Cozy Supernatural

Every baker has their weak spot. For Poppy, it’s bread. So, when The Great British Baking Contest hits bread week, she’s as fragile as an overbaked croissant. Just when she needs to keep all her focus on flour, water, yeast, and salt, another ingredient enters the mix. Death. Someone is not who they appear to be, and secrets from the past are bringing deadly consequences to the present.

Imogen Banks has dreamed her entire life of opening her own bakery in Seattle. But when she accidentally sets fire to her apartment and loses all her possessions, her dreams get toasted. Still coping with her loss, she receives a cryptic invitation she can't possibly refuse: entry into a mysterious baking competition on a beautiful French island.

The small town of Bellamy Bay has its share of skeletons in its closet, but it isn't used to bodies turning up in the local history museum. After all, this Coastal North Carolina town is much like any other...except, of course, for the mermaids. Helping to run the family business, an herbal apothecary, while keeping her supernatural secret hidden is no easy feat for water witch Aleksandra Daniels. But somehow she's still found time to help her friend Celeste, who has her own Caribbean mermaid heritage, plan the annual Mermaid Festival.

When one local woman dies, Hunter writes it off as natural causes, but when another dies the same way, he realizes they may have shared more than just a monthly wine membership. Meanwhile, Shelby and Noelle struggle to master their newfound magical abilities, and Raeann has troubles of her own.

Tamsyn Bassett is having a bad week. Like the "losing your job and getting dumped by your boyfriend" kind of bad. So, when her great-aunt invites her to spend the summer at her inn on a remote island in Maine, Tamsyn jumps at the chance. But instead of the peaceful getaway she expected, she's immediately confronted with the preposterous revelation that she's descended from a long line of kitchen witches and is the last hope of her generation to keep magic alive in Pinecroft Cove. That she's the world's worst cook could be an issue.

It’s Detective Dani DeMarco's first week back on the job, and she is not amused. The coffee at the precinct is a disaster, a most annoying colleague is driving her insane, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend is now officially her boss. As if that’s not bad enough, Dani’s faced with a double homicide before the caffeine even hits her system. When a high-profile young elf is kidnapped and destined for death, Dani’s forced to go toe-to-toe with a kidnapper who has unlocked a secret so potent it could destroy an entire race of paranormals.

Granted, being murdered first thing in the morning would make anybody cranky, but when local contractor Max Wheeler meets his unnatural end, he takes it more personally than most. As any perturbed ghost looking for justice would, he goes straight to the local sheriff to report the crime. That's when Hunter learns there's even more weirdness beneath the surface of his small Southern town than he thought.

It’s up to Spell’s Angels to figure out what’s going on, and because nothing is ever easy for Scout, the investigation is going to be harder than she imagined. Scout is a fighter, but the world is closing in on her. She’s going to need her new coworkers and the family she doesn’t know to help her out on this one...and even then, nothing is a given. The road before her is winding, but answers are finally here. Scout will finally know what she is. Whether she survives long enough to benefit from the knowledge is completely up in the air.

Harper Harlow is living a busy life. Between answers to what happened to a former love, who was presumed dead, to her own mother being suspected of murder, there’s never a dull day in her world. That’s on top of meeting her boyfriend’s mother, a Christmas proposal surprise, and, of course, her best friend Zander’s over-the-top antics. Between ghosts, gaffes and nonstop laughs, this series has it all. This three-book omnibus includes Ghostly Despair, Ghostly Holiday, and Ghostly Ordeal.

Kester and Ribero’s team of inept supernatural investigators are back again. But this time, the stakes have been raised. Hrschni, a powerful daemon, together with the rest of the Thelemites, are hell-bent on bringing spirits back to the world of the humans...at any cost. Kester needs to gain control of his unique abilities while coming to terms with the fact that his mother had more secrets than he realized. He must also decide where his allegiances really lie. As the twisted truths keep coming out, he finds it increasingly hard to know who to trust.

