Is it the start of December already? We'd best get on with rounding up some holiday- oriented books, which include mystery, humor, feel-good and romance:

"Dashing Through the Snow" by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, $23, 240 pages): The mother-daughter (respectively) mystery writers set their fifth yuletide suspense novel in a small New Hampshire town. Two visiting sleuths must solve a puzzle involving a multimillion-dollar lottery ticket and a missing person.

"The Spy Who Came for Christmas" by David Morrell (Vanguard, $15.95, 220 pages): The award- winning thriller novelist tells a Christmas Eve story about a wounded American spy in Santa Fe, N.M. who is trying to keep a very special baby safe from kidnapping by the Russian mob. He finds help from a distraught single mother and her 12-year-old son, who are themselves in a different kind of danger.

"Six Geese a-Slaying" by Donna Andrews (St. Martin's, $22.95, 288 pages): The 10th title in the series involves amateur sleuth Meg Langslow's search for a Santa killer (she's hoping he won't spoil the Christmas pageant).

"A Christmas Grace" by Anne Perry (Ballantine, $18, 224 pages): The veteran novelist's sixth Christmas-themed book is serious, but fast-moving. At a priest's request, a niece travels to the remote Irish coast to comfort an ailing aunt, and ends up solving a mystery that has long haunted the whole village.

"Holidays On Ice" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $16.99, 176 pages): The popular humor writer compiles a dozen wacky stories (six of which are new) that could happen only around the holidays and be recounted only in the inimitable Sedaris style.

"The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog" by Dave Barry (Berkeley, $14, 128 pages): The Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist's twisted tale is reissued once again, and we're happier for it. Barry returns to the 1960s to tell how a family's new dog wrecks the church's Christmas play.

"Immoveable Feast" by John Baxter (Harper, $13.95, 288 pages): Bon vivant Baxter, who specializes in biographies of famous directors (Fellini, Spielberg, Lucas), recounts in 28 essays his amusing experiences with Christmases abroad.

"Nothing with Strings" by Bailey White (Scribner, $24, 208 pages): Each year, White contributes a holiday story to NPR's "All Things Considered" show. This collection of 13 tales tells of the accomplishments by extraordinary characters who live in small-town America (just like White herself).

"The Christmas Pearl" by Dorothea Benton Frank (William Morrow, $14.95, 176 pages): In this perennial favorite, matriarch Theodora, 93, is surrounded by troublesome family members during Christmas and is missing her grandmother's housekeeper, Pearl, who took charge of the holidays when Theodora was growing up in the 1920s. Who should show up but Pearl's ghost, once again setting things right.

"Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances" by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle (Puffin, $9.99, 400 pages): The trio of authors – who write young-adult fiction – interconnect their stories of chance meetings, destiny, romance and young love in a small-town setting.

"A Wallflower Christmas" by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin's, $16.95, 224 pages): This historical romance takes readers to England's Regency period, where a young innocent abroad – under pressure from his wealthy father – must choose between love and duty.

"Christmas on Jane Street" by Billy Romp, with Wanda Urbanska (Harper, $12.95, 160 pages): The 10th anniversary edition of the sentimental true story is about the Romps, a family of Christmas tree growers who drive to Greenwich Village, N.Y., each December to sell their wares. Drama unfolds, but reconciliation follows.

Upcoming author events

The Barnes & Noble bookstore in Citrus Heights will host two events; it's at 6111 Sunrise Blvd., (916) 853-1389:

• Jim Brown for "Folsom Prison" (Arcadia, $19.99, 128 pages): Former correctional officer Brown tells the pictures-and-words history of California's second-oldest prison. Event: 1 p.m. Saturday.

• Steven Avella for "Sacramento: Indomitable City" (Arcadia, $24.99, 160 pages): From the distant past to our likely future, historian Avella examines our city.

Event: 1 p.m. Dec. 14.

Book sale ahead

The Sylvan Oaks Library will host a book sale from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. On offer will be hardback and paperback books in all genres, ranging from 25 cents to $5. The library is at 6700 Auburn Blvd., Citrus Heights, (916) 729-6991.

What in the word?

If you're reading this column, chances are good you care about words. Language is a living thing and our vocabularies have pulses, you'll agree. New words come, old words go.

With that in mind, try this:

After having counted the nationwide votes, today the editors of Webster's New World College Dictionary will announce the winner of their 2008 Word of the Year contest.

"We (editors and researchers) surveyed the emerging English of the past year," explained editor-in-chief Michael Agnes, "and chose words or phrases that captured our imaginations – whether with their intrinsic linguistic attributes or by the way they express how language reflects changing realities."

The contenders were:

• "cyberchondriac"

• "leisure sickness"

• "overshare"

• "selective ignorance"

• "youthanasia"

To hear definitions and to find out which word was voted the winner, go to www.newworldword.com.

The Bee's Allen Pierleoni can be reached at (916) 321-1128 or apierleoni@sacbee.com. Contact him with news of coming literary events that are open to the public.