Cozy Science Fiction

Life at the Salty Cauldron is going well…right up until a body washes onto the beach. The dead woman, who is 40 years younger than her husband, had a run-in with Hali in her tiki bar the previous day. Authorities assume it was an accidental drowning, but a mark on the dead woman’s neck gives Hali pause. Grayson Hunter finds himself in a pickle when the identity of the body becomes public. Seems he was the one hired by the victim’s husband to investigate her extra-curricular activities. Surprisingly enough, it turns out she wasn’t having an affair.

A dragon is missing. DI Adams' missing person is human, not dragon, but the trails of both lead to the village of Eldmere, where glimpses of a mysterious Beast have drawn in the nation's monster hunters. And where the Toot Hansell Women's Institute and the Cloverly dragons are in hot pursuit of Gilbert. A valley full of weekend Yeti hunters and cryptozoologists won't stand between them and the young dragon. But something strange is happening in Eldmere, and the dragons, Beast, and ladies of the Women's Institute are at the heart of it.

There's a fine line between 'eccentric' and 'a danger to oneself and others'. That's certainly what DI Adams is thinking when a body turns up in Rose's freezer. Rose might not look like an octogenarian black widow, but it's the inspector's job to follow the evidence. Alice and the Toot Hansell Women's Institute couldn't disagree more. Certain that Rose is responsible for nothing worse than a little forgetfulness, they're not going to let her be sent to jail or an old folk's home.

Poet Parker is living a new reality now that she knows what she is. Unfortunately for her, she still doesn’t know what she can do…and she doesn’t think she’s going to figure it out in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since her uncle Sidney is in tow, Poet is hopeful for a quiet week. Little Rock has never been a hotbed of activity. Quiet isn’t what she gets, however.

Poet Parker thought her past was lost to her...but it’s about to invade her present. Her uncle Sidney is in New Orleans, which just happens to be where Mystic Caravan is setting up shop for the week, but Poet isn’t expecting a happy reunion. Things are tense—to say the least—and that’s before zombies are reported in the French Quarter. New Orleans is one of Poet’s favorite places in the world, and she’s thrilled to be in the city, but when it becomes apparent that a war is brewing between powerful loas, the Big Easy becomes big trouble.

Like it or not, when a sorcerer asks you to track a magician, you track a magician. It's that or spend life as a hamster. So we did. But, turns out, the scary magician is the least of our worries. Between raging squirrel mobs, My Little Ravenous sewer monsters, and bungalow-dwelling necromancers with a good line in attack dogs, it's all we can do to keep ourselves the right side of dead. And that's before we stumble onto something far more sinister. Something that makes one dead son look like small carrots. Something that's going to raise an ancient almost-god and bring the world to its knees.

When a man from Callum's past turns up at our door claiming to have lost both the last herd of unicorns in England and his sister, I knew it should be a hard pass. The past has teeth. But old debts plus a damsel in distress means Callum just can't say no. G&C London, Private Investigators, are plunging deep into the magical underbelly of Leeds, and we're going to have our work cut out for us. Never mind the criminal dynasties, cross-dressing trolls, trained attack lizards, and philosophical donkeys - we need to find the sister and get out before the Watch get involved.

"Find Malcolm. His safety is your safety." Threat or promise, I wasn't hanging around to find out. Not when the sorcerer making it had just yanked me out of my skin for a friendly chat. But with scheming magicians, lurking necromancers, and Callum's long-lost family all competing to make my next out of body experience a permanent one, having a sorcerer on our side seems like a pretty good option. There's just one problem. If we want her help, we need to find her dentist. And we've only got one lead. Weres. Mouth-breathing, ravening monsters with too many teeth and no affection for my kind.

I see dead people. And I'm not the only one. They're even on Facebook. The dead are rising, and if we don't stop them before the infection spreads any further, we're going to be knee-deep in the zombie apocalypse before you can say mmm, brains. The only problem is, we don't know why they're rising, who started it, or how to stop them. But G & C London, Private Investigators, are on the case. Just as soon as we get through dealing with disapproving reapers, irate magicians, zombie-fied chickens, and a small internal case of undeadness. Trust us.

Bridget Sway has been dead for seven years. She and her best friend, Sabrina, are running a wildly successful private detective agency. She gets to wear what she wants, eat what she wants, she's even made peace with her communal living situation. Everything is . . . perfect. And yet, once again, Bridget is drowning in dissatisfaction. The problem? No one is murdering anyone. Their days are filled with infidelity cases and not much else. So when a client's potentially cheating husband goes missing, Bridget and Sabrina jump at the chance to do something different.

