Southern Cozy

Dead on the Line: A Birdie Lou Baxter Mystery (Book One) — perfect for drawing in cozy mystery readers with charm, intrigue, and a dash of Southern wit: A quiet town. A buried secret. A phone call that changes everything. Birdie Lou Baxter thought life in Haven Hills was finally dialed in. As the manager of the local phone company, she spends her days rerouting lines, sipping sweet tea, and dealing with her cranky co-tech, Howard. But when a routine service call uncovers a decades-old body buried near an abandoned pedestal, Birdie finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery with ties ...

The Mayor’s Missing Message A Birdie Lou Baxter Mystery – Book Two In the charming Southern town of Haven Hills, where sweet tea flows and gossip travels faster than high-speed fiber, Birdie Lou Baxter just wants a smooth installation job. But when her crew uncovers a decades-old confession tape hidden inside the walls of the mayor’s historic home—and the newly elected mayor vanishes the very next day—Birdie finds herself tangled in a web of long-buried secrets, political cover-ups, and a scandal that threatens to rewrite the town’s history. With the help of her loyal dispatch ...

The gang from the Gull Island Writers Retreat take on the case of a man who is currently doing time for the murder of a woman he swears he did not kill. After speaking to the man, Alex determines that he is most likely telling the truth, so he enlists the help of the gang to prove it. As they work together to sort fact from fiction, they realize there may be a lot more going on than they originally thought.

When 16-year-old Emily Halliwell ran away from home, she agreed to send her half sister a photo every week to prove she was okay. And she did. For a while. But then the photos stopped coming. Nicole Carrington, Emily's half sister and the newest permanent resident of the Gull Island Writer's Retreat, decides to ask the Mystery Mastermind Group for help. The trail has gone cold, but Nicole is desperate, so the group decides to accept the challenge in spite of the staggering odds of finding Emily alive after all of this time.

It was the bottom of the ninth, tying run on third, bases loaded, two outs, full count, and the tension was high. The pitch was thrown, everyone in the crowd held their breath. Trey Alderman lined up with the pitcher and swung the bat with all his might before falling to the ground.

Marci thinks mouthwatering pastries are just what her small Southern hometown needs. Most residents agree, saying that her baked goods are magical, creating love and good fortune all over town. When Kelly Lowry is shot in front of the shop, it gives the pastries a new meaning behind “to die for.” Who killed her, and why was her murder followed by a strange Frenchman’s appearance? When Antoine Dubois wanders into her quaint shop, Marci is smitten immediately. But soon, more questions arise than answers: How did Antoine end up in Kentucky? And what was his connection to the dead woman?

Beside dealing with extortion and murder, Gracie has to cope with a hurricane in her latest adventure. This situation is particularly challenging, because it hits a little too close to home. This story combines mystery and intrigue with a taste of the south.

Annie Jordan’s newly opened can of worms sends her and Tyler on a trip. Two trips, as a matter of fact. They need to sort out the family matter. Whose father is who? Does what was in the past stay in the past or can Annie and Tyler unearth the mystery of their parentage? What about the mysterious woman who’s left her a message. Who is she? How does she fit in with Sam? Does she? Annie’s trying not to be overtly curious, but can you blame a girl—ahem, woman!—for wondering about this newly arrived stranger? Then there’s the matter of all the bad luck she’s been having. And the ...

Annie Jordan’s new lease on life has taken a turn. With a new brother on the scene—one that everyone she knows is practically accusing of being a criminal element—she’s also found herself with a new roommate. It goes without saying that Bogart’s not happy about the roommate sitch. Of course, neither is Sam, and especially not Melanie. But hey, she’s got Mildred, and it seems she’s the only one who doesn’t hate Annie’s newly found brother. Prompted by curiosity—it killed the cat, right? Not humans?—Annie and Tyler submit their saliva for some DNA testing. They have ...

When Jack receives a disturbing email from a man claiming to have killed eight people, he sets off on a road trip with Jill and Kizzy in search of the answers he will need to stop this madman before he is able to kill victim number nine.

