One in 40 of us got an e-reader last Christmas and, judging by the number of new ebook exclusives and promotions, it looks as if publishers are banking on another festive rush.

The best of December's digital-only short stories is Jonathan Coe's "Pentatonic" (Penguin Specials £1.99), a sweetly melancholic reflection on music, ageing and marital breakdown that also comes as an audio download narrated by the author and set to the music that inspired it. In any other writer's hands this could be horribly pretentious, but Coe pulls it off beautifully.

Helen Dunmore's "The Land Lubbers Lying Down Below" (Penguin Specials £1.99) is an enchanting tale inspired by Mozart's childhood concerts that reads like a sketch for a full-length novel. Other new shorts include "Genie" by Richard Powers (Byliner £1.92) and "Agatha Raisin and the Christmas Crumble" (Constable and Robinson £1.71, out 6 December) by MC Beaton. One publisher, Pan Macmillan, is giving two away free: Edie Kiglatuk's "Christmas" by MJ McGrath and "The Innocent" by MR Hall (out 6 December).

Macmillan is also experimenting with bundles, where a clutch of ebooks is sold as one. Highlights include Douglas Adams's Trilogy of Five Hitchhiker's titles (£19.69) and the first three books in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series (£14.32). It's a great idea, though Kindle owners beware: thanks to unpredictable Amazon pricing, it sometimes works out cheaper to buy the ebooks separately.

Another creative publisher is Head of Zeus, making the most of digital's low risks to release a handful of series in their entirety. I recommend Jane Finnis's Aurelia Marcella novels, the first of which is Shadows in the Night (£4.28). Set in Roman Britain, these are enjoyable enough to overcome even the deepest-set prejudices against historical detective fiction.