Amateur Sleuth Cozy

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim—the Thursday Murder Club—are still riding high off their recent real-life murder case and are looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at Cooper’s Chase, their posh retirement village. But they are out of luck. An unexpected visitor—an old pal of Elizabeth’s (or perhaps more than just a pal?)—arrives, desperate for her help. He has been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men and he’s seriously on the lam.

Welcome to Quillhaven, where candy carries enchantment and secrets are as sweet—and sticky—as caramel. When Sophie Vanora inherits her great-aunt’s candy shop, Sugar Spells, she’s expecting powdered sugar and peppermint bark—not magical confections and mysterious break-ins. But when her aunt’s secret recipe book of enchanted sweets vanishes, and an ominous note reading Lullaby and good night is left behind, Sophie knows this is more than petty theft. Someone is after the magic—and they don’t intend to play nice. With the help of quirky townsfolk, a pair of mischievous feline...

From USA Today bestselling author, Julie Mulhern, comes a short worthy of the Country Club Murders name. For Aggie DeLucci, former assistant private investigator and current housekeeper extraordinaire, 1975 is turning out to be a banner year. There’s a new man her life, Mac. He makes her laugh, takes her dancing, and makes a helluva salami sandwich. When Mac is accused of theft, it’s up to Aggie to clear his name. She’ll have to polish her slightly tarnished investigative kills and tame her fears (and her hair) to catch the real thief. If this is your first trip to 70s Kansas City, ...

The Enchanted Village always has a touch of magic about it, but the buzz of excitement over the wedding between wish-granting witch Darcy and Police Chief Nick Sawyer is positively electric. With every spellbinding detail planned to perfection, all that's left is to sit back and let wishes come true. But Darcy's dream wedding is threatened when the Divinitea Cottage, the tea room hosting her bridal luncheon, goes up in flames, revealing the strangled body of the owner, Leyna Noble.

Amidst the heart-wrenching turmoil of her husband's unexpected demise, Avery Parker has returned to her hometown. This three-book collection unravels the dark secrets lurking as Avery works to bring justice to victims of the community’s heinous crimes. Join Avery, her golden retriever, Sprinkles, and new friends as they uncork, sip, and solve small town murders in Los Robles! Murder at the Wine Cave Avery and her close-knit group of friends uncover a shocking secret during a winery tour—a body concealed in a wine cave. As suspicions swirl and authorities investigate, Avery and Sprinkles...

When Krissy Hancock and her best friend, Vicki, decide to open a bookstore cafe in their new town of Pine Hills, they decide to call it Death by Coffee, after Krissy's father's most famous mystery novel. Little do they know how well the name fits.... On their very first day of business, Brendon Lawyer huffily takes his coffee...to the grave. It seems he had a severe allergy to peanuts...but how could there have been nuts in his coffee? And who stole his emergency allergy medication?

The She-Cat, The Shyster, and The Soccer MomCharlotte had not spoken to Beau Jayden, her father’s close friend and college, since the day of Matthew’s funeral. Yet here he was, ten years later, to elicit her help in retrieving a thumb drive which could implicate her father in a crime. Desperate to save her father’s reputation, she turns to Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock, who is questioning his intuition due to his inability to control his feline instincts, is hesitant to take on the case. With the encouragement and undying faith of Watson, he attempts to regain his human dignity. ...

In the wake of the upcoming Confederate Day celebration, the Dahlias set out to solve a rash of mysterious occurrences. They' re ready to tackle the secret code embroidered on a family heirloom and suss out why one local resident is acting quite strange - yet nothing prepares them for one of their own being accused of stealing county funds.

On a lovely moonlit night, while carrying a gift of mice to a litter of kittens, Joe Grey stumbles upon a murder scene. Behind an empty house, in an empty swimming pool, there’s blood, the smell of human death, and drag marks. But there’s no victim—and it’s hard to prove a crime without a corpse. Driven by stubborn feline curiosity, Joe Grey sets out to investigate. With Dulcie and Kit following him along a killer’s trail, Joe discovers evidence of conflict among the residents of this seemingly peaceful neighborhood.

From the author of the bestselling Pelican Cove series - Meet Meera Patel - college dropout and reluctant amateur sleuth The women's club elections are coming up and Meera’s grandma is competing against Dot Brown, the local school teacher. Then Dot is found dead at the annual club meeting, clutching a dumpling Meera cooked. The Patel women instantly become top suspects. Forced to go sleuthing again, Meera uncovers a malicious crime that has affected most people in Swan Creek. Dot is at the centre of it all and everyone and their mother wanted to kill her. As the situation in town worsens,...

