Book picks similar to
Welcome to Spicetown by Sheri Richey


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Dixie Divas


Virginia Brown - 2009
    "Where? Mexico? Paris? In Tupelo with a cocktail waitress?" "In your closet," I answered. "Dead." Break out the hoop skirts and the zinfandel. The Divas are on the case. Wine. Chocolate. Transvestite strippers. Just another good-time get-together for the Dixie Divas of historic Holly Springs, Mississippi, where moonlight and magnolias mingle with delicious small-town scandal. But Eureka "Trinket" Truevine, the newest Diva, gets more than she bargained for when she finds her best Diva girlfriend Bitty Hollandale's ex-husband in Bitty's hall closet. He's dead. Very dead. Now Trinket and the Divas have to help Bitty finger the murderer and clear her name. Virginia Brown is the nationally acclaimed, award-winning author of fifty novels.

Too Big to Miss


Sue Ann Jaffarian - 2001
    A never-married, middle-aged, plus-sized woman who makes no excuses for her weight, she's not super woman just a mere mortal standing on the precipice of menopause, trying to cruise in an ill-fitting bra. She struggles with her relationships, her crazy family, and her crazier boss. And then there's her knack for being in close proximity to dead people . . . .When her close friend Sophie London commits suicide in front of an online web-cam by putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger, Odelia's life is changed forever. Sophie, a plus-sized activist and inspiration to imperfect women, is the last person anyone would ever have expected to end her own life. Suspecting foul play, Odelia is determined to get to the bottom of her friend's death. Odelia's search for the truth takes her from southern California strip malls to the world of live web-cam porn to the ritzy enclave of Corona del Mar.

Risky Bisqueness


Elizabeth Rain - 2020
    It should be the other half~The Best Half...That's what Julienne Mason told herself as she stared at herself in the mirror the morning after her 40th birthday...Husbandless...Jobless...Childless...Julienne Mason's Ego has taken a Beating. In the space of a day, she nearly burnt down the pizza parlor, lost her job, and walked in on her cheating rat of a husband.To top it all off? She's 40 and no one has noticed.With nothing to show for a lifetime of chasing the Joneses and trying to conform to everyone else's expectations but her own...Juli is more than ready for a change of lifestyle. But nobody ever told her that answering the summons to a strange letter would turn her entire life on a dime, and challenge every notion she's ever had on what normal is...Add in a Strange Inheritence, an Overbearing Ghost, A Snobbish Talking Cat, and a Sentient Recipe Grimoire; Sprinkle Liberally with Magic...And Maybe even Misfits like her deserve a second chance to get things right...But first she'll need to solve her Uncle's Murder and learn to Embrace her inner Witchiness...before she runs out of time and the killer Strikes Again...

Killer Transaction


Catherine Bruns - 2015
    Her deceitful co-worker, Tiffany Roberts, has other ideas, and she always manages to get what she wants. Tired of being manipulated, Cindy tells her to back off - or else! But when Cindy stumbles upon Tiffany’s lifeless body, she suddenly finds herself front and center in a deadly investigation. Now everyone from her kids' classmates to her monstrous mother-in-law is sold on the idea that Cindy's guilty. Determined to find out who's trying to frame her, Cindy enlists the help of her best buddy, Jacques, to negotiate a slew of suspects, a host of clues, and an office full of cutthroat agents...before the next contract is out on her!

Apple Die


Chelsea Thomas - 2018
    All she wanted was hot cocoa, and apple pie. Then she found a dead body, face down in her favorite stream. Now she’s in the middle of a murder investigation, and a killer is on the loose in her quaint small town. Miss May is a former New York City lawyer, so she thinks she and Chelsea can catch the criminal on their own. Local business owner Teeny is nosy, opinionated, and convinced the murder was inspired by her favorite British mystery series. And Chelsea is caught up in the amateur investigation, a timid Watson on her first case. Will the stress of the amateur sleuthing be enough to break Chelsea for good? Or will it be exactly what she needs to get over her ex, and learn to be happy? Most importantly, will this rag-tag crew find the killer before he strikes again?

