident, is electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake in front of the entire village during a holiday curling tournament. Yet nobody witnesses anything suspicious. Gamache dives deep into Three Lakes’ history in order to unravel the killing.

Author Rosamunde Pilcher’s “Winter Solstice” (FIC PILCHER) is sure to kindle the fires of your holiday heart. Elfrida Phipps, attempting to escape a recent personal tragedy, settles into a house in the Scottish town of Corrydale. She soon encounters a cast of locals, each carrying their own burdens and tragedies. As the winter solstice and Christmas approaches, Elfrida and her new friends find healing and love in the deeps of December.

If historical fiction is on your Christmas list, look no further than “Mr. Dickens and His Carol” by Samantha Silva (FIC SILVA). Charles Dickens is struggling financially and personally. Money is tight. His newest book is a flop, and his publishers are pressuring him to write a Christmas book to recoup their losses. With his ever-expanding family clamoring for the annual Dickens yuletide party, the famous writer embarks on a Scrooge-like adventure, replete with thieves, orphans and, maybe, a ghost or two.

If you’re still hungry for a mashup of history and literature, try Patti Callahan’s “Once Upon a Wardrobe” (FIC CALLAHA). Megs Devonshire, a brilliant Oxford student, has a younger brother, George, who is terminally ill. When George becomes obsessed with C.S. Lewis’s newly published fantasy “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” begging Meg to discover the origins of Narnia, she can’t refuse. She reaches out to Lewis, and the famous author takes her on a storytelling journey that gives her the gift of hope.

So, visit Peter White Public Library, check out some books, put Bing Crosby on the turntable, pour yourself a cup of eggnog, and settle in for a very merry, literary holiday.

Martin Achatz is the adult programming coordinator for the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.