Cozy Ghost Fiction

Only a handful of people know that Emma Lee Raines, proprietor of a small-town Kentucky funeral home, is a "Betweener." She helps ghosts stuck between here and the ever-after - murdered ghosts. But Emma Lee's own sister refuses to believe in her special ability. In fact, the Raines sisters have barely gotten along since Charlotte Rae left the family business for the competition. After a doozy of an argument, Emma Lee is relieved to see Charlotte Rae back home to make nice. Until she realizes her usually snorting, sarcastic, family-ditching sister is a...ghost.

Proprietor of the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, Emma Lee can see, hear, and talk to ghosts of murdered folks. And when her high school nemesis is found dead, Jade Lee Peel is the same old mean girl - trying to come between Emma Lee and her hot boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, all over again. There's only one way for Emma Lee to be free of the trash-talking ghost - solve the murder so the former prom queen can cross over.

I told you I was sick, reads the headstone above Mamie Sue Preston's grave. She was the richest woman in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, and also the biggest hypochondriac. Ironic, considering someone killed her - and covered it up perfectly. And how does Emma Lee, proprietor of the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, know all this? Because Mamie Sue's ghost told her, that's how. And she's offering big bucks to find the perp.

When she runs into her friend's deadbeat dad at the local deli, undertaker Emma Lee Raines can't wait to tell Mary Anna Hardy that he's back in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, after five long years. Cephus Hardy may have been the town drunk, but he didn't disappear on an epic bender like everyone thought: He was murdered. And he's heard that Emma Lee's been helping lost souls move on to that great big party in the sky. Why do ghosts always bother Emma Lee at the worst times?

Bopped on the head from a falling plastic Santa, local undertaker Emma Lee Raines is told she's suffering from "funeral trauma." It's trauma all right, because the not-so-dearly departed keep talking to her. Take Ruthie Sue Payne - innkeeper, gossip queen, and arch-nemesis of Emma Lee's granny - she's adamant that she didn't just fall down those stairs. She was pushed. Ruthie has no idea who wanted her pushing up daisies, but she can't cross over until the matter is laid to eternal rest. Emma Lee's high-school crush, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, isn't ready to rule out foul play.

Barbecue, craft fairs, and murder? Just another weekend with the Flynn witches. When the main judge at a barbecue competition turns up murdered with a barbecue fork, it seems everybody's a suspect, including Bobbie Sue and Earl. Thank goodness for sneaky ghosts and eavesdropping talking donkeys, or the crime may never be solved! They came for the food and the trophy, but they may end up staying for the amenities at the iron-bar hotel.

Just when Noelle thinks she has her ducks in a row, a woman brings her horse to Flynn Farm for boarding. At first, everything is just peachy: The woman is wonderful and the horse is mannerly and full of personality. Then, par for the course and much to Noe's chagrin, things go sideways.

Keyhole Lake has its fair share of oddballs and ne'er-do-wells, but sometimes even good folks do bad things, right? At first, the crimes seem to stem from desperation or teenage rebellion, but when the president of the ladies' auxiliary is busted stealing church funds, Noelle starts to piece together a pattern that points to a much more nefarious - and magical - explanation. The infractions go from bad to worse, and to add insult to injury, the sheriff - her beau - doesn't believe her.

In 1934, the body of a beautiful but poor young woman was found alongside a riverbank near The Depot. Beaten to a pulp, only recognizable by a tattoo on her ankle, and yet, days after the discovery, the story all but disappears. Eighty years later, locals claim The Depot is haunted.

A Ghost town isn't supposed to be so literal. Juniper's knack for finding lost things is downright magical. But so is the portal to the afterlife in her back yard. Soon the town of Auburn is overrun with restless souls, and some of them want more than just one more Bingo win. To make matters worse, Juniper's gift goes wonky when she needs it most. With new allies she doesn't trust, magic that won't behave, and ominous ghosts threatening all she loves Juniper must find a solution to her haunting problem or else....