Welcome to the Magnolia Blossom Inn, where sweet tea, southern charm, and deep-rooted secrets collide. Maddie Brooke thought inheriting her grandmother's historic southern bed and breakfast inn would be a peaceful endeavor. But when a 75 year old skeleton is uncovered under a cherry tree, old family secrets are dug up too. Could the skeleton’s identity be her grandmother's former beau? The shocking culprits will lead to an upheaval within the town of Clarkstown. As if a skeleton isn't enough to disrupt the gay Easter egg hunt, a man is found stabbed in the cherry orchard at the conclusion...

Haley and Nana return in a second heartwarming adventure! Having embraced her new meta class, Haley is ready for anything... except, possibly, a plague of seafood! It turns out it's harder than she thought to sit back and let other people handle the problems she really, really wants solved.... This second installment in the adventures of a post-apocalyptic world with a game system imposed on it by magical aliens contains yet another recipe, because (once again), that's the kind of story this is. Curl up with some cornbread and watch Haley craft her way through another quick read!

Some say it was the spirt of one of the pirates that haunt the island that killed him. Others say the death was the result of greed and revenge. All that was known for certain, was that death did not come peacefully for the last inhabitant of a now deserted island.

“Dispute in progress, lethal weapons involved.” Deputy Pegasus Quincy takes the call to resolve violence on a Friesian horse ranch in Arizona. Intent on his own personal vendetta, partner Shepherd Malone refuses to declare a murder in a fatal fire at the ranch. Peg unwisely circumvents the law to investigate anyway. Two families feuding over water rights, a Gypsy clan suspected of drug dealing, and a blackmailer on the loose, all lead Pegasus astray on her quest to find the killer in a desert mountain town beset by flash floods and arsenic-laced creeks.

A faraway land. A valuable amethyst. And the auction of a lifetime. Amateur gemstone detective Ainsley Walker accepts an offer from an elderly art dealer to travel to the country of Uruguay—the forgotten jewel of South America—to buy a priceless treasure. But it’s not that easy. It’s never that easy. Things go wrong, and Ainsley’s plans are flipped upside down. Soon she’s carried on a fast-paced runaway adventure— —from the historic streets of Montevideo to the muddy roads of remote villages— —from rural beef ranches to elite beach resorts— Along the way, Ainsley finds...

Haley Landry, Questgiver, has been enjoying the system Armageddon: she's become an enchantress, helped her friends and neighbors, even set up a cool haunted house. But when her grandmother's class evolution requires her to turn their home into an inn, she balks. She's been visiting Nana at this house every summer for years... it's a point of comfort and stability that she's reluctant to surrender. She's always risen to the challenges imposed by the Trials before, but this one's going to be hard.... Join Haley, Nana, and the people of Refuge for another quick, cozy read, just right for the ...

A southern-fried comedy with a touch of romance, a side of mystery, a smattering of paranormal, and three crazy sisters…. All Mitzi Winston wants is enough money to pay this month’s mortgage payment. That is the only reason she even considers the phone sex job. Ever since her husband’s disappearance, she has held things together nicely—until recently. And now, well, she just needs the money. Biting the bullet, she goes for the interview, only to find that the phone sex job isn’t real and she’s too late—not for the interview, but to save her husband. For there he is, dead on ...

How does a systems analyst become more than a computer consultant for the police department? A nighttime robbery of the family restaurant is just the first of a series of unpleasant incidents that drag Gracie into a police investigation and leads her to a surprising discovery about her family history.

Claire dozes in the hammock on the front porch of her family home in Queens, baking in the early morning heat, and hardly glances up when a car drives by. Ten years ago, she lost her brother, a rookie cop who made the mistake of trying to reason with a mugger, and she left home to travel the world. Now she is back, camera in hand. The children of the Breslinsky household - a cop, a photographer, a journalist, and a strange little boy - live in a state of carefully controlled chaos.

A girl, a town... and a final choice.Spring is just around the corner when the town of Refuge is at last asked to confront the Trial's true challenge, an event that kicks off a furor in its population. But for Haley Landry, level 9 Questgiver, the challenge is more personal. After nine months of working with the alien system and overseeing the growth of her tiny town, a questline brings her to a crossroads, not only for herself, but for Refuge as well. It's the hardest decision Haley has had to make, and no one can make it for her. But her choice will shape the future, inside her heart, and...