Cozy Humor

The second in this hilarious cozy mystery series features a woman who is a talent agent for showbiz animals and discovers that she has a talent herself: solving crimes. Kay Powell, theatrical agent to non-human animals, is babysitting - that is, birdsitting - her client, a parrot named Barney, on the set of his new TV show, Dead City. When the show’s charismatic star is shot in his trailer between scenes, the only eyewitness to the crime is - you guessed it - Barney.

Murder has come yet again to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of Detective Simon Grave, his “almost invisible” partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and his new assistant, Charlize, a simdroid (an android lookalike of a famous person) who fancies herself a match for Sherlock Holmes, in the simulated body of Charlize Theron. When a body is discovered on a deserted beach, alongside a deactivated Betty White simdroid, the game is afoot.

Key West has a new hero. He weighs four pounds and stands eight inches off the ground. His name is Nacho and he’s the bravest, shrewdest, funniest Chihuahua you will ever meet. He’ll do anything to help his master, the retired mafioso Bert the Shirt, and his friends - especially the beautiful Rita, with whom Nacho is smitten from the very first time she reaches down to scratch his ears.

Portland, Oregon’s own best-selling romance author Olivia Novak should have been entering life’s third act with a sparkling-clean storybook Tudor, her first serious novel under her belt, and a real-life romance with her husband of 32 years. Instead, her husband was killed in a hit-and-run, a case the police have shelved, and she’s too worn out from her own obsessive three-year hunt for the culprit to write. Now, her mother has died.

Tempest Michaels is back! His office burned down, his love life is a joke, and he is convinced he is getting fat. It's the perfect time for a new case, then. The client is the son of a man who was killed in freak accident - struck by lightning. That doesn't sound very paranormal until you learn that he was inside his house when it happened and his heart exploded out of his chest. There are eldritch runes drawn on the victim’s house and his wife has been seen colluding with a mysterious old crone. Is there witchcraft being practiced in the nearby village of East Malling? The client certainly thinks so.

Gold coins from a centuries-old sunken treasure ship have been found on the beach in Cawsand. This would be no cause for Tempest Michaels to take notice, but a man murdered by the ghost of a dead pirate come to claim back the gold? That ticks all his boxes. Tempest, oblivious to the events in Cawsand and believing he was overdue a week off, has traveled to Cornwall with his dogs for some relaxation and perhaps a cream tea or two. Well, fat chance of that, because he is hip-deep in murderous ghosts before he finishes his second pint.

Single mom Maggie Hayes puts up a tough front to hide her loneliness, spending her days in the courtroom as a lawyer and her evenings as a closet video gamer. Another heartache isn't worth the risk, not after her husband left her last year for a Hooters waitress. When she decides to try dating again, a cute video-game-designing nerd seems like a safe bet - until he becomes the prime suspect in a murder.

On the edge of the Navajo Nation, rookie paralegal Naomi Manymules pauses on a lakeside clifftop to enjoy a moonlit moment. She hears someone swimming in the darkness far below her, and a boat drifts out of the shadows. When she glimpses something that might be a naked butt shining in the moonlight, she decides to head for home. What she saw was the bare behind of a murdered local sleaze. His passing upsets exactly no one, but his wife can offer only a coyote for an alibi.

To Laurel McKay, there is nothing better than spending an autumn afternoon munching on caramel apples and cinnamon donuts. It's a good thing her daughter Jenna has landed a seasonal job at Apple Tree Farm and Bakery. Then Laurel stumbles over the bakery owner coated in powdered sugar. Axel Thorson was a well-respected member of the community. Who wanted to sweeten him up?

Wuthessen gegen Guthessen: Das gibt Tote! Ex-Kommissar Henning Bröhmann ist mit Freunden im Vogelsberg wandern, da erzählt ihm sein Vermieter Rüdi von seinem Engagement für die neue Partei "HESSEN ZUERST!". Seit Rüdi arbeitslos wurde, hat er sich große Ziele gesetzt: unter anderem ein Landtagsmandat. Nun macht er Wahlkampf mit Slogans wie "Kartoffelworscht statt Döner" oder "Make Oberhessen great again". Bröhmann wird schnell klar, dass die populistische Partei nicht allein auf Wahlplakate und Sonntagsreden setzt.

