Humorous Mysteries

A missing manuscript and a dead author spell a narrative of chaos in Bloomsville. When reclusive author Ashton Blackwood is found lifeless at Shelf Indulgence, I’m drawn into a plot twist thicker than the most intricate novel. I’m Grace Thompson—florist by trade, sleuth by necessity. Rosie, my terrier with a nose for mysteries, sniffs out intrigue, guiding me to characters ranging from rival authors to disgruntled editors. The stakes rise higher than a climactic chapter as I join forces with Chloe, my forensic partner. Sheriff Waverly admits this mystery is more baffling than a poorly...

It's his senior year, and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school, out of $50,000 gets to stay at the school. Will starts setting up his con (an online poker scam) with his uncle, who's one of the best grifters in the business, and with the unwanted help of his father.

Dan Starkey is a young journalist in Belfast, who shares with his wife, Patricia, a prodigious appetite for drinking and dancing. Then Dan meets a beautiful and apparently impoverished student. And then, terrifyingly, she is murdered. Is it because she was not exactly who she claimed to be? Is it the IRA? A Protestant extremist group? A jealous lover? Before long, Dan is a target himself.…

Cassandra Thompson is the first Earth reporter with access to the classified Martian research colony of Darwin. While reporting on Darwin's transition to a free colony she quickly discovers the citizens are barely clinging to survival. Neighborhoods are split by race and class, robots make human labor obsolete, and anarchists and nationalists wrestle for control. Caught up in Darwin's power struggle, Cassandra must find a way to stop a civil war, outsmart local thugs, and avert a robot takeover, all before filing her next report.

It’s Halloween in Abbott Cove, and Grandma Grant is keen to win the pumpkin pie competition. In fact she’s so eager to win, Harper suspects her grandmother may have used magic to enhance her entry. Already concerned and on the lookout for odd signs of magic, Harper’s stress levels shoot through the roof when someone is poisoned during the competition. Fearing her grandmother may be the number one suspect, Harper gets to work, determined to solve the mystery of the poisoned pumpkin pie. Note: this is a 15,000 word short story.. This story was first published under the name D. S. Butler...

Tour guide and amateur sleuth Lana Hansen is back on the road! And where Lana travels, trouble is sure to follow… When Lana’s boyfriend, Alex Wright, gets into a jam during his first tour as a guide for Wanderlust Travels, Lana is sent to Costa Rica to help out. Yet nothing could prepare her for the mess she finds—a guide in the hospital, a hysterical client calling for Alex to be fired, and bickering guests threatening each other. This is not how Lana wanted to start touring again! Thrown into the deep, she has no choice but to help Alex overcome his problems with their clients, ...

Lexi’s life is a balancing act and it’s about to come crashing down. She was considered the best bank fraud investigator in the country. Unfortunately, now she’s in disgrace and working at the last bank that will employ her. And even that bank president would love to find any excuse to fire her. But when the bank's wealthiest client insists on hiring Lexi to find his missing daughter, the bank president can’t refuse. Lexi tracks the naive young heiress to a remote resort, deep in the jungles of Sumatra. It’s a place where rich guests disappear and things don't add up. Even worse, ...

History says it was suicide... Carly was thrilled to inherit her ex-husband's Victorian after he died. Of course, that was before she knew she was also inheriting his ghost, a 100-year-old curse, and the kind of strong mediumship skills that has every spirit in town begging for her to solve their mysteries. And Bessilyn Hind is first in line. According to history, in 1906 suffragist and local women's rights leader, Bessilyn Hind, committed suicide at her thirty-fifth birthday party after her fiancé broke up with her. Only one problem: her ghost doesn't remember it that way. And, she ...

It’s been seven years since Gloomy Knob landed in the Ted Stevens High-Security Federal Penitentiary and five years since the end of the war, the one North Korea started when they sent a missile to Cold Storage, Alaska. Serving a life sentence for the murder of his sister, Gloomy spends his time trying to forget about the past. Then one day, Gloomy is snatched from his off-site work station. Instead of celebrating his newfound freedom, Gloomy comes unmoored - he feels he belongs in prison. But his kidnappers believe Gloomy knows where a second nuclear warhead is hidden.

"Ideal for cozy mystery aficionados craving a thrilling escape into the heart of the Southwest." -NewInBooks Who knew a murder or two would turn Jake Stewart’s life around? Jake was trying to figure out his life after being abruptly downsized from what he considered the best job in the world — being a reporter in a fast moving, big city newsroom. Now, he was wandering the Southwest in the Beast, an aging RV that was his only home in the world. No job, no prospects, no love. Then in the fading moments of a brilliant sunset in the Mesa country of Arizona, he hears cries for help, and ...

