Funny Cozy Mysteries

Dr. Georgia Thackery is back at home with her parents after finding a new adjunct position at Bostock College. Everyone is excited for their first family Christmas with nothing to hide. Why? Because Georgia’s daughter, Madison, is now in the know about Sid, their walking, talking family skeleton. But their Christmas cheer is interrupted when the Thackerys' dog, Byron, goes missing on a cold December night. When he’s finally found, he has a femur clutched between his jaws, and Georgia and Madison race to apologize to Sid for letting the dog gnaw on him yet again

Manhattan ghostwriter Jake O’Hara has been meaning to get her so-called love life—and her career—back on track. But lately, it hasn’t been easy. Especially now that her soon-to-be-married mother has witnessed a murder—in a confessional, no less. Shortly after Maura O’Hara arrived at the church, Father Billy Blake—controversy-plagued priest, anti-death penalty activist, and spiritual advisor to a notorious hit man—was shot dead. It’s no secret that Father Blake had a number of enemies—from a scheming drug lord to a dangerous clan on death row. Coming up with a list of ...

Sheriff Gus knows it’s going to be a bad week when he sees Sedric Hedgecock’s breathalyzer score. With a blood alcohol level of 0.62 percent, Hedgecock should be dead. If the breathalyzer’s isn’t on the fritz, Hedgecock’s superhuman. Either way, he’s blind drunk, so off to the county jail he goes. Joining the wannabe Bacchus in Gus’s cells is Jennifer Louis Bachman, awaiting extradition to Kansas on a murder charge. The victim in question is Jennifer’s unborn child, and the murder weapon is an illegal Mexican abortion. With the governor vacillating on whether to extradite, ...

It's a secret Santa whodunnit! "No doughnuts on Tuesdays!" "No Christmas trees allowed!" When their Grinchy landlord posts a stack of crazy proclamation flyers, it rattles an oddball assortment of residents in an apartment complex. But then on a quiet night in, festive gifts mysteriously appear on doorknobs and doormats-- and the game of Guess Who is afoot. The evening turns into a maze of clues as tenants tally gifts, prowl the halls, chase shadows and even run into a little romance before the surprising culprit is caught. And no, it's not the landlord! Ha-ha This holiday short story is ...

Arlie Biggar is back in Alaska with his new family. Life is nice and boring ... until his pregnant wife is kidnapped! Copycat terrorists have recruited local thugs to help them steal guns from the sporting goods store. When his wife gets in their way, will Arlie be able to get her back or will a ringer come in and save the day? Clean action adventure with a smattering of humor.

She never wanted to be special. But when her best friend is possessed, can she master a sudden telepathic power and exorcise a teen spirit? Sam is perfectly happy being normal, thank you. She can’t see ghosts or communicate with the dead, and she only recently made peace with their talking cat. But when a gum-smacking teen from the Eighties, possesses a friend’s body, she’s suddenly thrust into the neon-lit spotlight of a murder mystery with a retro twist. Just when she thinks she has a plan to find the killer and set the wise-cracking spirit free, things heat up in more ways than one...

‘It's a fun whodunit with interesting characters, odd plot twists, and red herrings that knocked my sox off. Looking forward to more!’ An accident that’s not an accident. A perilous pizza. A pug who knows too much… No one believes Celia Spalt when she gets up at the Storytelling Tent and tells everyone she once witnessed a murder. After all, Celia’s an old lady, and her mind’s on the way out. But when she unexpectedly dies, Rosie begins to wonder if there could be something more to her story. Celia lived at Sandcastle Village, a gated community that’s supposed to keep its ...

‘A fun and exciting read from Pitt, with many twists and turns and red herrings.’ A lighthouse murder. A crazy Cupcake Festival. A baffling clue. Reporter Rosie Ryan isn’t looking forward to her latest assignment. She’d rather be doing almost anything else than staying with famous actress, Katy Dark, and her entourage at the old Lighthouse Inn. Even if there is a quirky coincidence among the other guests: all six of them have names that start with the letter C. But coincidence quickly becomes chaos when murder happens and the only clue is the letter C scrawled in the victim’s own ...

‘A fast paced winner with some laugh out loud moments.’ A spooky séance. A missing ornament. A double murder. Can Vivian Shelly really speak to the dead? Rosie’s not a believer, but her doubts are pushed to the limit when she attends one of Vivian’s séances. There’s something weird about the whole event. Something otherworldly. And the event gets even stranger when murder comes calling… This is confusing enough, but then Rosie's editor, Harry, wants her to interview a local sculpture who makes totems of celebrities. Rosie can't make up her mind if they're creepy or simply ...

PLANTING SEEDS OF DOUBT… In the final novella of the Seasons series, NY Times bestselling author Kate Collins brings the beloved characters from New Chapel back to the page like never before. Fall has arrived in New Chapel, Indiana, and life has never been better for local florist Abby Knight Salvare and her handsome private eye husband, Marco, until a missing person’s case puts our two hometown heroes at odds, showing signs of stress in an otherwise perfect marriage. Town busybody Sylvie Freeman is certain that her twin brother has gone missing, although everyone in her family is ...