Rebellious Christmas wreaths. Mysterious welly-dwelling eggs. A plague of irate water fowl. And ten ladies of a certain age who are by no means the least troublesome of Toot Hansell's residents, as far as Detective Inspector Adams is concerned. She's entirely certain her training never covered dealing with the Women's Institute, dragons, or festive magic spills. Not to mention invisible dogs with caffeine dependencies. But Christmas is almost here. Things can't go too wrong. . . can they? Well. It is Toot Hansell.

An eerie howl draws Hannah and Cooper to Main Street during a snowstorm, and what they find confuses them. There’s some sort of monster stalking the downtown area, and a woman has appeared out of nowhere in the creature’s wake only to collapse in front of them. Before Hannah can call for help, the woman disappears, leaving a mystery and a monster hunt on the menu.

When witch Astra Arden and her best friend Detective Emma Sullivan are sent to investigate a string of arson cases in the psychic medium capital of the world, they get more than they bargained for. Investigating a spate of mysterious arson cases in Cassandra, Florida–the self-proclaimed psychic medium capital of the world—Astra and Emma juggle accusations from the town's eccentric inhabitants as well as the mayor's questionable relationship with their boss.

Hannah Hickok is looking forward to her first Christmas in Casper Creek. She has plans for cookies, cuddles with her fiancé Cooper Wyatt, and a visit from Chris Kringle. Instead, the man who visits isn’t the one Hannah was inspecting. No, it’s her former fiancé Michael…and he’s arrived with an agenda. Michael has more attitude than brains, and he’s ready to make life difficult for Hannah…right up to the point where his new fiancée is killed and her body goes missing from the morgue.

Mitzy Moon is bending over backward to be a good big sister. Spending a day at the pet invention convention seems harmless enough. But when puppy love turns into vanishing canines and a vengeful ghost, she’ll have to bend a few laws before more furry friends are spirited away. Ignoring the handsome sheriff’s warnings about evidence that cuts both ways, Mitzy’s desperation drives her to make daring decisions. Unfortunately, one crime leads to two and her carelessness puts Ghost-ma and her interfering feline in danger.

The cozy town of Devil’s Orchard has been overrun with all types of misfits and miscreants as they host a reptile expo. The sponsors of the event are none other than Rexx Cobra and Dirk Dagger, two '80s rockers who don’t know the meaning of the word restraint. When Dirk’s found dead of an apparent snake bite, the sheriffs are quick to rule it an accident. Bobbi’s not so sure, because a lot of things don’t add up—like how the guitarist had a lot of enemies and more than a few secrets that he was trying to hide from the tabloids.

The summer carnival has arrived at Ivory Beach, and Rory and her magical family are ready to enjoy the festivities. At least until a vampire shows up dead, a stake in his back, and a furious Evangeline sweeps in to take over the murder investigation. Edwin, head of the police, pleads with Rory to make her see reason, but the fearsome head of the local vampires refuses to be taken for a fool. Regardless, the murder brings to mind Rory's terrifying induction to the magical world, and the group of deadly vampires set on getting their hands on the library's deepest secrets.

Casper Creek is a town in flux. Contractors are on the scene making plans for the new restaurant, owner Hannah Hickok is plotting ridiculous couple’s costumes for the Halloween party, and there’s a new demon in town. Instead of coming after Hannah directly, the demon does an end-run around the witch and starts possessing the area children…and sending them into a frenzy. Through a fluke, Hannah manages to put an end to the first attack. Unfortunately, a wave of them are set to follow.

Something strange is going on in Spellford Cove. No one is acting quite as they should, and Robin is starting to think there might be some sort of dark magic involved. And with her new employee she knows to be working for her biological father, Robin puts a plan in place that will hopefully stop him from being able to find her. Will Robin be able to overcome the dark magic at work, or will she find herself a few layers short of a full cake?

When my parents drop in for an unscheduled visit, a hastily prepared spare room reveals a dark secret. A skeleton is hidden inside the closet walls, and the dead body was a pixie! With rapid-fire revelations coming from my mother and an invisible creature stalking the library, it's hard to grab a moment's peace. Add to that an enraged uncle - the same one who tried to cheat me out of my inheritance - and I'm halfway to wishing I'd never heard of Oakleaf Glade.