A peaceful van life retreat at a Florida beachside campground. A shocking murder. Can Julia solve the case before the wrong man is convicted? Julia Ross thought trading suburbia for the camping van life would be the adventure of a lifetime. A year after her divorce, she sells everything, turns her minivan into a camper, and heads to an idyllic Florida beachfront park for a month of sunbathing, biking, and self-care. But when a fellow camper is found dead in his RV, Julia's relaxing getaway takes a dark turn. At first, Julia wants nothing to do with the investigation—she came for peace, ...

Welcome to Inspector Flytrap's Detective Agency, home to the world-renowned solver of Big Deal mysteries. Inspector Flytrap, a Venus flytrap, works tirelessly with his assistant Nina the Goat, a goat, on his community's unsolved cases. There's no case too big, but there are definitely cases too small for this endearingly self-important plant detective.

Lookout, Dr. Frankenstein, because here comes Wanda Depraysie… It’s not as though I meant to create a life. I didn’t, but that life is still here, all the same. And the worst part? I created it with… sigh… my detested cousin, Maverick. Now, before you think I’m a double-timing, good-for-nothing witch, I’m not. It was all an accident. Swear. And the even craziest part? This little mixup isn’t even the worst thing that’s happened to me this week. No, that award goes to the invitation I receive to my own funeral—a party sponsored by the leader of the vampires, Rupert, ...

ALL FOUR BOOKS OF THE CTHULHU INCIDENT! EXCITEMENT, MYSTERY, ADVENTURE AND TERROR WILL GRAB YOU AND NOT LET GO, AS THE HEROIC TEAM OF G1, THE BUREAU OF EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIRS, PURSUE A CULT LEADER UNLEASHING THE HORDES OF HELL ON LONDON AND THE WORLD. WILL EVEN THE CANNY ABILITIES OF G1 BE ENOUGH TO STOP THE MONSTERS AND THE LEADER WHO SUMMONED THEM FROM CREATING HELL ON EARTH? Buy now.

Lyla Cowan still isn’t sure she’s doing what she should be. Democratic Union and Naranja space proved to be hostile, but they finally convinced her to upgrade. So where next for her fledgling mercenary misfits? They’ve been invited to Karn, but is the League of Worlds’ space too tame? But adjacent to Karn is the third of the core belonging to the kangaroo like Ralnor. No-one knows anything about what goes on there, except the Ralnor value law and order above all. But where the Keerah impose military order, the Ralnor are supposed to enforce laws. Exactly what the difference is, no-...

Aspiring potion-witch Isabella Proctor dreams of a normal life away from magic. But when she stumbles upon her mentor's lifeless body, her world turns upside down, and a simple life seems far from reach. Suddenly entangled in a murder investigation, Isabella finds herself the prime suspect in the eyes of the newly-arrived Detective Palmer. Juggling a failing apothecary, a grandmother who sees people that aren't there, and a police department inexperienced in solving murders, Isabella must use her wits and magic to clear her name. With danger lurking around every corner and her freedom on ...

When Adeline Bertrand-Verdon, the haughty, conniving president of the Proust Association, is murdered, Inspector Jean-Pierre Foucheroux is called on to lead the investigation. Soon Inspector Foucheroux is overwhelmed by a seemingly endless list of suspects: from her assistant to her colleagues, her fiancé to her lover, almost everyone Adeline knew had motive to kill her.

Gabe is an accountant. He is also a nosy guy; not that he's willing to accept that he's especially nosy---prying, meddling, intrusive. And this perfectly normal curiosity and an urge to help his friends, relatives, coworkers, clients (some that he doesn't even like), and to aid various officers of the law whom Gabe befriends (even if they don't want him to) gets him into situations. Situations in which he has to figure out who exactly is trying to blow him up, bludgeon him, shoot, stab, strangle, or otherwise end him. The various officers of the law sometimes hinder more than help, but Gabe...

All I wanted was a piece of cake. After the last two years, I earned a piece of chocolate torte, damn it. But I owe a friend a favor. And he’s withholding my chocolate until I find a missing key. Easy peasy. How hard can it be? Well, it would have been easy if that key didn’t open a huge can of worms. And by worms, I mean mur-der. Now, I might be married off to the highest bidder. Tatiana is missing. And a giant, sparkly drag queen will strangle me with a feather boa if I don't find his wife. You thought your last Thursday was bad. My name is Wysdom Ward. These are my case files. The ...

A stampede during a parade; a supposedly accidental bull riding death; a burial with a horse drawn hearse in historic Mount Moriah Cemetery all tie together for another Mitch Tobin and crew mystery. The old mining town of Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota sees plenty of action during what should be the simple merger of two small banks. In the middle of the mayhem, Judy and Mitch are trying to plan a wedding but there is little time for romance when the bodies start to pile up. Throw in some dubious characters involved with the gambling casinos, a hobo who has a way with the ladies...