My tiny town of Fig Harbor's just recovering from our last tango with murder, only to be faced with yet another - and this time, it sure looks an awful lot like a vampire's on the loose in the PNW. Vampires are just Twilight fiction, right? I'm not so sure after a murder victim is found in my koi pond right next to my favorite fish, Koi George, (not good!), with bite marks on her neck and a gothic antique chalice next to her body with blood residue.

Lucinda Beckwith Long, the mayor of Athena, has donated a set of Civil War-era diaries to the archives of Athena College. The mayor would like Charlie to preserve and to substantiate them as a part of the Long family legacy - something that could benefit her son Beck as he prepares to campaign for the state senate.

Haley Randolph is always ready to go to any lengths to get the latest Louis Vuitton. Unfortunately for Haley, her life goes from glam to grim when her passion for fashion outlasts her credit cards, and she's forced to work at Holt's - a mid-market department store. Looking for a bit of shopping inspiration, Haley sneaks into the stock room to get a first glimpse of Holt's one-of-a-kind selection of handbag styles. But instead of the newest Vuitton, Haley discovers her boss is the ultimate fashion victim.

A stitched map. A double trail. And a race against someone who’s always one step ahead. When a cryptic letter and an inheritance notice bring pilot Jack Holt back to Maplewood Hollow after his great-aunt Edna’s death, he expects a keepsake—maybe a quilt, maybe a box of memories. What he finds is a coded trail, a warning not to go it alone, and a treasure someone else is already chasing. Joining forces with Magda Lane, antique expert and puzzle-savant, Jack follows Edna’s final mystery, one clue at a time: orchard roots, tampered compasses, invisible ink, and faces scratched from ...

Until now, Odessa Jones's inherited ability to read emotions and foretell danger has protected her. But second sight didn't warn her she would soon be a widow - and about to lose her home and the catering business she's worked so hard to build. The only things keeping Dessa going are her love for baking and her sometimes-mellow cat, Juniper. Unfortunately, putting her life back together means taking a gig at an all-kinds-of-shady real estate firm run by volatile owner Charlie Risko. Until Charlie is brutally killed - and Dessa's bullied coworker is arrested for murder.

Pen has just received an extremely rare collection of Edgar Allan Poe's complete works. Rumor has it a secret code, trapped within the books' leather-bound pages leads, to buried treasure. Well, it looks like they got the buried part right because, as Pen sells off the valuable volumes, everyone who buys - dies. Once these books go missing from their owners' cold hands, Pen will need resident ghost and hard-boiled P.I. Jack Shepard to help crack the case. The police are skeptical that the deaths involved foul play - so it's up to them to unravel these shocking endings.

A body in the waves. A town full of secrets. A detective duo like no other. What should have been a routine lifeguard exercise turns deadly when Inspector Enna Koopmann stumbles upon a chilling discovery—a man floating in the North Sea, the victim of a suspicious drowning. With no obvious motive and a million euros mysteriously wiped from his debts before his death, Enna and her meticulous new partner, Detective Chief Inspector Pavel Neuhof, have their work cut out for them. As they dig deeper into the case, they uncover a web of secrets lurking beneath this quiet coastal town. But every ...

The rice is ripe in Provence… and so is a wicked murder plot. During a rice-themed culinary competition, head judge and top food critic Seraphin Rampal is found face down in the Rhône River. The gendarmes believe it was a drunken accident. But pastry chef Julie Cavallo disagrees. With the help of her misfit crew, she discovers that much more than rankings were at stake. Ruined careers, shortchanged colleagues, and scorned girlfriends all point to one thing: many in the region’s finest kitchens wanted Seraphin Rampal to pay. As their unsavory secrets come to light, danger closes in, ...

The quiet town of Jubilee Lake is shocked when the town's most grumpy resident, Mr. Jenkins, is found dead inside his pet shop, Bark Park. Panic spreads when the autopsy reveals that Randolph Jenkins died from eating a cupcake laced with cyanide. Jake Rivers becomes the prime suspect when it is discovered that the deadly treat came from his bakery, Whisked Away. The case intrigues Molly Donovan, the town’s leading amateur detective. When Jake Rivers seeks help in clearing his name, Molly agrees to assist. She finds Jake charming, but she also believes he is innocent, even though the ...

Charlie Harris is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this year's annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that weren't bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlie's old nemesis from library school. It's been 30 years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and he's still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyone's skin.