Contemporary Cozy Mystery

Sophie Sayers’ plans for a cosy English country Christmas are quickly brought to an end when her ex-boyfriend storms onto the scene. And things are about to get messier when a baby, abandoned in the manger, disappears in plain sight. Before long, the whole village stands accused of murder. But Sophie knows there’s one man she most definitely suspects. Can she uncover the truth? Enjoy the fun of a traditional Cotswold festive season as Sophie seeks a happy ending for her latest village mystery – and for her new romance with charming local bookseller Hector Munro.

Emma Laurent has always preferred helping others to asking for help. But now, she’s the one in need. Her stepmother is selling her late father’s candy shop, her grandmother’s assisted-living facility has become a financial burden, and the anniversary of her fiancé’s death is quickly approaching. Rather than face her problems, Emma does what she does best - finds someone else to help by offering a mother and son with nowhere to go somewhere to stay.

When police knock on Alice Donaldson’s door at 4am, she knows the news won’t be good. There’s been an accident involving her ex-husband, Grant, and as his existing next of kin, they need her help. Grant is missing up on the North York moors, but the Grant Alice knew could barely be persuaded out on a walk around the block. What on earth possessed him to go on a hike in the middle of the night? Alice soon finds herself working with Grant’s girlfriend Jenna and Jenna’s gorgeous ‘Lord of the family Manor’ brother Max, to find out what has happened.

Riches to rags...Chaos has calmed...At least while out on the lake...Until poison is found, blowing up the peace again...Enjoying a beautiful day on the lake, while Doreen tries her hand at paddleboarding, ends up on an odd note after finding poison in a bed of pansies. She garners a tidbit of information out of her BFF, Corporal Mack Moreau, about a man who’d recently walked into the emergency room, complaining he’d been poisoned.

One should never meddle in the affairs of dragons, but someone has been doing just that. They've been making imitation dragon scale baubles that are nothing short of lethal, and kidnapping delivery drivers all over the Yorkshire Dales. They've also been leaving behind some distinctly dragon-ish traces. Beaufort Scales, High Lord of the Cloverly Dragons, is hot on the trail—or would be, if he wasn't having political problems at home.

No stranger to fear since meeting the unhuman Inspector Hobbes, Andy Caplet fears getting fired from his reporting job (again). His main concern, though, is a shady property developer who has designs on Sorenchester Common, and more annoyingly on his wife. Perhaps a trip to the mountains will help him relax, but this proves even more perilous with foul weather, inedible food, brigands, and a terrifying cruise. Fortunately, mountain leopards, Yetis and Flossy, the yak, take a shine to Andy.

Lucy Valentine is as smart as can be, as single as you can get, and so not qualified to run a matchmaking service. But when her parents temporarily step down from the family business, Valentine, Inc., it's Lucy's turn to step up and help out - in the name of love. Plus, her rent is due. Here's the problem: Lucy doesn't have the knack for matchmaking. According to family legend, every Valentine has been blessed by Cupid with the ability to read "auras" and pair up perfect couples.

Lucy wants to breathe new life into her family's Boston-based matchmaking company. But how? Even though she comes from a long line of ancestors blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, a freak accident left Lucy with only one special skill: Finding things. Car keys, socks in the dryer, needles in haystacks...and now, in a stroke of professional genius, lost loves!

Bookshop assistant Aurora "Rory" Hawthorn thinks reality will never be as interesting as fiction. It turns out her dad was keeping a secret or two...most importantly, that he was a wizard and that Rory has a hidden magical family she's never met. Juggling a new family and job would be enough of a challenge without also having to deal with a murder mystery, cranky familiars, and the attention of the local reaper - even if he is the hottest guy in town.

A girl with a canister of pepper spray. A guy with an odd recurring dream. A tiny colony of nervous California sea lions. They all come together in Dana Point Harbor.

