Cozy Thriller

My name is Sister Trixie Lavender, and I'm an occasionally possessed excommunicated nun. I was booted from the convent after doing something unspeakable. Something I had no control over. Something that lives inside me to this day, exploding out like that chest-burster in Alien when I least suspect it.

It's once again Christmastime at Marlow House and the mediums of Beach Drive have all decided to stay in Frederickport for the holiday. Surprises await for them when the true Spirit of Christmas comes for a visit. Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Only a few weeks into her new job as a private investigator, Lexi Graves thinks she may have bitten off more than she can chew with her first solo cases. In between going undercover as a plush pony at a "Bronie" conference and following her cheating brother-in-law, she's got a saboteur-turned-killer to catch and a missing woman to find. Two of her cases may be connected, but how? Her boss, the mysterious Solomon, meanwhile, hopes to get her between the sheets....

After losing her husband, Rosie Lee could have become one of Singapore's "tai tai," an idle rich lady. Instead she is building a culinary empire from her restaurant, Aunty Lee's Delights, where spicy Singaporean meals are graciously served to locals and tourists alike. But when a body is found in one of Singapore's tourist havens and one of her guests fails to show at a dinner party, Aunty Lee knows that the two events are likely connected.

Monk's house is being fumigated, and he has nowhere to go. Fortunately, his assistant Natalie and her daughter are kind enough to welcome him into their home. Unfortunately, their home is not quite up to Monk's standards of cleanliness and order. But while Monk attempts to arrange his surroundings just so, something else needs to be put straight. The death of a dog at the local firehouse - on the same night as a fatal house fire - has led Monk into a puzzling mystery.

The rented house was supposed to be a relaxing getaway. But Jill and her companions feel a sense of danger instead. First, they learn that their hosts' son had a fiancee, but her disappearance remains unexplained - and then they meet some menacing members of a local trail-riding club. When one of Jill and Greg's friends finds human remains amid the dunes - with a diamond ring around one mummified finger - things start heating up fast, and they'll be thankful just to survive through the long weekend....

James Henry and the Flab Five are invited to serve as judges at Hog Fest, a celebrated barbecue festival in the Virginia mountains. But when one of the "pit masters" is found dead and a member of the supper club is accused of the murder, James and his friends have to lick the sauce off their fingers and get to work catching a killer. Amid a fairground filled with colorful people and tempting food, The Flab Five are sure to fall off the diet wagon. But James Henry has more to worry about than his expanding waistline.

Hollywood influencer and super-secret spy Poppy Fields is finally taking a well-deserved vacation with her partner Thor. A woman. A man. A private Greek island. What could go wrong? When a storm washes six teenage girls onto the island, trouble comes knocking. The men who trafficked the girls will do anything to get them them back, including killing Poppy and Thor.

James Henry, a lovable librarian, has gotten used to being back home in Quincy's Gap, a tiny town in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. He has a job he adores, a group of close friends and fellow dieters who call themselves the "Flab Five", and is actually thinking about starting an exercise regimen. Six months after starting a low-carb diet, however, James and the Flab Five have fallen off the diet wagon. A new ice cream shop has opened in town, but so has the Witness to Fitness weight loss center, run by the zealous Veronica Levitt.

Rural Pennsylvania's Vance Township Police Chief Pete Adams is down an officer and has been dealing with extra shifts as well as a pair of bickering neighbors, one of whom owns a machete and isn't afraid to use it. Golden Oaks Assisted Living is outside Pete's jurisdiction, but a murder in the facility his Alzheimer's-afflicted father calls home makes the case personal.

Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time slip witch, definitely knows there is something deeply wrong with the world...and it isn’t the mimes infesting Harlot Bay. She keeps waking in strange places with new bruises and has no idea how she got there. When a magically twisted skeleton is discovered on Truer Island and a dark witch attacks, the Torrent Witches must prepare for the battle of their lives.

Spring has come to charming Mayville Heights, and with it, some Hollywood glamour. The little town is abuzz because the reboot of a popular baking TV show is filming there. Librarian Kathleen Paulson is working as an advisor on historical facts for the show, local restaurants are providing catering for the camera crews, and Kathleen's faithful felines, Hercules and Owen, are hoping there is a cat treat challenge. But then Kathleen finds one of the judges dead.

The theft of rare books from Highpointe's collection, plus an attempted murder, and a fatal accident in its library are front-page news. Her board of trustees is looking for answers—and a scapegoat. Can she avoid being their target? Sunday Sloan and Josh Newlon's love blossoms until the unexpected derails their happiness. Meanwhile, Cambridge University's rare book librarian travels to Westbury on business and ends up unraveling his own personal secrets. A jeweled brooch discovered in Westbury Animal Hospital's lost and found causes a decades-old cold case to be reopened.

The shock that Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is in for when Chester Garrity, her ex-husband, returns to a city that he swore he'd never see again is nothing compared to Chester's own. After their divorce many years ago, he took off with his inheritance to travel the world, leaving Jane with enough seed money to open her first restaurant, which worked out well for Jane but less so for Chester.

Smarmy personals ads. Daring declarations of love. Freelance writer Jaine Austen has penned them all. But no one needs her help more than geeky, gawky Howard Murdoch. His request is simple enough: a letter proclaiming his undying love for Stacy Lawrence, a gorgeous aerobics instructor. The fact that he's never actually met the woman gives Jaine pause - yet she soon overcomes her misgivings, and the unlikely Romeo lands a date! But his triumph is short-lived. On Valentine's Day, Howard finds Stacy bludgeoned to death with a Thigh Master - and is quickly named the prime suspect.

Nora Best is the envy of her friends. She's just turned 50 and has traded in her home with The Perfect-Ass Husband for an Airstream trailer and an adventure of a lifetime across the US. But during their leaving party, Nora finds her husband in a compromising position with a friend. Storming out of the party, she jumps into her truck with no idea how to tow the Airstream or where she's going. Nora ends up in a campground in the mountains of Wyoming, drowning her sorrows with its managers, Brad and Miranda.

When a gentlewoman is savagely murdered in her own bed, Lord Redmond and Inspector Haze must pick apart her seemingly blameless life to understand what drove her attacker to such frenzied rage—and how they managed to escape from a locked room in a house filled with people. The closer Redmond and Haze get to the truth, the more secrets they uncover, and the greater the risk the perpetrator will strike again. Will they solve the case before the killer claims another victim?

James Henry, a kind-hearted professor of English literature, is forced to move back home to Quincy's Gap, a tiny town in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, to care for his aging father. Shortly after moving into a house that hasn't changed since his childhood, the overweight, divorced, book-loving cheese puff addict accepts a position as head librarian and joins a supper club for dieters who call themselves the "Flab Five". Avoiding carbs is almost impossible in this deep-fried, all-you-can-eat Southern town.

Dr. Frank Hafner is an archaeologist working on excavating a new-found Native American temple site in the Mississippi Delta. He's also too handsome for his own good, and a bit of a flirt. Oddly enough, it's the first quality that gets him in trouble when he discovers the ritualistic murder of one of his archaeological crew. When Coleman Peters, Sheriff and Sarah Booth's boyfriend, takes Dr. Hafner in for questioning in the murder, the accused doctor hires Sarah Booth to clear his name.

Winner of both the Harper Lee Award and the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, Carolyn Haines has thrilled countless readers with her Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries. Here, Sarah investigates when two wealthy heiresses claim a four-million-dollar family necklace was stolen. All the evidence points to insurance fraud, but when Sarah starts poking into the family’s dark secrets, one of the heiresses disappears.