Only a few months have passed since the day Kester Lanner forced an angry ghost through the spirit door, but business prospects for Dr. Ribero's supernatural agency haven’t improved. Things are looking grim when the agency lands a contract that they must share with a rival agency headed by Dr. Ribero’s sworn enemy, Larry Higgins. Desperate for the job, the team accepts and begins to investigate the seaside town of Lyme Regis, where elderly victims are dying. The same mysterious clue links the horrendous deaths: The victims all see a double of themselves before dying.

Amanda Harper's life has changed a lot in the few weeks since she met Tempest Michaels. Working out her notice period in Kent Police, she has already taken a new job as a paranormal investigator to work alongside him. She could be interested in Tempest, but even after she arrested (thankfully he was innocent) Brett Barker, the single, athletic multimillionaire heir to the Barker family fortune, he still wants to take her on a date to Paris in his helicopter. How does a girl say no to that?

Suzy discovers one of her classmates murdered in the basement of the school, and the only witness is a ghost that speaks in riddles and rhymes. Determined to unmask the killer, Suzy enlists the help of Snowball and Alfie, but something doesn't feel right. The toil and trouble doubles when almost everyone in Hemlock begins acting differently, including Alfie. Can Suzy cast her way out of another case of murder, mystery, and mayhem, or will whatever is taking over the town get her, too?

Hazel Greenwood’s always been a late bloomer. At 28, she’s finally close to completing her Green Witch apprenticeship at Granny Sage's magical bakery. And she’s even found herself a decent boyfriend. Take that, shallow Beige Witch mom and sisters who’ve always sneered down their contoured noses because her magic is more than skin deep. Luckily, Hazel’s matured past the angst of her outcast adolescence…or has she?

Pet psychic Jolene needs some excitement to keep her mind off her downward spiral. So, when her dreamy police crush asks her to interview a massive eight-legged murder witness, the former shifter signs on, despite the risks. With an enchanted sweatshop owner and a testy trendsetter both dying from the same venom, Jolene fears their crafty assassin has spun a complex web. Following the officer and his lie-sniffing German shepherd into a labyrinth of clues, she cuts through a suspect list full of jealous rivals and bitter enemies.

Cursed and almost powerless, Jolene’s definitely down on her magical luck. Forced to disguise her taboo shifter abilities, she barely makes ends meet by working as a pretend pet psychic. So she eagerly says, "Oui," to a job securing testimony from a parakeet that watched a woman’s fatal fall. Teaming up with a true blue police officer and his lie-sniffing German Shepherd, Jolene works hard to hunt down suspects. But with an after-hours affair, a disgruntled neighbor, and risqué photos all seemingly connected to the crime, untangling the truth is bound to get hairy.

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.

It’s Halloween, and Ruby is looking forward to a party at China Bayles’ house and a busy holiday weekend at her New Age shop, the Crystal Cave. But her holiday plans are interrupted when Jessica Nelson, a crime reporter at the Pecan Springs Enterprise, shows up with a hard-to-believe story about a serial killer who is targeting the terminally ill. Jessica claims that the killer’s calling card - a card picturing Azrael, the Angel of Death - comes from a deck Ruby once carried in her shop.

A sudden interest in the occult swept through the English village of Plummergen, with Ouija boards replacing the best china in many a cozy cottage. It might be quite the thing for maiden ladies and persnickity aunts, but it wasn't Miss Seeton's cup of tea...until Scotland Yard requested she go undercover to investigate some sinister shenanigans in the Kentish countryside. A flim-flam was afoot in the local witches' coven...and magic could be a prelude to murder most foul.

I can remember a time when I baked for fun. I loved dreaming up new recipes, trying different combinations of flavors. Sharing my creations with friends and family. Now? I have nightmares where the TV cameras are on me and I’m baking naked. Or I open my oven and my cake pans are empty. You don’t need to be Freud to figure out I’m freaking out. This week on The Great British Baking Contest could be my last. I am one bad bake away from being waved good-bye.