Cozy Crime Fiction

When Dr. Georges Moutte is found murdered, investigator Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Universite d'Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor - a highly coveted position - when his lips were sealed permanently. But Verlaque isn't convinced anyone in the tiny community of academics is capable of murder.

One winter's night, bookseller Delaney Nichols and her coworker Hamlet are invited to a Burns Night dinner, a traditional Scottish celebration of the poet Robert Burns. She's perplexed by the invitation, but intrigued. The dinner takes place at Burns House itself, a tiny cottage not far from the Cracked Spine bookshop but well hidden. There, it becomes clear that Delaney and Hamlet were summoned in an attempt to make amends between Edwin, Delaney's boss, and one of the other invitees, who suspected Edwin for burning down his own bookshop.

Family meant everything to Ayden Stratton. It always had even when he didn’t always allow it to show. Because of that, he understood the fury in Tobias Blaise’s eyes when they learned that his sister had been dragged out the backdoor of her restaurant despite every effort to stop her from being kidnapped. Fury didn’t begin to describe what he saw in his brother’s face. Cassidy Blaise might be Tobias’s sister, but she was Benjamin’s entire world. Tobias Blaise never expected to find any woman he wanted to spend his life with, let alone one who looked at him the way Ellis did, ...

Seventy-seven-year-old Judith Potts is blissfully happy. She lives alone in a faded mansion in Marlow, sets crosswords for The Times, and there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink. One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. When the local police don’t believe her story, Judith and two unlikely friends decide to investigate for themselves. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

Paislee's custom sweater and yarn business, Cashmere Crush, is the sole support for not only the single mum and her 10-year-old son, Brody, but also her eccentric Gramps and Wallace, their black Scottish terrier. So when her landlord, Shawn Marcus, serves her an eviction notice and then pulls a disappearing act, she'll go to any lengths to find the man and reason with him.

Charming, devilishly handsome, and talented, Vincent teases the crowd with a reading from his forthcoming novel. Set in a village bearing strange similarities to Berrywick, with characters the audience start to recognize, Vincent hints of dark secrets to be revealed, to gasps of outrage from the room. The meeting ends in uproar, and, just hours later, Vincent’s dead body is discovered behind the bookshelves....

Ava Sinclair thought she'd found the perfect escape this Christmas – her great-aunt's cozy cottage in sleepy Hazelwood. That dream shattered the moment Victor Quincey walked into Sam's Bar, brandishing plans to tear down half the town for his luxury resort. For bar owner former Sergeant Sam Dawson, this wasn't how he'd pictured reuniting with his old army unit for Christmas. The fact that Victor Quincey was Sam’s fallen comrade's bitter stepfather only made the betrayal of bulldozing the town sting worse. The evening might have ended there, if Mother Nature hadn't had other plans. A ...

Autumn, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift is invited to her old school, St Mary’s, as a guest speaker. Her favorite teacher, Mrs. Wadsworth, has asked that Eleanor talk about her intrepid travels around the globe - travelling the Silk Road by bicycle, crossing the Himalayas and even befriending the Maharaja of India. But in the circumstances, perhaps it would have been a good idea to talk about her career as a daring detective. Because no sooner has Eleanor brushed up on her times tables than she is greeted by terrible news: Mrs. Wadsworth has been murdered.

Pru's life in England is coming full circle. A Texas transplant, she's married to the love of her life, thriving in the plum gardening position she shares with her long-lost brother, and prepping a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit featuring the beloved bluebonnets of the Texas hill country. Technically, Twyla Woodford, the president of a gardening club in the Lone Star State, is in charge of the London event, but Pru seems to be the one getting her hands dirty. When they finally do meet, Pru senses a kindred spirit - until Twyla turns up dead.

Miss Julia has promised her husband, Sam, to mind her own business. What a relief! She doesn't have to spring into action when a dead body is found in a toolshed six blocks from her house. Instead, she can concentrate on what's really important-like figuring out who's been passing bad checks in her name and, most important, preparing for Hazel Marie's impending due date. Then again, who else can figure out why that awful Thurlow Jones is trying to cast suspicion on someone Miss Julia feels certain is innocent? And, after all, what Sam doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

Thanksgiving usually kicks off the Christmas season with plenty of turkey and football. But in Coyote Wells, Gemma’s dinner for twenty is hijacked when a dead body turns up in Christmas Creek. Chief of Police Lando Bonner soon arrives on the scene and realizes it’s one of the town’s most prominent citizens. When the body count keeps going up, he discovers the killer has a penchant for shotguns. Anyone could be next, including those closest to him Is the motive money or a personal grudge? There are enough suspects to fill out Santa’s naughty list two times over. The main target had a...