Halliday resumes the story of Maddie Springer, shoe designer and amateur sleuth, a week before her marriage to hunky Los Angeles police detective Jack Ramirez. When she finds her wedding planner face down in frosting with a knife sticking out of her back, she knows that to leave on time for their honeymoon, she needs to help Jack solve the case. Her two best friends step in, not only to help find the killer, but also to serve as her new wedding planners.

When Europe's designer du jour, Jean Luc LeCroix, invites Maddie to show her creations at Paris Fashion Week, Maddie's sure she's died and gone to heaven. That is, until Jean Luc's top model is found dead on the runway, stabbed with a familiar stiletto heel. Sure someone is trying to frame her, Maddie enlists the help of her friends, including the sexy Detective Jack Ramirez, to uncover a daring jewel heist, a devious blackmailer, and even a few skeletons lurking in the closets of those closest to her.

It's bad enough that Tara has to go on trial against the mortgage-frauding "Tennis Racketeers" who cheated banks and homeowners out of millions in between doubles matches. Now she has to go undercover - in a strip club - to strip the sleazeball owner of his indeed illegal livelihood. At least she's working as a bookkeeper, not a pole dancer. And who needs tips when her undercover crush, Special Agent Nick, is the club's bodyguard?

"Exposed" by a Boston Herald reporter, Lucy Valentine is suddenly the talk of the town. Long back-story short: Even though the rest of her Valentine ancestors were blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, Lucy's only special power lies in her ability to find things. This skill has proven quite a blessing for those who come to her matchmaking agency in search of finding their long-lost loves. Now that Lucy's secret is out, she has more new clients than she knows what to do with.

When a local artist disappears under mysterious circumstances, Chief Fox enlists my help to solve the case. An inspection of the artist's most recent paintings reveals there's magic at work, and I have to get in touch with my inner Rembrandt in order to access it. Meanwhile, life takes a sharp turn for frenemy Sassy Persimmons, and I find myself in the unexpected position of offering her comfort while offering my evil family a piece of my mind.

Tax cheats, beware: The Treasury Department's Criminal Investigations Division has a new special agent on its payroll. A recovering tomboy with a head for numbers, Tara's fast becoming the Annie Oakley of the IRS-kicking ass, taking social security numbers, and keeping the world safe for honest taxpayers. Or else. Tara's latest mission finds her in hot pursuit of ice-cream vendor Joseph "Joe Cool" Cullen. Along with frozen treats he's selling narcotics-and failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns. Over Tara's dead body.

Rookie antiques dealer, Angel Drake, has just made her first deal. She thinks it’s a good one. But the price is higher than she knows. Now she’s implicated in the biggest string of antiques robberies the country’s ever seen. An inherited shop and a new life in the country - the dream Angel loves is in serious danger. She’s out on a limb with nowhere to go, and if there’s any chance of keeping her new home and business, she must find a way to catch the real thieves, and fast. The odd customer wouldn’t hurt either.

Tisha McClain’s attorney, Sam resents having a spoiled, rich-bitch heiress dropped onto his plate. The sexy, blonde male at the airport is an intrusive buttinski, but appealing. Without revealing identities they share a wild, one-time fling. Unraveling her family’s sordid past, Tisha exposes deception. Proper, business-woman, Mom performed as a stripper and ran a brothel. Dad had managed strip clubs, associated with gangsters, and his brutal execution remains unsolved.

Maura has faced her fair share of monsters since moving to the haunted town of Hawkwood Hollow. When a series of disappearances in the area suggests a more sinister cause than a simple kidnapping, she assumes she can handle it alone.

Sixty years ago a man made a promise to the woman he loved to meet her on Saint Patrick's Day. They were to meet in the park on the bench where they liked to sit and watch the world go by. The couple were deeply in love and planned to marry, but he never showed up at the rendezvous point. Every Saint Patrick's Day since then the woman has made a pilgrimage to the bench to wait for her one true love.