Humorous Fiction Mysteries

When last we met, good people, the biggest wish I've ever made came to fruition. My outrageously handsome, smart, sometimes persnickety (read mostly persnickety) Spy Guy, Winterbottom, is finally here on earth with me, recuperating from his afterlife jaunt. Sure, he can be a difficult patient. Add in the fact that some of the spells I've cast to make this dream a reality have had repercussions (an understatement), and it's been sheer chaos. When my favorite men decide that I should take a day for myself, I hesitantly head out. And then I die. You can imagine, it only goes downhill....

Twelve-year-old Kimmy Jones wants to excel at the unique (and secret) aspect of her family’s funeral home business. Under the watchful eye of Grandma Bev, Kimmy learns how to raise the recently deceased, request their last wish, and break the connection to send them on. But when Grandma unexpectedly dies herself, Kimmy can’t reach her spirit, and nothing seems like it’s ever going to be right again.

Chet Gecko loves a good mystery. Almost more than he loves his fee: Stinkbug pie. So when fellow fourth grader Shirley Chameleon asks him to find her missing brother, Billy, Chet expects the case to be as easy as pie. But Billy's disappearance is part of a larger plot, one that involves the Rat Sisters, a riddling junkyard dog, and a vicious Gila monster named Herman. If Chet doesn't solve the case fast, the entire school could be humiliated. Worst of all, Chet might not get his fee. And Chet's hungry...

Horace Homer Higgins III despises dirt. And the outdoors. And ducks. But when his person, Eleanor, moves to a farm called the Homestead, the anxious Boston Terrier is forced to adapt. As if that isn’t enough to strain his nerves, Ellie adopts a perpetually cheerful potbellied pig named Bunwinkle to be his baby sister. Bunwinkle is delighted to be on the farm despite the stuffy demeanor of her new canine brother. She’s sure she’ll crack his shell eventually—no one can resist her cuteness for long—especially once they bond over watching a TV pet-tective show.

Missing shoes, stolen paperclips, and stalkers. Oh, what an afterlife! Bridget finally gets her first assignment as an Independent Authority agent: The not-so-glamorous case of The Paperclip Theft. Regardless, she is determined to close the matter quickly and move on to something more challenging. And then, the dead body of the Afterlife Arrivals commander topples out of the stationery cupboard.

Daniel T. Drunk, Jr. if you really wanna know. And I’m on a plane headed to Paradise Isle on the trip of a lifetime. The occasion? My honeymoon. Except, there’s only one problem. I’m riding solo. It’s a really long story, and if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to leave it at that. Really? You must know? Fine, I get it. You’re the nosey type. Here’s the abbreviated version. I came within an inch of marrying a cheating slut. There. Get the picture? Good.

Izzy, her boyfriend, and her holiday-crashing neighbor, Etta, are off to the driest, flattest, and most infertile inhabited continent on earth - where even the cutest of creatures might try to kill you. But that’s only the beginning of their problems. A Taste Society courier goes missing. And 26 hours after Izzy lands in Australia, a crocodile is found dead. With a human corpse inside. Not quite the start to her relaxing holiday she’d been hoping for.

The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency was supposed to be a secret constabulary, but after the success of their first case, all of London knows that Lady Ada and Mary are the girls to go to if you have a problem. Their new case is a puzzle indeed. It involves a horrible hospital, a missing will, a hasty engagement, and a suspiciously slippery servant. But Mary's stumbled onto a mystery of her own. She spotted a ghostly girl in a grey gown dashing through the park. A girl who is the spitting image of their new client.

How serious is stage fright? At the Hanging Hill Playhouse, it can kill you. After narrowly escaping a malevolent spirit in The Crossroads, Zack and Judy are hoping to relax during the rehearsals for a show based on Judy's best-selling children's books. Little do they know that the director is planning to raise a horde of evil specters from the dead, and to accomplish this, he needs a human sacrifice...and Zack fits the bill perfectly.

