Cozy Mystery Fiction

Living back at Mom's place with her and Gram is not how this ex-district attorney intended to start the next chapter of her life, but I shouldn't be surprised it's where I ended up. You see, my family is cursed. Literally. At least that's what both Gram and Mom claim. I've never given much thought to their ridiculous superstitions, but when three local patrons from my mom's occult shop end up dead, even I'm a bit unnerved. So I decide to dive right into the crazy headfirst. And what I thought would be the end of my journey...may only be the beginning.

Sam and Valerie Owens, owners of the Banty Hen Antique Shop, find themselves entangled in a murder investigation after being the last ones to see the victim alive. Valerie’s new venture, the Sweet Tea Quilting Bee is comprised of an eclectic mix of women and their weekly meetings help keep Valerie’s mind off the murder, but it’s hard to keep concealed from the ladies that the victim was killed over, of all things, an antique quilt! The murder suspect has been described as tall and thin, a vague description, but Police Chief Jess Hamilton and his new detective, a self-described Columbo...

In A Villa in Sicily: Olive Oil and Murder (Book 1), Audrey Smart, 34, is a brilliant vet—yet fed up by her demanding clients who think they know more than her and who don’t care about their animals. Burnt-out with the endless hours, she wonders if the time has come for a new direction. And when her 15th year high school reunion (and her hopes for re-sparking on old flame) end in disaster, Audrey knows the time has come to make a change.

Robin and Aurora have finally begun their adventure in parenting. With newborn Sophie proving to be quite a handful, Roe's mother pays for a partially trained nurse, Virginia Mitchell, to come help the new parents for a few weeks. One particularly stormy night, Roe wakes to hear her daughter crying and Virginia nowhere to be found. Roe's brother Philip helps her search the house, and they happen upon a body outside. But it isn't Virginia's. Who is this mystery woman dead in their backyard, and what happened to Virginia?

Lacey Doyle, 39 years old and freshly divorced, made a drastic change when she walked away from the fast life of New York City and settled down in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire. Now with a new relationship and a blossoming business, it looks like Lacey has the life she always dreamed of. But when Lacey receives a Fabergé egg on consignment, she never expects it to hatch a murder plot. Now, with a dead curator and whispers of forgery swirling through the salty air, Lacey must piece together an enigmatic puzzle before the killer cracks their next victim!

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, ...

Lady Violet Belmaine ponders that conundrum while traveling from London to rural Scotland at the invitation of an old friend. Escorted by her dashing physician friend, Hugh St. Sevier, Violet prepares to again subject herself to a nuptial celebration—except that the groom fails to appear. Matters become more interesting when Violet discovers that Sebastian MacHeath is laird of the nearest castle and well acquainted with the bride and her family.

When Poppy goes from complacent retiree to penniless widow in a matter of weeks, the idea of spending her golden years as the biggest charity case in Palm Springs renders her speechless. With no real skills and nothing left to lose, Poppy uses her obsession with true crime shows to start a career as a private eye....

Welcome to Jewell, North Carolina, a small strip of land on the Crystal Coast with no stop signs or traffic lights, but it's got a whole lot of magic. Ruby Mae Jewell helps run the family business of selling antiques and refurbished goods. But with old objects, you never know when one of them possesses more than just dust and cobwebs. When Rue hits up a flea market, she gets more than she bargained for. Finding a potentially dangerous magical object, she has to get it off the market and out of mortal hands.

Twenty million dollars' worth of missing gems bring Carrie Singleton's long-lost and larcenous dad back into her life, and it's up to Carrie to clear his name.

The Absence of Father Brown - six cozy short mystery stories featuring Father Paul Petersen, a priest at St. Patrick's in the City in Washington, D.C. Each of the stories was first published in the American Chesterton Society's Gilbert Magazine.

There's never a good time for a ghost crisis. However, it's particularly inconvenient while I'm trying to tackle my first wedding season. Between 12-hour days, an assistant with a case of butterfingers (not the chocolate kind), and the flood of tourists in town, I'm struggling to keep a grip on my sanity. All I want is three months of peace from the spirit world. But when local ghosts start going missing, I have to do something.

Forty-something Maggie Sharpe is returning to her quaint childhood town of Dogwood Mountain, Missouri, nestled in the beautiful Ozark Mountains, Maggie recently inherited Dogwood Bakery, along with a cute little cottage, from her aunt Marjorie. With a son in the Navy, deployed six months at a time, and an ex in Kansas, Maggie decided that it was time for a change, but she soon learns that life back home is not all sprinkles and jelly-filled donuts.

Not only is Scarlett Parker's love life in the loo - as her British cousin Vivian Tremont would say - it's also gone viral with an embarrassing video. So when Viv suggests Scarlett leave Florida to lay low in London, she hops on the next plane across the pond. Viv is the proprietor of Mims's Whims, a ladies' hat shop on Portobello Road bequeathed to both cousins by their beloved grandmother, and she wants Scarlett to finally join her in the millinery business. But a few surprises await Scarlett in London.

Plans for a town pantomime are thrown in the air after one of the actors is murdered. The victim is local gossip, nosy parker and aspiring manipulator Ivor Gladwin. Reviled by many and ignored by more, the list of people who could have wanted rid of him seems to grow by the minute. Despite having overstepped the mark in past cases, because of her familiarity with the individuals involved, ex police officer Fabia Havard is actually tasked by her boyfriend, and serving DCI, to look into the matter on the side.

Katie Lightfoot's tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah's quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees. While working at the Honeybee Bakery - named after Lucy's cat - Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren't just tasty - Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy - and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Small towns are like families: Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town - until its secrets explode into murder. Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her.

Few can compete with the Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but her childhood rival, Sophie Winston, certainly tries. While Natasha is known for her intricate centerpieces and painstakingly prepared gourmet meals, Sophie likes to keep things simple...real simple.

In winter, the Haunted Library is a refuge for homeless townspeople. When a group purchases a vacant house to establish a daytime haven for the homeless, Carrie offers the library as a meeting place for the Haven House committee, but quickly learns that it may be used for illegal activities. As the new Sunshine Delegate, Carrie heads to the hospital to visit her colleague, Dorothy, who had fallen outside the local supermarket. She tells Carrie that her husband tried to kill her - and that he murdered her Aunt Evelyn, the library's resident ghost, six years earlier.

Series is finished! Vicki Bohanan is back and sporting a whole new mystery. Blackmail lands at her feet on the eve of preseason football. And for a woman with an attitude the size of Texas, it’s gonna take more than a pigskin to plug her pie hole. A Texas Ranger, an undercover boss, and a hunky radio personality walk into the bar and keep Vicki’s head spinning like a ride at the state fair. The only score she wants to settle is with her renovated residence. But when a certain Aussie model invites her to San Antonio for a romantic Alamo shootout – cameras this time, folks – Vicki ...