A summer in the sun has sent ghostwriter Jake O’Hara out of her beach house and into the poorhouse. But help is about to come from an unlikely place. Acerbic book critic Richard Peter, voted the man most Americans love to hate, has written himself into a corner by accepting a whopping advance for a murder mystery he can’t deliver. With his publisher on the warpath, Peter’s willing to share a generous slice of the pie with a discreet wordsmith like Jake. The problem is, plenty of people would love to stab Peter in the back. And before long, one of them does—literally. Now ...

Jake O’Hara has a lot to celebrate. Not only will she be her mother’s maid of honor at her forthcoming wedding, but she has been offered her most lucrative ghostwriting work yet—punching up the script for the Broadway musical Suzy Q before it premieres. Unfortunately, the star of the show is Elaine Eden, the award-winning actress of stage and screen, and a Titanic tinseltown twit in Jake’s eyes. Elaine has her share of enemies in this production, including her ex-husband, a young up-and-coming actress, and the play’s author, who happens to be the producer’s boyfriend. When she ...

Haunted houses, paranormal pursuits, and now hot flashes? Someone, get this woman a drink.Connie Keys is ready to move on. After decades spent catering to her family, the fifty-something widow has an empty nest and a new career pairing compatible residents with haunted houses. Happily putting the feather duster away forever, she spends her days chatting up ghosts … until her neglected vacuum cleaner sucks her attention back home with a cryptic warning of grave danger. Almost certain the crop circles in the carpet are nothing more than her ghostly husband’s lame attempt to rekindle their...

"A lively, good read ... I couldn't put it down" - Kingdom Books You never know what's beneath the surface. When Seattle native Tish Yearly finds herself fired and evicted all in one afternoon, she knows she's in deep water. Unemployed and desperate, the 26 year old ex-actress heads for the one place she knows she'll be welcome - the house of her cantankerous ex-CIA agent grandfather, Tobias Yearly, in the San Juan Islands. And when she discovers the strangled corpse of Tobias's best friend, she knows she's in over her head. Tish is thrown head-long into a mystery that pits her against a ...

A bustling festival, a shocking murder… and a tearoom owner bound to the past—literally. Sidmouth’s Folk Festival is the highlight of the summer, and the owner of the town’s Jane Austen-themed tearoom, Trinity Bishop, is ready for a week of lively music, busy crowds, and endless cups of tea. But when the festival’s director is found dead, the festive atmosphere turns uneasy, and Trinity once again finds herself tangled in a murder investigation. With DI Cormac O’Malley determined to keep her out of police business, and festival-goers whispering rumors of jealousy, rivalry, and ...

Something horrifically sinister lurks in the town of Mountain Springs… Sharon Triplett’s life-change was to retreat to the majestic mountains, settle into her inherited family home with her two kids, plucky pet parakeet, Seymour, and try to recover from the tragic death of her husband, a hotshot, undercover, city detective. It was an elegant plan. It should have worked. But then, astoundingly, Seymour, began eerily communicating to her in her dead husband’s voice and Sharon’s life was flipped upside down. Sharon’s been keeping it all hush-hush. Impressive, considering she also has...

It’s just another morning on the fifth of July. The country is another year older; Gus is a touch hungover, the coffee in his office is stale, and all Gus wants to do is go home and start over again on July sixth. Unfortunately Father Xavier visits the sheriff’s office and he’s brought along a gift. He has a green jacket that should have been put in the church’s lost and found. The father suspects it belongs to a missing girl named Erica Torres which is odd given the jacket is marked as belonging to E. Rossi. Erica went to school one day and never came home. She was picked up by a ...

Jake O’Hara and her colleagues are looking forward to a complimentary weekend in Manhattan’s swanky Plaza Hotel, the venue for the Greater New York Crime Writers’ Conference. The conference kicks off on St. Patrick’s Day, making the atmosphere a bit more festive—and chaotic—than usual. But things get way out of hand when Senator-turned-writer Charlie Fione and actress-turned-writer Holly Halligan partake of some green beer—that leaves them permanently green around the gills. Now Jake’s Irish eyes are far from smiling as she delves into a mystery and tries to rewrite a ...

‘This was a fun book to read. It had me laughing a lot throughout it. It also was fun trying to guess who murdered the victim. It was quite a surprise.’ A UFO conference. A cold case. A missing man. Rosie Ryan faces her toughest challenge ever when she's asked to investigate the death of Hailey Lawrence. The writer was on the verge of international fame with her first novel. Did her death really an accident? Or was she murdered by a jealous rival? At the same time, Rosie has to deal with the annual Australian Flying Saucer Association conference. It's being held in Cape Carson for the ...

They're baaaack! Those Divas of Doom, Destiny, Chance, and Lady Luck, really have it in for poor Marty Sheffield. Not only has she just lost her job as a part-time dj, but after a knock-down, drag-out fight with one of her sister's neighbors, Marty becomes the chief suspect when the man ends up dead. The only way to save herself seems to be finding the real culprit. As things go from bad to worse in her life, the race to find the murderer takes on new urgency when Marty and her sister, Charli, are held captive by a couple of crazies.