Funny Cozy Mysteries

‘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 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 ...

Will a mixture of pranks, revenge, and a global pandemic explode in danger or ignite hilarious, unexpected results? Marty Golden wishes this prequel novella was his superhero origin story but alas, he’s merely a mild-mannered Silicon Valley geek whose skills of self-delusion, daydreaming, and attention to detail are put to the ultimate challenge—entertaining his nieces. See Marty before he becomes the super-sleuthing, crime-busting hero of the Silicon Valley Mystery series. In this short read, you’ll meet the lovable hero, an amateur sleuth who constantly frustrates and astounds ...

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...

Get ready for a New Year’s Eve like no other in the Town of Tempest, hosted by Mayor Sam Simpleton. When a party-goer turns up dead, complete with a cryptic note, the night shifts from festive to mysterious. And here’s a twist – the story unravels in real-time as you turn the pages. Enter Guy Vanduex, a former chef turned private detective. For Guy, clues are ingredients, each one essential to the final recipe – or solution. With the police not on the scene, Guy and his sidekick Sylvia step up to unravel the evening’s mystery. They’re faced with a list of quirky suspects and ...

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 ...

‘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 ...

(This book was originally published with the title The Whistle Blower.) Bad guys, beware: There's a soccer mom hot on your trail. With three kids, Sandra's life is a whirlwind of activity. Yet, sometimes she's a little bored. When a referee drops dead during her son's soccer game, and a short man claiming to be an angel asks her to help investigate—suddenly, life's not such a routine. The angel (is he really an angel?) tells her to go undercover as a soccer referee, which, of course, is ridiculous. She hasn't run anywhere since high school. But Sandra will find out she is still capable of...

Gus is having one of the best things a man that works in law enforcement can have, a very slow day. His slow day only gets better when he discovers that an ice cream shop is opening near the law enforcement complex. Even though the ice cream shop only serves gelato, that’s not enough to spoil his good mood on this slow day. The only real way his slow day could get ruined was if someone mysteriously dropped dead in the yoga studio across the street from the ice cream shop while at nearly the same time Father Xavier volunteered him to speak at the weekly Tuesday prayer breakfast at town ...

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 ...

Broke, unemployed barista Halley Greer is shocked when she inherits an Art Deco movie palace from the great uncle she remembers meeting once as a child. She moves to the charming tourist town of Utopia Springs, Arkansas to claim her legacy. In addition to the timeworn theater, she discovers she’s also inherited a trash-heaped apartment, family secrets, her uncle’s friends, a stealthy calico kitty—and an adversary. With a whole latte help from her new friends, the feisty barista fixes up and re-opens the theater as a coffee and wine bar, showing classic films. She generates some steam ...

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.

It's a race against the oven timer as a culinary detective grapples with a genuine murder at a staged murder mystery party. In the charming town of Tempest, the Murder Mystery Dinner Party is more than just a social gathering. It's an event that stirs the town's imagination, a game of pretend where guests get a chance to play detective. But when Michael Sloss, the overdramatic host, fears his role may turn from make-believe to all too real, he calls upon a quirky detective—Guy Vanduex, a former chef turned private investigator. Vanduex is no ordinary sleuth. With his culinary background, ...

“If you're looking for a summer mystery that's likely to get you cheered up, in spite of murder and risk, and will find a way to have the forces of good triumph (or at least get kissed?), pick up AGAINST THE UNDERTOW.” —Kingdom Books You never know what will drag you down. Former actress Tish Yearly is determined to turn an old Orcas Island homestead into the premier wedding venue in the San Juans Islands of Washington, but money, skill and her grandfather, Tobias Yearly, are all standing in her way. Tobias, the septuagenarian ex-CIA agent, wants them to become private investigators. ...

It is summer in the picturesque village of Castlefield. It is a time for eating ice creams in the shade, summer dresses, turning red as a lobster after five seconds outside, and murder. The only homicidal maniac in the village is supposed to be Pandora the chicken, but she has competition. After Maggie Matthews organises readings from fellow mystery authors during the Summer Festival, one ends up with a fountain pen in his chest. There are plenty of suspects and clues, but not enough evidence. Maggie is eager to join forces with Alistair, the local detective, so she can spend time with him....

‘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 ...

I thought my days of unraveling mysteries were behind me, but when the Mayor of Picklesquare calls me in the dead of night, I'm plunged into a new enigma that sends chills down my spine. A murder has tainted the hallowed halls of the Picklesquare Museum of History, and a priceless artifact has vanished without a trace. The chilling detail? The killer used magic, a shapeshifter's spell, to infiltrate the museum. As Detective Grey Thompson and I delve into the heart of this perplexing case, we discover a world teeming with historic secrets, a cast of eccentric characters harboring their own ...

When Nora Alexander drives into Piney Woods, Texas, to fulfill her dying mother's last wish, she has no idea what awaits her. First she is run off the road, then the sealed letter she delivers turns out to be a scathing rebuke to the town's most beloved citizen and favored candidate for Piney Woods Pioneer: Adam Brockwell. Next thing you know, Adam has been murdered in a nasty knife attack. Suspicion instantly falls on Nora, one of the last people to see him alive. After all, everyone in Piney Woods loved him. Or did they? Turns out Nora's mother had a complicated past she never shared with...