Bailey Ruth loves to return to earth as an emissary from Heaven's Department of Good Intentions. Problem is, she's a bit of a loose cannon as far as ghosts go - forgetting to remain invisible, alarming earthly creatures - so she's far from the top of department head Wiggins's go-to list for assignments.

When you wish upon a star, you get...Bailey Ruth? You do if you're a little girl whose mom needs help and you touch the soft heart of Supervisor Wiggins at Heaven's Department of Good Intentions. Granted it's not the usual task of an emissary, but then again Bailey Ruth is not your usual emissary. So Wiggins dispatches the spunky spirit to her old hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma, to help a single mother and struggling writer find some creative solutions to her problems.

When the bitterly cold days of January descend on Cleveland, Bailey Burke finds her “Put It Where?” home staging business is as frozen as her toes. The only bright spot is the return of her friend Ryan after his, ahem, eviction from heaven. Especially since no other dead people seem to be harassing her in recent weeks. Yet when her grandmother’s bingo buddy turns up frozen solid in a stranger’s back yard, Bailey is the only one who finds the death suspicious.

Someone is terrorizing the elderly and vandalizing their homes in a certain neighborhood in Spookie. As usual, Abigail Sutton, a freelance artist, and her boyfriend, Frank Lester, a retired homicide detective, are called in to help find out who's doing these awful acts. The two seem to have an uncanny knack for unraveling mysteries and getting to the bottom of such strange happenings. Some of the old people think it's ghosts in their basements, in their homes, doing these destructive deeds, but Frank doesn't believe in ghosts while Abigail isn't so sure.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn's latest mission is to guide the happy-go-lucky spirit of a deceased young man named Jimmy to the next life. But Jimmy is determined to watch over his still-living girlfriend, Megan, whom he wants to be happy even without him - which is easier said than done.

Bailey Ruth’s supervisor, Wiggins, is worried about a dear old friend. The ghost of elegant Lorraine Marlow haunts Adelaide’s college library. Known as the Lady of the Roses, she plays matchmaker, using the fragrant flowers to pair up students. But someone’s making mischief after hours, leaving roses strewn about the library, destroying a gargoyle, and stealing a valuable book. Concerned with Lorraine’s reputation among the living, Wiggins dispatches the irrepressible redhead Bailey Ruth to investigate.

Life as a ghost-hunting witch is never dull. When Maura's date with Detective Drew Gardener is cut short after the body of a shifter shows up in a local park, she finds herself tasked with finding the shifter's ghost. Unfortunately, things are never that simple. First, the shifter's ghost doesn't show up. Then Maura finds herself in charge of training a new coworker at the inn as well as helping the local ghosts with their various problems. With tensions rising among factions of the local werewolf pack, this isn't the best time for Maura to get involved in solving a murder, too....

Mr. Peter has lived across the street long before Kay moved into her house, and over the decades, the collection of old washing machines, lawn mowers, and refrigerators in his front and back yard has reached the point where it's nearly impossible to find the front door. The man is an eccentric recluse, but how can anyone dislike a kindly person who loves old pottery and dinnerware, and slips Taco, the cat, chicken sandwiches every chance he gets? Evidently someone disliked him - disliked him enough to kill him.

When psychic medium Chantilly Adair receives cryptic messages from the lacrosse park’s dead groundskeeper, she knows something bad is coming. What she doesn’t expect is tragedy to hit so close to home. Now her son’s best friend is missing and feared dead, and the only clues Chantilly has are the babblings of a confused ghost who won’t accept his death. Will Chantilly be able to decipher the obscure messages in time to save the boy, or will it be too little, too late?

With all the ghosts that haunt her at this time of year, Carly doesn't exactly rush to celebrate Halloween. Even a costume ball organized by her boyfriend Dylan's mother, Patricia Davis Jackson, holds little allure. But to please Dylan, who wants peace between the two women, Carly reluctantly agrees to go.