Cozy Women Sleuths

Ever since her husband’s affair, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen has taken a sabbatical from men. The 30-ish divorcée is content to tend her farm and gain a bird’s-eye view of the neighbors from her perch as small-town postmistress. Yet when a hunky city slicker comes to town with no clue about farming, she’s happy to show him the ropes. When pieces of a dismembered body crop up around Crozet, however, the wary townsfolk reckon the handsome stranger is the culprit.

Autumn is in the air in the Blue Ridge Mountain community of Crozet, Virginia - and all the traditions of the changing seasons are underway. Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen cleans her cupboards; her husband, Fair, prepares the horses for the shorter days ahead; and the clamorous barking of beagles signals the annual rabbit chase through the central Virginia hills. But the last thing the local beaglers and their hounds expect to flush out is a dead body.

With the arrival of six senior reading group members at the Merry Ghost Inn, the long-awaited grand opening week has finally begun for Melanie West and her grandmother Liza. All is well with the Oregon coast-side B&B until Melanie's dog, Max, finds the dead body of one of their guests.

1924. Lady Eleanor Swift and her butler Clifford are touring the great, ancient sights of Egypt on a much-anticipated extended vacation. But when the pair arrive at the docks in Cairo expecting to board the luxurious paddle steamer advertised in their brochure, they are baffled by the crumbling old cruiser waiting for them. And things only go from bad to worse as death stalks the decks of the SS Cleopatra.

With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson - until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood. More unfortunate? Clutched in the victim's fist is a label from Wren's homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number-one.

Lee Barrett has landed her dream job at Salem's WICH-TV. As the new field reporter, she'll be covering events live as they're unfolding. Next on her holiday checklist is an interview with the beloved chairman of a popular walking tour through Salem's historic districts. But it may be his ghost walking this snowy Noel season after Lee finds him murdered in his stately offices, bloody Santa hat askew.

Cooper Lee has never been happier. She has terrific friends at Bible study, a great boyfriend in Nathan, and, best of all, a new niece or nephew on the way. But storm clouds are gathering when a string of church robberies comes to Hope Street, and an art teacher is found dead in what appears to be a robbery gone wrong.

Fred is welcoming the Christmas holiday spirit and appreciating the friendships, love, and support she’s found during her first year in her new hometown. But the night’s festivities become a scene for local drama, and by morning a trip to the magic shop to collect a present has Fred and Watson stumbling upon a murder scene. In an unexpected twist, Fred is asked to investigate, but the suspect list keeps growing, and every one of them would give Ebenezer Scrooge a run for his money.

It's been quite a year for novelist Liz Holt. She's overcome a lot and is finally feeling at peace with her new life at her family's hotel, the Indialantic by the Sea, on the beautiful barrier island of Melbourne Beach, Florida. She's exactly where she needs to be to ring in the New Year at the Florida Writes Literary Masquerade Ball.

While viewing the harbor's Gaslights and Galleons Parade from the widow's walk of Timothy Neville's Charleston mansion, local banker Carson Lanier seemingly tumbles over a narrow railing, then plunges three stories to his death. But a tragic accident becomes something much more sinister when it's discovered that the victim was first shot with a bolt from a crossbow.

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

As summer draws to a close, the Spirit, Health, and Heart Conference arrives, just in time for Winifred's sisters to open their store next to the Cozy Corgi Bookshop. To Fred's surprise, chakras turns out to be a beautiful addition to the delightful mountain town. But not everyone is charmed by the crystals, tarot readings, and messages of personal enlightenment. When a famous spiritualist is found dead, Chakras and the entire town are plunged into a conflict that touches the lives of those closest to Fred.

Owning her own business seemed like pie in the sky to Valentine Harris when she moved to the coastal California town of San Nicholas. But when one of her regulars keels over at the counter while eating a quiche, Val feels like she's living a nightmare. After the police determine the customer was poisoned, business at Pie Town drops faster than a fallen crust, and Val must expose the truth - before a crummy killer tries to shut her pie hole.

Lacy Marie Crocker can hardly believe it's been a year since her return home to New Orleans. There hasn't been a dull moment since opening her pet boutique last summer, and thanks to the popularity of Lacy's organic pet treats and the arrival of the National Pet Pageant, Lacy desperately needs some help before she is overrun by the demand for pupcakes and crinolines. Everything is going spectacularly until Viktor Petrov, the pageant emcee, takes a spill from the balcony during dress rehearsal.

On the way to the emergency room, an elderly woman regains consciousness long enough to inform paramedic Zoe Chambers that her fall down the basement steps was no accident. Before she can say more, she succumbs to her injuries, launching Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams into the investigation of a burglary ring targeting the area's vulnerable senior citizens.

When Blanche White moved north to Boston, she believed it would be a better place to raise her kids, especially after she got them into an elite private school. But now her children are becoming elitist and judgmental, acquiring more attitude than education. So when she and her kids are invited to Amber Cove, an exclusive resort in Maine for wealthy blacks, Blanche jumps at the chance to see how the other half lives and maybe stop her kids turning into people she doesn't want to know.

It's Wine and Chocolate Days in San Benedetto, and paranormal museum owner Maddie Kosloski has sweet dreams about her new Magic of Chocolate exhibit. Her latest attraction is a haunted Mexican whisk called a molinillo that rattles if someone lies. When Maddie visits the town's new boutique chocolate shop, she finds one of the owners dead and covered in melted cocoa.

Guesthouse owner, single mother, and reluctant ghost whisperer Alison Kerby is about to sit down to movie night with her family and friends when she's struck speechless. Floating before her is the ghost of her musical idol, 1960s English rock star Vance McTiernan. He's in desperate need of help from Alison and her resident ghostly gumshoe, Paul Harrison.

Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers' and crooners' answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls. The festival's headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. When a member of Tammy's entourage is murdered at the festival, Tammy makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.

It's Mardi Gras season on the bayou, which means parades, pageantry, and gumbo galore. But when a flood upends life in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana - and deposits a body of a stranger behind the Crozat Plantation B&B - the celebration takes a decidedly dark turn. The citizens of Pelican are ready to laissez les bon temps rouler - but there's beaucoup bad blood on hand this Mardi Gras. Maggie Crozat is determined to give the stranger a name and find out why he was murdered.