Cozy Women Sleuths

Sister Trixie Lavender here! After a rocky start (read: murdered landlord) to our arrival in Cobbler Cove, Oregon, things have finally slowed down. Er...mostly. My demon buddy Coop and I, along with our sassy talking owl Livingston, have settled nicely into our newly opened shop, Inkerbelle's Tattoos. We've met some awesome people, including new friends Higgs and Knuckles, and we're forging friendships with our fellow business owners. And sure, we've had a few glitches (see Jeff), but we've found our groove, our clientele is growing, and everything's pretty great.

Carrie Kennersly, a veterinary technician, has become known for baking healthful and popular dog treats at the clinic where she works, in the town of Knobcone Heights, California. When a friend moves away, Carrie buys her bakery and converts half into a Barkery to sell her canine delights. But Myra and Harris Ethman, who own a local store selling pet products, hate the new competition. After publicly badmouthing Carrie and antagonizing family and other townsfolk with her big mouth, Myra is found dead with a Barkery biscuit beside her.

In the south of France, where hatred simmers in the heat, a man seemingly admired, and certainly feared, drops dead at a dinner party. All of the guests fall under suspicion, including Welsh-Canadian professor Cait Morgan. A criminologist who specializes in profiling victims, Cait sets out to solve the murder - and clear her name. Add to this the disappearance of an ancient Celtic gold collar said to be cursed and there you have the ingredients for a Nicoise salad of death, secrets, and lies.

A hotshot real estate developer arrives in Sully's Landing, touting his plans to build a tacky amusement arcade smack dab in the middle of the tasteful cliffside town. No one in Sully's Landing can stand the gaudy developer, but it's still a shock when he ends up murdered. It's even more shocking when Liza's friend Doug emerges as the chief suspect. Melanie and Liza put on their sleuthing caps yet again and set out to clear Doug's name.

No matter how great or small, I love to help solve a crime. When I find my mother's ex-boyfriend murdered in our convenience store bathroom with a piece of his skull missing, and my mom's a suspect in a murder investigation, my mystery solving goes from zero to 100. To really make matters worse, the town's local conspiracy theorist and official doomsday prepper, Cappie, somehow finds out the victim isn't just missing a piece of his skull - he's missing a piece of his brain!

When the firefighters of Ladder Company 189 pull Clare's friends out of a blazing cafe, she happily comes to their rescue. As a favor to the men, she visits their firehouse kitchen to teach them the finer points of operating their newly donated espresso machine. But more than their coffee turns out to be hot. Somebody's torching cafes around the city, and firefighters are beginning to die in suspicious ways....

A smartphone dating game turns the Village Blend into a hookup hot spot - until a gunshot turns the landmark coffeehouse into a crime scene. As Village Blend manager Clare Cosi fixes a date for her wedding, her ex-husband is making dates through smartphone swipes. Clare has mixed feelings about these matchups happening in her coffeehouse. Even her octogenarian employer is selecting suitors by screenshot! But business is booming, and Clare works hard to keep the espresso shots flowing. Then another kind of shot leaves a dead body for her to find.

After agreeing to stay in Lily Dale through the winter as caretakers of the Valley View Guesthouse and its feline residents, widowed mom Bella Jordan and her son, Max, are looking forward to the peaceful off-season after a hectic summer. That is until the medium next door, Odelia Lauder, recruits Bella to host a destination wedding for the world's most petulant bride, Johneen Maynard, a friend of Odelia's granddaughter.

Daisy McCrae's life is in tatters. She's lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has been reduced to living in the attic above her family's store, the Union Street Bakery, while learning the business. Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a "real" McCrae, since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters. Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason she bequeaths to Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s...

Making cupcakes can be murder. Especially when someone has poisoned them. Diana knows she's being framed for a crime she didn't commit, but who is out to make her look guilty, and why? Speaking of secret enemies...Fergus has done something terrible. Now part of a new crime-fighting duo, Diana finds herself immersed in a deep, dark conspiracy theory. At the heart of it is a mystery that has baffled investigators for decades. The whole thing is more ridiculous than anything Fergus has ever previously believed. The worst part is...she's starting to think it might all be true.

