Cozy Crime Fiction

Meg and Hawk are part of the FBI's elite K-9 unit. Hawk can sniff out bodies anywhere - living or dead - whether it's tracking a criminal or finding a missing person. When a bomb rips apart a government building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it takes all of the team's extensive search-and-rescue training to locate and save the workers and visitors buried beneath the rubble.

The vineyards of the Willesford Wine Group occupy a particularly choice section of French wine country. From the grapes of Provence, the owners of this impeccably managed syndicate have squeezed international fame and fortune. Next to their spectacular estate lies the petite Peregrine Winery, whose shadowy owners suddenly make repeated requests to buy Willesford's property - raising their offer each time. Unable to discern Peregrine's motive for these attempts, the Willesford group sends for London's gourmet detective, a sleuth with impeccable reasoning and an even finer palate.

Two Cherringham locals, roaming a farm with metal detectors, discover an amazing treasure - a silver Roman plate worth millions. They must share the reward with both the farmer and the owner of the land, the formidable Lady Repton, but there will be plenty for everyone. That night, while the village pubs do a roaring trade, archaeologist Professor Peregrine Cartwright offers to keep the plate safe in his massive wall safe. But when the British Museum expert arrives to verify the find next morning, the safe is empty! Police blame a notorious gang of art thieves operating in the county.

With only a smattering of tourists visiting the village for the Samhain feast, Jayne is excited. No. She's looking forward to... no. Jayne is guardedly optimistic about spending a few days with her demanding sister. Then, a boy goes missing during trick-or-treating, and everything changes. The parents aren’t worried. Their son does this, they say. With a storm bearing down on the village, however, Jayne isn’t content to dismiss this as a case of a curious kid off exploring the woods.

Ngaio Marsh’s most popular novel begins when a young New Zealander’s first contact with the English gentry is the body of Lord Wutherford - with a meat skewer through the eye.... The Lampreys had plenty of charm - but no cash. They all knew they were peculiar - and rather gloried in it. The double and triple charades, for instance, with which they would entertain their guests - like rich but awful Uncle Gabriel, who was always such a bore.

Why would a killer ignore expensive jewellery and take a pair of turtledoves as the only bounty? This is only one of the questions that piques Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune's interest after a senior attaché with the Mexican Consulate is found murdered alongside the director of a local bird sanctuary. The fact that the director's death has opened up a full-time research position hasn't eluded Jejeune either. Could this be his escape from policing?

Kate’s retirement in Cornwall hasn’t quite gone as planned - Lavender Cottage is in need of substantial repairs, and her sister Angie’s fondness for gin does rather stretch the purse strings. So when Kate is asked to do some nursing at the luxury retirement flats in Seaview Grange, she jumps at the chance. The old Victorian house has stunning views of the sea, and the retirees are a peaceful bunch. That is, until Edina Martinelli, a glamorous ex-opera singer, is found poisoned in her home.

The past doesn’t always stay in the past. Deeds can come back to haunt us. That’s what happens to florist Peony Bellefleur’s protégé and young witch, Char, when her old boyfriend turns up out of the blue saying he wants another chance. Turns out he’s really on the run from crime.

Saxford St Peter is Eve Mallow’s beloved home, but she can’t resist the chance to spend a weekend in the nearby Abbey Hotel, famed for its glamorous owner, Debra Moran, and an array of celebrity guests. For a confirmed people-watcher like Eve, it’s perfect: She can observe the rich and famous while sipping tea in the gardens, her faithful dachshund, Gus, by her side. But her relaxing break takes a shocking turn when Debra is found lying dead in the shadowy woods around the hotel.

Flavia is enjoying the summer, spending her days punting along the river with her reluctant family. Languishing in boredom, she drags a slack hand in the water - and catches her fingers in the open mouth of a drowned corpse. Flavia needs to put her super-sleuthing skills to the test to investigate the murder of three gossips in the local church and to keep her sisters out of danger.

Having finished transforming Windy Corner, the grand Victorian mansion she inherited from her great aunt, into a writers’ retreat, widowed literature professor Emily Cavanaugh is ready to receive her first set of guests. But her careful planning is thrown into disarray by the unexpected arrival of outrageous true-crime writer whose unpardonably rude behavior is causing great offence. As a ferocious ice storm rages outside, the guests entertain one another with a game of charades. But their revelries are brought to a sudden halt by the discovery of a body in one of the guest bedrooms.

This latest installment of the beloved No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series finds Botswana's premier detective agency as busy as ever, with no shortage of sensitive situations requiring Mma Ramotswe's keen eye and discerning input. Through it all, Mma Ramotswe will demonstrate that there are solutions to all manner of difficulties, there to be discovered as long as one is led by kindness, grace, and logic, and can rely on the wise counsel of close friends and loved ones.

A classic Ngaio Marsh novel in which a game of darts in an English pub has gruesome consequences. At the Plume of Feathers in south Devon one midsummer evening, eight people are gathered together in the taproom. They are in the habit of playing darts, but on this occasion an experiment takes the place of the usual game - a fatal experiment which calls for investigation.

Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con seeking sanctuary with other fans and creators - and maybe to reunite with his ex - but when his rival is found murdered, he becomes the prime suspect. To clear his name, Mike will have to navigate every corner of the con, from zombie obstacle courses and cosplay flash mobs to intrusive fans and obsessive collectors, in the process unraveling a dark secret behind one of the industry's most legendary creators.

Sir John Phillips, the Harley Street surgeon, and his beautiful nurse, Jane Harden, are almost too nervous to operate. The emergency case on the table before them is the Home Secretary - and they both have very good, personal reasons to wish him dead. Within hours he does die, although the operation itself was a complete success, and Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn must find out why....

When a fancy sports car whizzes down the high street of Willow Waters in the Cotswolds, florist and witch Peony Bellefleur senses it could bring trouble. She is right. Bad boy Dennis Ratslaff left Willow Waters many years ago, and the community breathed a sigh of relief. After a couple of decades in Australia, he’s returned with an Aussie accent, a lot of money, and a plan to stay. He’s bought a beautiful historic property with an award-winning English country garden that he plans to dig up for his swimming pool.

Marion Sharpe and her mother seem an unlikely duo to be found on the wrong side of the law. Quiet and ordinary, they have led a peaceful and unremarkable life at their country home, The Franchise. Unremarkable that is, until the police turn up with a demure young woman on their doorstep.Not only does Betty Kane accuse them of kidnap and abuse, she can back up her claim with a detailed description of the attic room in which she was kept, right down to the crack in its round window.

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman's nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man's heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he's thrown into the deep end of the investigation.

Epiphany ‘Pip’ Bloom is down on her luck. She can barely afford cat food, and just because Most has three legs doesn’t mean he eats any less. So she absolutely can’t afford to mess up her latest temp job. But when she walks through the door of the private investigation firm, her new boss mistakes her for a missing persons expert. He then charges her with finding Matty Price - the teenage son of two A-list celebrities - who has mysteriously disappeared from his home in Kensington.

Life as a private investigator in the suburbs of Florence isn’t always as glamourous as Dan Armstrong imagined it to be, until he is asked to investigate a recent spate of violent attacks on a Hollywood movie set in Florence. The star of the show, movie-star royalty Selena Gardner, fears her life is in imminent danger. As Dan investigates, he discovers secrets and scandals are rife within the cast and crew. But with no actual murder, Dan believes these attacks could simply be warnings to someone…until the first body is found.