Cozy Mystery Fiction

Bookseller Annie Murray is thrilled when the mystery-themed book festival she sets up to revive the dwindling fortunes of her workplace and sanctuary seems poised for success. But events take a shocking turn when a body is discovered hidden behind the shelves, and it’s revealed that the victim is Annie's old college acquaintance.

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job.

Each December, the faculty of Balaclava Agricultural College goes wild with holiday decorations. The entire campus glitters with Christmas lights, save for one dark spot: the home of Professor Peter Shandy. But after years of resisting the school's Illumination festival, Shandy suddenly snaps, installing a million-watt display of flashing lights and blaring music perfectly calculated to drive his neighbors mad. Then the horticulturalist flees town, planning to spend Christmas on a tramp steamer. He returns home to find his lights extinguished - and a dead librarian in his living room.

If you haven’t already fallen in love with this internationally acclaimed series by M. C. Beaton, then this cunningly crafted mystery will do the trick. Loaded with authentic Scots dialog vivid enough to make you smell the heather-scented air, Death of a Macho Man is Beaton at her best. Hamish Macbeth - Lochdubh’s one-man police force - has suddenly become a prime murder suspect when a belligerent newcomer turns up dead. To save his career, Macbeth must delve into this Macho Man’s unsavory past. Suddenly, suspects are everywhere....

Returning to Charm, North Carolina, for a fresh start on her wilting life is an easy decision for Everly, and opening a new seaside cafe and iced-tea shop puts the proverbial icing on her legendary lemon cakes. Everything is just peachy until a body turns up on the boardwalk outside her home and a jar of her proprietary tea is found at the victim's side. Now, Detective Grady Hays, Charm's newest and most mysterious lawman, has named Everly as his number-one suspect, and Everly's new start is about to go up in smoke unless she can dish up the real killer.

I'm Halliday Valentine, a psychic witch who's recently moved from New York City back to my very human hometown of Marshmallow Hollow, where I run the family factory that caters to all things Christmas. Digby Dainty (known as Hobbs), the tall drink of water who rents my guest cottage, and I have a lot in common, including a love of true crime. So as macabre as it sounds, when a shady real estate tycoon shows up dead in the middle of the annual ice festival, I'm thrilled to spend time with Hobbs, flexing our amateur sleuthing skills.

London 1884. Electricity pioneer Simon Borthwick lights up Victorian London with a stunning illuminations display - then shoots himself in a hansom cab. Plucky Fleet Street reporter Penny Green witnesses the inventor's death and suspects the clue to his suicide lies in a mysterious letter he left behind. But can she persuade Inspector James Blakely of Scotland Yard that a crime has been committed? Borthwick isn't the only person who died that day, and Penny soon encounters a shadowy world which the police can't get close to.

Jessica is invited to join other crime writers at an interactive murder mystery weekend in a historic mansion turned resort. A theatrical troupe presents a play for the paying guests, but a young actor's death during the actual performance isn't part of the script. The local sheriff has never investigated a murder before and enlists Jessica's help and expertise. As she begins to put the pieces together in her folksy fashion, Jessica recognizes that this could well be her last performance.

A routine trip to the vet begins a wild adventure when Suzy Maycomber and her cat, Snowball, take a shortcut through the cemetery and find themselves in the mystical land of Nightshade, where magic exists and cats talk. Only the librarian, Rachel, the most powerful witch in Nightshade, can help Suzy get home. One big problem: Rachel's just been murdered. Desperate to find her way home, Suzy reluctantly agrees to take Rachel's place as Nightshade's resident witch, where she'll have access to the spell books that might hold the answers she needs.

When Adeline Bertrand-Verdon, the haughty, conniving president of the Proust Association, is murdered, Inspector Jean-Pierre Foucheroux is called on to lead the investigation. Soon Inspector Foucheroux is overwhelmed by a seemingly endless list of suspects: from her assistant to her colleagues, her fiancé to her lover, almost everyone Adeline knew had motive to kill her.

Sunsets, Sabbatical, & Scandal: A resident of Normal, Kentucky, is found dead on the floor of the Normal Diner, leaving the entire town on high alert. News spreads fast about the murder and Detective Hank Sharp is hungry for answers. Mae West along with the Laundry Club ladies come up with a list of suspects and the evidence is piling up faster than a juicy double cheeseburger. Who murdered the beloved citizen?

Sawyer Davis, a chef who inherited her mother's mystery bookshop, is hosting her first book signing for the world's biggest diva. Between juggling the author's lofty demands, learning how to be a surrogate mother to a 15-year-old, and dealing with the sheriff who once broke her heart, Sawyer's menu is full. She longs for the good old days when the worst thing that happened was a flopped souffle. But when the author's husband ends up dead in Sawyer's best friend Renee's ice cream shop, things really heat up. Sawyer believes her friend is being framed.

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tea room floor.

Claire Barclay finds a home in England after 25 years of travelling. She has money, a tour guide business, and ambitions. She is shocked by the murder in her quiet village, but is not going to give up on the haven she has finally found. With the help of her sister, the barracuda barrister, her new dog, new friends, and the unexpected stimulus of a new man in her life, she deals with suspicion, confusion, and threats.

Though a small town at heart, Lawrenceton, Georgia, has its dark side - and its crime buffs. One of them is librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, a member of the Real Murders Club, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases. It's a harmless pastime - until the night she finds a member killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss.

When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she’s been missing for the past week, or that her friends and family have been frantic with worry. Now that she’s back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn’s crushing distress, Clare doesn’t remember him, or much of anything about the last decade of her life.

In the delightful Cotswold village of Carsely, the air is heady with romance. Agatha Raisin is convinced that the new vet has taken a shine to her. But before she can get anywhere, handsome Dr. Paul Bladen is accidentally killed while attending to Lord Pendlebury’s horse. So was it really an accident? All the evidence points that way, but the circumstances are decidedly suspicious....

It’s always an occasion when the Hale family descend on their country pile, Lockley Grange. Almost everyone in Saxford St Peter has been called upon to dust the rooms, tidy the garden, and cater for the party. Eve Mallow’s delighted to be invited: years ago she babysat for the Hale children, and she can’t wait to see how they turned out. But the night will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The following morning, Lance is found dead in his indoor pool. He’d been the life and soul of the party, but Eve saw him arguing with friends and family.

USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes brings you southern and quirky characters in her mystery series. Her stories are charged with humor, friendship, family, and life in small southern towns. Welcome to Normal, Kentucky, where NOTHING is normal.

England, 1920. Lady Eleanor Swift, adventurer extraordinaire and reluctant amateur detective, is taking a break from sleuthing. She’s got much bigger problems: Eleanor has two left feet, nothing to wear and she’s expected at the masked ball at the local manor. Her new beau Lance Langham is the host, so she needs to dazzle. Surrounded by partygoers with painted faces, pirates, priests and enough feathers to drown an ostrich, Eleanor searches for a familiar face. As she follows a familiar pair of long legs up a grand staircase, she’s sure she’s on Lance’s trail.