I'm finally coming to terms with the fact I can speak to animals, even though the only one who ever talks back is the crabby tabby I've taken to calling Octo-Cat. What I haven't quite worked out is how to hide my secret. Now one of the associates at my law firm has discovered this strange new talent of mine and insists I use it to help defend his client against a double murder charge. To make things worse, Octo-Cat has no intention of helping either of us.

It has only been a few months since Sarah Kelling's elderly husband passed away, and she is struggling to adapt to life as a penniless young widow. To make ends meet, she converts her stately Boston home into a boardinghouse, a decision that brings something even better than money: the company of art-fraud-investigator Max Bittersohn. The budding couple is standing on a balcony, recovering from a second-rate concert at a third-rate museum, when something plummets past them. The museum has been robbed, and a guard has fallen to his death.

Dylan Apel is having one heck of a summer. She knows her hand-made clothing is special, but magical? Discovering that she's a witch is bad enough, but when Dylan realizes there are folks who'll kill to possess her witchy powers - that's enough to make a girl want to hide out in the back of her boutique. The only problem is, Queen Witch is in town, itchin' to make sure Dylan learns to cast spells, and this witch won't take no for an answer.

What do steeplechase, playing cards, and daggers have in common? They all play vital roles in the intricately woven plot of Sneaky Pie and her human cohort Rita Mae Brown in this delightful mystery. While Mary "Harry" Haristeen and her cat Mrs. Murphy attend the annual steeplechase at Montpelier, Mrs. Murphy discovers something amiss. During the celebration following the race, one of the jockeys is found dead in the barn, a dagger through his heart and the queen of clubs impaled by the dagger.

No place is more perfect for the winter holidays than the charming mountain town of Estes Park. As the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery glistens with lights and garlands, Winifred Page allows the seasonal merriment to brush away all worry and fear. Watson, her grumpy corgi, is about as far from stressed as possible-after all, with the holiday baking, delectable crumbs are everywhere.

There is nothing cake can't solve. Not. One. Thing. Except, perhaps, the escape of a crazy homicidal ex-ward of Bridget Sway's handsome parole officer. Since Bridget has taken the ex-ward's place in the group home, and in the handsome parole officer's roster, it's likely she's a target for Crazy Katie's homicidal rage. When the bodies start dropping, what does Bridget do? Simple. She lets best friend, and ex-PI, Sabrina talk her into a "straightforward" evade and capture mission so they can hand the murderer over to the police and life can go back to normal. Yeah. Foolproof plan.

There's a witch running loose in the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, and her brew is…beer. Actually, Leona Cunningham, co-owner of The Barleywine, is a practitioner of Wicca, which many mistakenly believe to be sorcery or black magic. Then, after one too many pints, local alcohol aficionado Ryan McMurphy accuses Leona of being a real witch, blaming her for the series of accidents. When Ryan ends up dead, without a mark on his body, Leona is not only the target of a witch hunt but also the prime suspect.

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air-balloon rally. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out. As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them. An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers.

Amateur sleuth Isabelle "Izzy" James thinks life in Sunshine Springs has finally settled down. Her boozy pie cafe is running smoothly, and she has a whole new circle of friends. But nothing stirs up a quiet week like a man being pushed from a rooftop to his death. The unlucky man had been participating in a scavenger hunt when he met his demise, and Izzy goes on a scavenger hunt of her own-looking for clues about who the murderer might be. But even with her trusty Dalmatian, Sprinkles, by her side, Izzy struggles to solve the case.

My name is Nora Black. I'm over 50 and enjoying my life to the fullest. That is, when I'm not worried about graying hair, low back pain, allergies, and a psychic gift that sometimes stinks. When police officer Reese McKay asks me to use my aroma-mojo to look into the "accidental drowning" of her black-sheep cousin, I can't turn her away. Especially now that she's become a friend.