Southern Cozy Mystery

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. And that’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

Things are finally looking up for Sarah Blair following her unsavory divorce. Settled into a cozy carriage house with her sassy Siamese cat, RahRah, she has somehow managed to hang on to her modest law firm receptionist job and - if befriending flea-bitten strays at the local animal shelter counts - lead a thriving social life. For once, Sarah almost has it together more than her enterprising twin, Emily, a professional chef whose efforts to open a gourmet restaurant have hit a real dead end. The president of the town bank and city council is murdered after icing Emily's business.

Sheriff Teague Castro made a mistake 10 years ago that cost him the love of his life. But Jenny Northcutt has always been the woman for him, and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to get a second chance. Teague cooks up a plan to woo Jenny, but a local theft could ruin both the Christmas holiday and his odds of winning her over. Now, with a mysterious crime to solve, Teague must once again keep a secret from Jenny. Will their painful past repeat itself, or will they get the gift of a second chance at love?

When Tess Tremaine starts a new life in the colorful town of Goose Pimple Junction, curiosity leads her to look into a 75-year-old murder. Suddenly she's learning the foreign language of Southern speak, resisting her attraction to local celebrity Jackson Wright, and dealing with more mayhem than she can handle. A bank robbery, murder, and family tragedy from the 1930s are pieces of the mystery that Tess attempts to solve.

Marygene Brown always figured she'd marry her childhood sweetheart, Alex Myers, not cater his wedding. But the Peach Diner could use the exposure. Most of the island is showing up - although more for the role-playing murder game at the reception than for the widely loathed bridezilla, Lucy Carmichael. Marygene may have to smile through the festivities, but Mama doesn't have to hold her peace - especially since only Marygene can hear her mother's ghost. Mama says she sees an aura of darkness around the wedding.

Jewel Mantelle is just beginning to get used to the humidity in her new Southern home on Sophia Island, when Turtle Season opens way too early. At least, it's too early according to her friends with Turtle Trackers. Is it a true sea turtle nest found on a stormy April morning? Not likely, when a body is eventually discovered buried where the eggs should be.

Jewel Mantelle has never lived in the South, much less on the coast, so moving from Chicagoland to the historic North Florida coastal town of Sophia Island seems like just the adventure to fix her marriage. However, when she arrives, she finds that it’s awfully hot and humid there and that these Southern folks really like to hug. Her husband’s past on the island includes a creaky old house in the historic district and lots of nosy relatives he’d forgotten to mention.

When a quilting event falls to pieces, Beatrice works to patch things up. Dappled Hills quilters are eagerly anticipating new events at the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop. The shop’s owner, Posy, has announced "Sew and Tell" socials and a mystery quilt group project. But one day, instead of emailed quilt instructions, the quilters receive a disturbing message about a fellow quilter. When that quilter mysteriously meets her maker, Beatrice decides to use her sleuthing skills to find the killer before more lives are cut short.

Andy Buckland is determined that nothing will interrupt her first Christmas with Malcolm Jones and her last holiday spent in her childhood home. When the family recipe book disappears from the Bowtie Angel, and Aunt Cecily threatens to put "The Eye" on the entire population of Beaverton if it isn't returned, Andy and Jones decide to put the eggnog on hold for a little old fashioned sleuthing. But as one secret leads to another and rumors are served up along with hot buttered penne, Andy can't shake the suspicion that her life is about to change forever.

When Jack receives a disturbing email from a man claiming to have killed eight people, he sets off on a road trip with Jill and Kizzy in search of the answers he will need to stop this madman before he is able to kill victim number nine.

The gang from the Gull Island Writers Retreat take on the case of a man who is currently doing time for the murder of a woman he swears he did not kill. After speaking to the man, Alex determines that he is most likely telling the truth, so he enlists the help of the gang to prove it. As they work together to sort fact from fiction, they realize there may be a lot more going on than they originally thought.

Andy Buckland isn't thrilled when sexpot celebrity chef Lacy L' Amour decides to open a competing ethnic restaurant in small-town Beaverton...right across the street from Andy's pasta shop, the Bowtie Angel. And, matters heat up when L' Amour sets her sights on both Andy's customers and her man, Malcolm Jones, who has been acting strange lately. But, all of that pales in comparison when Andy’s long-lost daughter is suspected of arson. Suddenly the town’s outrage reaches a rapid boil, and the future of the Buckland-Rosetti clan is about to go up in flames.

Once again, the Sophia Island Shrimp Festival is over. Thousands attended to eat shrimp, shop, and watch the pirates come ashore as usual, but this year’s temperatures were warmer than ever. Everyone is happy that the busy hot weekend is over, and everyone came through unscathed. Or so it seems. Jewel and Craig Mantelle also made it through their kids and families’ first visit to their new island home.

Some say it was the spirt of one of the pirates that haunt the island that killed him. Others say the death was the result of greed and revenge. All that was known for certain, was that death did not come peacefully for the last inhabitant of a now deserted island.

When 16-year-old Emily Halliwell ran away from home, she agreed to send her half sister a photo every week to prove she was okay. And she did. For a while. But then the photos stopped coming. Nicole Carrington, Emily's half sister and the newest permanent resident of the Gull Island Writer's Retreat, decides to ask the Mystery Mastermind Group for help. The trail has gone cold, but Nicole is desperate, so the group decides to accept the challenge in spite of the staggering odds of finding Emily alive after all of this time.

As Beatrice’s wedding day approaches, murder finds a way to make her pressed for time. Beatrice and Wyatt’s days are spent planning their cozy, chapel wedding. Both widowed, they mean to keep their wedding an intimate, family affair. But everyone in Dappled Hills still wants to celebrate the happy couple. Beatrice and Wyatt find themselves at dinners, picnics, and barbeques in their honor.

It’s August in Chattanooga, Tennessee and moonshiner Hattie Hayes has collaborated with a nearby vineyard to serve her moonshine at a Wine and 'Shine event. Not only is this an opportunity for Hattie to gain more moonshine fans, but she’s also excited to hear the Bootlegging Brothers, a popular bluegrass band. But not every attendee is looking for harmony. When one of the brothers disappears and is presumed dead, Hattie realizes her grace note gathering has suddenly turned more sour than her mash.

Five years ago, award-winning actor Rhett Crawford threw a Halloween party. On the third night of the party, the groundskeeper found the body of one of the guests bludgeoned and left in the toolshed. It was eventually determined that the victim’s date had most likely killed the woman before fleeing the scene of the crime.

Andy Buckland is no stranger to TV. The worst moment of her career happened when a live studio audience got food poisoning from one of her dishes. But when the pasta guru is given a slot in the televised cooking competition Diced Showdown, she sees her chance at redemption. In exchange for the shot at vindication, Andy and her fiancé, Malcolm Jones, are tasked to find the identity of a mysterious blogger who has a nasty habit of revealing detrimental secrets of the show’s top celebrity chefs.

Some say it was the spirt of one of the pirates that haunt the island that killed him. Others say the death was the result of greed and revenge. All that was known for certain, was that death did not come peacefully for the last inhabitant of a now deserted island. The lighthouse on Skull Island is a mysterious place steeped in legend and folklore.