One of the most common questions writers are asked at book events is who we read. So here are the results of a pre-Christmas poll taken with MCW writers, asking what books were on their holiday lists and what books they were giving. What was on your list, Dear Reader? And what books did you give?

Lea Wait: Title of one book I’d like to get? Barbara Shapiro’s The Muralist.

One book I’m giving?  A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters by Gale Eaton (for my 12-year-old grandson who wants all the gory details!)

Chris Holm: One book I asked for this year was Shannon Kirk’s METHOD 15/33. Shannon and I were on a panel together at Crime Bake, and as soon as she mentioned her book’s premise — a pregnant sixteen-year-old abductee turns out to be a manipulative sociopath hellbent on revenge — I knew I had to read it.

As for a book I’m giving (MOM, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, LOOK AWAY OR BE SPOILED), I got my mom Val McDermid’s THE MERMAIDS SINGING. I have a feeling McDermid’s going to have a new superfan very soon.

Kathy Lynn Emerson: I’m giving my great niece, at her request, James Dashner’s The Death Cure, Book 3 in the Maze Runner series. She’ll be 13 in February.

We don’t really exchange presents at Christmas, except for said great niece, but my after-Christmas ebook shopping list has Lea Wait’s Thread and Gone at the top. It comes out December 29th.

Susan Vaughan: A book I’m giving is Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings, along with a matching shirt, to my one-year-old great niece. A book I’d like to receive is Playing with Fire, Tess Gerritsen’s new release.

Jessie Crockett: For the book I would like to receive: Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians: The Victorian Age of Credulity by Keith Souter. I am giving Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist by Tim Federle.

Jen Blood: Title of one book I’d like to get. I usually just go ahead and buy fiction for myself (or get it from the library), but the cost of nonfiction tomes for research is a little tougher sometimes. There’s one, Wildlife Search and Rescue: A Guide for First Responders, that I’d love but thus far haven’t splurged on (or asked for). It’s almost $40 for the Kindle version, though, and $60 for the paperback… That’s a hefty price tag. But it really does look like a great, informative reference. (Can you hear me trying to talk myself into this? Because that’s pretty much what’s happening as I write this).

As for books I’m giving… My mom is a big J.D. Robb fan, so I’ll pick up the latest Eve & Roarke novel for her. And on Thanksgiving, my dad gave us this really bizarre but heartfelt lecture on the inherent superiority of the Chinese culture, so I got him The Spirit of the Chinese People: The Classic Introduction to Chinese Culture, by Gu Hongming.

Brenda Buchanan: Two books I would like to receive this year:  Laura Lippman’s  Hush Hush in fiction and Atul Gwande’s Being Mortal in nonfiction.

Books I plan to give:  Among others, Robert McCloskey’s A Time of Wonder, to my grandniece Caeley, who is about to turn 5 and just learning to read. She loves Maine, but does not (yet) read this blog, so saying it here won’t ruin the surprise.

Kate Flora: Like Lea Wait, I want a copy of The Muralist. B.A. Shapiro has been a friend for years, and her determination not to quit in the face of overwhelming discouragement, and knuckling down and writing even better books, is such an inspiration to me.

Giving? Well, they have never been on my literary landscape, but I’m giving my grandson Miles three Plants vs. Zombies books. Who knew?

John Clark: The Sister Pact by Stacie Ramey. I’m giving a copy of Code Name Habbakuk: A Secret Ship Made of Ice, a book I found in a shop when we were on our tour of the Canadian Rockies last summer.