Mina Wilde is thrilled to be invited to a prestigious writers' retreat at Meddleworth House. Heathcliff, Morrie, and Quoth decide to come along to keep her company and indulge in some of the estate's activities. Mina is excited to get feedback on her first novel, but her dreams of writing stardom are shattered when the other writers tear her work to pieces. A little criticism never hurt anyone, right? Wrong. Their picturesque country holiday soon turns deadly when a violent storm closes in. As the writers gather around the fire to critique each other's work, the power goes out.

Winner of Literary Titan Award Outstanding Creator Award for Cozy Mysteries Outstanding Creator Award for Crime Outstanding Creator Award for Women's Fiction It's a whodunnit stay-up-all-night mystery about a murdered well-to-do landowner and the shocking revelations from his fifty-year-old adulterous affair. A captivating fifty-year-old adulterous affair ensnares a man and his family into a twisted labyrinth of secrets, deceit, betrayal, murder, and vigilante justice. All these years later, the repercussions of the affair come to a head with his murder. Who did it? Sultry combines a murder...

Opening her shop Cashmere Crush and making a new home for herself, her son Brody, Gramps, and their black Scottish terrier Wallace in the beautiful Scottish village of Nairn, is a dream come true. So Paislee is happy to give back by donating a luxurious cashmere sweater for an auction to raise money for the Nairn Food Bank. She's less happy to make the acquaintance of a clique of competitive moms at the charity event, who treat a baking contest like it's life or death. It turns out to be the latter for queen bee Kirsten Buchanan.

An ex-husband. A former best friend. A kidnap. When Charlotte's ex-husband Idris, the newest star of the Vipers' Nest TV Show, is kidnapped, his current wife Michelle reaches out to Charlotte for help. It's a difficult request, considering that Idris cheated on Charlotte with Michelle, who was once Charlotte's closest friend. Despite the painful history between them, Charlotte agrees to help Michelle track him down. Working alongside her partner Angus, they set out to uncover the truth behind Idris's disappearance. With only a handful of clues to go on, they must race against time to find ...

Question: What does a dead Kornville councilman, a nationally televised baking competition, and thousands of missing dollars have in common? Answer: Tabitha Clive! Amateur sleuth and baker extraordinaire Tabitha Clive must save Kornville’s new Mayor’s reputation before it is too late. The year is 1966 and Abigail Clive is doing an excellent job as the newly appointed mayor of Kornville, Nebraska. Well, it was going well until her harshest critic turns up dead. To make matters worse, money is missing from the town’s road improvement account, and no one knows where it has gone. Among ...

Jason Brazel is an out-of-work journalist who lives in Penrith with his family and mother-in-law, Amita. She knows everyone and everything that’s going on in this corner of the Lakes. So when it’s discovered that Madeline Forbisher, one of Amita’s fellow regulars at the bingo club has died, found by the postman outside her crumbling country home close to Ullswater Lake, she senses immediately this is no accident. The trouble is, no one else seems to take her suspicions seriously. That is, until she enlists the help of her friends at the Penrith Bingo Club.

In a poisonous cloud of spray, the curtain falls on a drama queen. Little did beloved British actress Mary Bellamy know that she would be done in at her own birthday party - choked by toxic mist from the bottle of Slaypest, a deadly insecticide. Basking in the glow of her most adoring fans - who all happened to be her most duplicitous enemies - Mary would make her final performance.

When cupcake-loving croupier Tiffany Black attends an office party at her friend Jack’s casino, she doesn’t expect murder to be on the menu. Tim and Susan, employees in Jack’s human resources department, collapse during the event. When Susan dies from what appears to have been intentional poisoning, Tiffany has no choice but to take the case. Who would’ve wanted to kill Susan, a pretty and charming young woman with seemingly no enemies but maybe a few too many admirers? As Tiffany investigates her death, she uncovers a surprising life, and an office rife with simmering resentments. ...

A Cupcakes-And-Crime Caper Cupcake-loving croupier Tiffany Black is taken by surprise when a woman from Ryan’s past contacts her—and claims to be his ex-fiancée. Before Tiffany can recover from that bombshell, the woman, Constance, drops another one: she’s been accused of murdering her new sweetheart’s mother, and she wants Tiffany to clear her name. As Tiffany explores the depths of a murder conspiracy, and her own feelings for Ryan and Stone, she receives bad news about Ryan’s mission. Meanwhile, Nanna decides to make Bridget her doggie assistant, and Ian tries to improve his ...