Violet has to prepare for her Home Economics assessment, but with a house full of guests and a lunatic sister playing detective, how will she ever get it done? And if the dog did not destroy her mother's cake, who did? Did she really see someone lurking down at the gatehouse? Which one is the bay tree, and what does nutmeg look like anyway? Should self-confessed teachers be allowed out into society?

Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark, and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, doesn't think so. The 34-year old half-Latina, half-WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve. For Lee, this has become personal. From San Francisco's famous Embarcadero to quaint Princeton-by-the-Sea, she is out to find the killer. And for the killer, this has become personal, too.

After a disastrous few years trying to make it on her own, Lacy Steele returns to her tiny hometown. Feeling like a failure, she moves in with the one person guaranteed to make her fat, her beloved grandmother - a woman who uses food as love. As if to make her already depressing life more confusing, she reconnects with Jason, the former Adonis of their high school. Now a cop, Jason seemingly doesn't remember the frizzy-haired band geek Lacy was. Instead, he sees her as a potential problem, especially when someone she loves is arrested for murder.

Hier wird nach Märchenmanier gemordet! Jürgen Seibold, der Autor der beliebten Allgäu-Krimis, meldet sich mit einer neuen witzigen Krimireihe zurück. Robert Mondrian hat keine Lust mehr, Attentäter zu jagen und Staatsfeinde mit bloßen Händen aus dem Verkehr zu ziehen. Deswegen hat er Deutschlands geheimstem Geheimdienst den Rücken gekehrt, sich zur Ruhe gesetzt und eine Buchhandlung gekauft.

Inflicting Christian names like Jefferson Youll on a young lad already saddled with a surname like Patbottom is a sufficient handicap for anyone, but if you have the misfortune to be educated at Watlington County Grammar and end up as thick as a plank, life gets very tricky indeed. Settling for Jyp and braving a succession of dead-end jobs, he finds sanctuary in a government statistics department dealing with figures.

Fact: In September 1964, the Beatles, their private flight diverted by Hurricane Dora, made an unplanned visit to Key West. Fiction: Poolside at their motel, the Fab Four fell into conversation with a snappy-dressing local named Bert the Shirt, who listened as the band worked out a harmony to the most beautiful song he’d ever heard...and wouldn’t hear again for over half a century.

Narrowly missing a splat of ectoplasm - or Bernard, as he was more commonly known - Ronnie entered the shop to the clanging of the little silver bell. His brow furrowed as he absently scratched his cheek. Grendle the shopkeeper always came out after the tolling of the first bell. Always. Later on, the local press interviews the Skullenian residents after an incident at the fountain: A happy young couple has discovered a cadaver while taking a moonlit stroll through the cemetery. What links the strange events? Is anything else going to happen?

Ready to redesign her life, style expert Samantha Kidd accepts a job in her Pennsylvania hometown as a trend specialist. But her first day goes completely A-line when she stumbles across her legendary boss dead in the elevator. And after the body disappears, she can't help but pull on the mystery's thread. Supervising her deceased employer's vogue competition, Samantha tries to hem in a sexy shoe designer and countless ego-driven creatives to stitch together the clues. Can Samantha put a killer in the spotlight before she's sewn up for a crime she didn't commit?

Marty Golden can barely string a voicemail message together, let alone keep up with his new love. This quirky uncle's hectic Silicon Valley lifestyle needs a reboot when a youth league soccer game becomes a murder scene. And nothing can stop him from donning his amateur sleuth uniform when he discovers his sweetheart used to have quite a thing for the dead guy.... With a not-so-helpful paw from Buddy the Labrador, he does his best to sniff out a long list of possible suspects. Can Marty solve the case before the trail and his new flame grow cold?

Welcome to Mimi's Charms and Enchantments - a new age shop filled with magical merchandise and colorful customers. Cam couldn't ask for a better after-school job. When a shady man in gray slinks in one afternoon, Cam is this close to calling 911. To her relief, he hurries away, leaving behind the nauseating odor of his cologne and a curious spell he's dropped on the floor. But this spell is not your average hocus-pocus. It's ancient, odd, and promises power supreme - something Cam could definitely use to keep up her 3.9 grade-point average.