Cozy Mystery Fiction

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head in Bar Harbor, Maine, when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment - taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops - she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu - with one exception.

Gemma never expected to be invited to a total stranger’s will reading, and she’s even more baffled when she receives a vintage set of encyclopaedias and a letter with strict instructions to read it in private. The letter contains a cryptic code; a long sequence of numbers. Wanting to keep a promise to his late wife, but also unburden his conscience, the deceased man wanted to expose a long-hidden family secret connected to a sixty-year-old unsolved murder. Gemma, the owner of The Bookworm Bookshop and her sharp-witted business partner, Mavis, must solve the code and uncover the truth.

The Corpse in the Cabana: Viola Roberts is headed to a writers’ conference at an exotic Florida resort complete with white sand beaches and swaying palm trees where she plans to lounge in the shade drinking frosty beverages with little umbrellas. And, of course, no sojourn to tropical climes would be complete without her wise-cracking best friend, Cheryl. When Viola discovers the diva of the author world dead (as a doornail) of unnatural causes, the police detective turns a gimlet eye on Viola’s best friend.

Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time slip witch is hot on the trail of an arsonist. But who is behind the deadly fires? Someone working for their own evil ends or a fire spirit acting according to its nature? Or perhaps a magical power hidden away?

Horrible histories suggest that the new girl in town Samantha Baker has reason for revenge on the family of the poisoned lawman. Virtually alone and with no time to spare, Sammy turns a sleuth to uncover the cop-killing culprit and solve this messy small-town mystery. Sammy’s investigations will divulge dastardly deeds that require every ounce of faith and forgiveness she can muster before she can finally close the case and put the cherry on this cupcake catastrophe.

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.

Writer Saffi Graywood thinks a quick road trip to help a friend will be the perfect break from her looming manuscript deadline. But her autumn getaway takes a chilling turn when aging horror star Malcolm Morton reveals he’s been receiving threatening vintage postcards—and his groundskeeper has just turned up dead beneath the dock. Malcolm’s grand reopening of a forgotten theme park known as “The Haunted Wood” should be his triumphant comeback.

Lady Eleanor Swift isn’t normally one for grand social occasions, but who can resist a wedding? Especially when it’s her old friend Constance Grainger marrying the most eligible bachelor in town, Lord Peregrine Davencourt. Eleanor is taking Gladstone the bulldog as her plus one, with a smart new bowtie to match her bridesmaid’s dress. But the big day is ruined when the groom is arrested for murder before he makes it to the altar.

All Parker Hayes wanted was a fresh start, serving up frothy lattes and decadent desserts at her charming new cafe, Catch You Latte. But just as she's perfecting her caramel drizzle, her grand opening takes a bitter turn when a face from her past turns up dead… right behind the cafe. Suddenly, Parker's at the center of town gossip—and the prime suspect. Dodging murder accusations was definitely not part of her business plan. Then an ominous text turns everything upside down, and the clues start pointing to one of Magnolia Grove's most upstanding citizens.

When a disillusioned big city exec buys a hobby farm in her hometown, she plans to launch a cozy inn among adorable animals. The only hitch? In quaint Clover Grove, the good life comes with a side order of mayhem, mystery and murder. Ivy Galloways border collie is a certified canine genius. When she rescued Keats, the dog helped her put a killer behind bars, and when murder comes to Runaway Farm, he's ready to do the same again. This dog loves a job and his eerily accurate intuition leads Ivy into some strange and dangerous places.

Smarmy personals ads. Daring declarations of love. Freelance writer Jaine Austen has penned them all. But no one needs her help more than geeky, gawky Howard Murdoch. His request is simple enough: a letter proclaiming his undying love for Stacy Lawrence, a gorgeous aerobics instructor. The fact that he's never actually met the woman gives Jaine pause - yet she soon overcomes her misgivings, and the unlikely Romeo lands a date! But his triumph is short-lived. On Valentine's Day, Howard finds Stacy bludgeoned to death with a Thigh Master - and is quickly named the prime suspect.

Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time Slip Witch has a new job working on the set of Bella Bing's latest movie, filming in Harlot Bay. It's meant to be a change of pace but when the lead actor, Mattias Matterhorn, dies on his first day on set, Harlow is pulled into a dangerous plot. A saboteur is on set and they'll do anything to shut the film down... including murder.

Reindeer Games Christmas Tree Farm is going into the B&B business, and Holly White is looking forward to her new role as innkeeper. Even better, Mistletoe, Maine's sheriff, Evan Gray, has deputized his little sister, Libby, to help Holly wrap presents for Mistletoe's toy drive. But a cold wind ruffles the cheery holiday decorations when a new guest checks in: Cleo, a vicious B&B critic who could make or break the new inn. And the short December days turn even darker when Evan and Libby find Cleo's dead body in the gift-wrapped toy donation box.

Phoebe Winchester’s beloved Aunt Eudora has a taste for adventure—and a knack for making magical tea. It’s even rumored that she just might be a witch. So when Eudora passes away and leaves everything to her niece—her Victorian mansion, her bookshop/tea store The Earl’s Study, and one very chubby orange cat named Bob—Phoebe gets more than she bargained for. And she knows she’s in deep when a dead man is found on the shop’s back step, apparently killed while trying to break in. Now she must put her newfound power to the test and cast a spell that could catch a killer.

Stormy has her hands full with gnome shifters and her old high school nemesis, so a missing person’s case isn’t something she’s looking forward to. She has no choice but to dig, though. Her conscience won’t allow the alternative. Stormy might be new at the magic contest, but she understands winning. When another person disappears, she realizes she’s playing the wrong game.

For one brief hour on a sunny Texas morning, amateur baker Rosie Hart glimpses the life she’s always dreamed about - thanks to a surprise inheritance from the late Miss Alice. But her benefactor is barely cold in the ground when Rosie is accused of her murder. As the only stranger in the tight-knit Airlie Falls community, and the only person with an obvious motive, all eyes turn to Rosie. Especially when more bodies begin to pile up and mysterious letters from the grave start circulating faster than Rosie can pull a tray of cherry nut clusters out of the oven.

The feisty foe that Zara Riddle first met in The Wilds is now a member of the family, but all is not quite right at the Mystery Mansion. Zara misses the good ol' days of chasing ghosts and getting chewed up by carnivorous plants, sea monsters, natural disasters, and even the ground itself. When an investigation does come along, Zara jumps at the chance to use her magic, since she's better at that than cooking. The whole coven gets in on the action, and no sooner have they started than they lose Zara. Of course Zara doesn't think she's lost at all.

Manhattan fashionista Kelly Quinn thought she'd left her upstate New York town far behind...until the Seventh Avenue expat returns home to revamp her grandmother's consignment shop into an upscale boutique - and unwittingly sets a trend for murder....After her rising career as a Manhattan buyer is derailed, Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back to Lucky Cove, in spite of her big plans for the soon-to-be-renamed Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. What's left of her luck starts running out when a customer puts on a black lace dress that triggers visions of someone being murdered.

Have you met Roxy Reinhardt? Roxy believed that life never gives you more than you can handle. But when she's fired from her wage-slave job, bullied by her co-workers, and her boyfriend abandons her, she decides she’s handled quite enough. Eager for a change of scene, Roxy heads off to New Orleans and embarks on an adventure that challenges and transforms her as she invests in a culture that is far and away different from anything she has experienced before.

When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it's love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister that the 19th-century yellow-brick house they share in Michigan is already too cluttered with Jaymie's "junk," she successfully outbids the other buyers and triumphantly takes home her Hoosier.