Rebecca Zamolo is on a mission to save her summer. Instead of going to camp like she’d planned, she’s been stuck in summer school. But today is the day! She’s going to present her final science assignment—using her Nana’s borrowed vintage zoetrope—and then she’ll be free to have fun. But as Becca and her classmates wait for her teacher to arrive, a menacing voice comes over the intercom claiming to be the Game Master! They've locked the doors, scared off the teachers, and demanded that Becca and her friends solve the clues that have been left behind.

Leo and Remi have saved the wacky, wonderful Whippet Hotel, but their adventures aren't over. Anything is possible on the field of wacky inventions: some are scary (like a genetically altered twelve-foot chicken); some are dangerous (like a pond full of electric eels); some are completely out of control; and somehow, Leo and Remi will take it all in stride.

When a crewmember takes his own life but hands Patricia a cryptic note and a request to save Anna just before he jumps, she feels she has no choice but to honour his dying wish. Who is Anna though? The note leads her to investigate the odd-looking and mysterious couple staying in cabin 2124 and so begins an adventure that leads Patricia and her friends through the streets and underbelly of Tokyo, Japan. Why did he kill himself? And what are the couple in 2124 up to?

If a megalomaniacal earth mage kidnaps your little sister, do you: A) Kill him, B) Kill him, C) Kill him, D) Magically indenture yourself to him to ensure her safe return. Welsh water horse Nevan Quirke would have happily opted for A, B, or C but had no idea where his sister was hidden—so, option D it is. He’s not a fool, though. He made sure to limit his obligation to a single task. Unfortunately, he neglected to nail down a few tiny details before the geas brand was seared into his skin,

Harold, Chester, and Howie return to Chateau Bow-Wow, and it's as creepy as ever. The Monroe pets, alongside cat burglars, Felony and Miss Demeanor, with Hamlet, a Great Dane, and Weasel (a weasel, of course) , work together to solve the mysterious disappearance of fellow boarder named Rosebud.

Welcome to another kind of terror as Peter Straub leads us into the outer reaches of the psyche. Here the master of the macabre is at his absolute best in seven exquisite tales of living, dying, and the terror that lies in between.

Witch-in-training Emma Hart is preparing for one of the worst days of her life...the marriage of fallen angel Daniel Starr to the spoiled fairy, Elsa Knightsbridge. Fortunately for Emma, distractions are easy to come by in Spellbound when a troll is found dead near a bridge and an overzealous werewolf is arrested for indecent exposure. Will these incidents be enough to keep Emma from falling apart? Or will one of these situations be her undoing?

Changes are afoot for Emma Hart now that her secret is out and her love life has taken a dramatic turn. With a mayoral election looming and a murderer on the loose, will life suddenly be a bed of roses for the plucky heroine or will she get pricked by the thorns?

Steve Brixton is America’s next great kid detective (and now he has his own agency to prove it)...When 12-year-old detective Steve Brixton gets a call that the Fairview diamond has gone missing, there are only two things to do: Grab his new business cards and take the case! But Steve quickly learns there’s an even bigger mystery afoot. MacArthur Bart, a.k.a. Steve’s hero, a.k.a. the author of the Bailey Brothers Mysteries series, has been kidnapped!

San Francisco's only PI with an eye into the supernatural, is having one of those months. His bad mood drives him to his local pub where he encounters his latest client, a Leprechaun who's lost his adopted niece, a runaway Dryad, and that's where the problems begin. Some days it pours and when Landau Bain, the city's crankiest wizard, arrives on Tony's doorstep, he knows what's coming down isn't rain.

Case brief: The opening of the Kalamazoo City Dome - the world's largest indoor/outdoor amusement complex - has everyone in the city buzzing, especially because it's going to be the shooting site for Chase Mercy's new blockbuster film. But that's when things start to go haywire, and Mayor Saunders suspects foul play. Who would want to sabotage the Dome, and why?