Craks in a Marriage


Barbara Barrett - 2018
    A few days later, the husband is found dead, his head bashed in. Fearing she’ll be considered the most likely suspect, the widow prevails upon Sydney and her three friends—Marianne, Kat and Micki—to find out who really killed him. Though none of these four fun-loving, take-charge retirees has any training as detectives, the women agree to launch a secret investigation. As they dig under the happy veneer of their community’s social life, they find more than enough suspects, from shady ladies to resentful golf buddies, to keep them looking over their shoulders. Could the murderer be lurking among the talent in a chaotic production put on by Sydney’s husband, who will do anything to keep busy in retirement? Could the sheriff, who may have more than a professional interest in chanteuse Kat, end up pinning the crime on the women instead? Each discovery during their investigations and their weekly mah jongg game keeps them running as they close in on the killer—but the killer may also be closing in on them. This cozy mystery, the first in the Mah Jongg Mystery series, features four retired amateur sleuths who live in the small Florida town of Serendipity Springs, all female and all friends who play the game of mah jongg together. Though they don't set out to investigate murder, after their first experience in this story, others start looking to them to help investigate subsequent homicides and questionable accidents. In this first book, Sydney Bonner takes the lead, although she turns to her three friends for help. Though this series features four protagonists, the others will take the lead in subsequent stories. Two are married, one is divorced and the fourth, who has been single all her life while she tended to her ailing mother, now finds herself the object of the sheriff's attention in this series. The four don't seek out murder; somehow the circumstances and those affected drag them in. Meanwhile, as they attempt to gather information, life goes on in their community in such activities as a women's club, a social group for those over 50, real estate transactions, numerous stops at the local coffeehouse, and even a shopping trip to Naples. Sydney's husband, Trip, and her friend Marianne Putnam's husband, Beau, are golf buddies who spend many a day on the course. When not there, Trip is busy seeking to build a new post retirement life, and Beau is often prevailed upon to join in Trip's latest activity, which in this first book is a town follies. Kat Faulkner has lived a frugal life until winning big in a lottery shortly after her mother's death; suddenly, Kat has money and doesn't know how to spend it. But her divorced friend and freelance writer, Micki Demetrius, does, even if it's to guide Kat through a makeover and wardrobe change for her lounge act. This cozy mystery is the first book in the Mah Jongg Mystery series. Barbara Barrett is already published in contemporary romance. She is a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America. Like her protagonists, she is retired and is a resident of Florida, although she spends her summers in her home state of Iowa. She spent over three decades as a human resource management analyst with Iowa state government. She can be contacted at barbarabarrett747@gmail.com. Check her website at barbarabarrettbooks.com.

6 1/2 Body Parts


Stephanie Bond - 2012
    Carlotta Wren has always wondered what her life would've been like if her parents hadn't fled town and left her to raise her younger brother Wesley...but through a twist of fate, she's about to find out!

Designer Dirty Laundry: A Samantha Kidd Mystery


Diane Vallere - 2012
    She wasn't prepared for it to turn deadly.​Ready to redesign her life, style expert Samantha Kidd accepts a job in her Pennsylvania hometown as a trend specialist. But her first day goes completely A-line when she stumbles across her legendary boss dead in the elevator. And after the body disappears, she can't help but pull on the mystery's thread and unravel an entire wardrobe of suspects.​Supervising her deceased employer's vogue competition, Samantha tries to hem in a sexy shoe designer and countless ego-driven creatives to stitch together the clues. But when her own name appears on the police's suspect list, the sleuthing fashionista's days on the catwalk could be numbered.​Can Samantha put a killer in the spotlight before she's sewn up for a crime she didn't commit?​Designer Dirty Laundry is the first book in the feel-good Samantha Kidd mystery series. If you like witty protagonists, clever dialogue, and fashion-forward drama, then you'll love Diane Vallere's chic story.

Sunshine Hunter


Maddie Cochere - 2012
    Often, she is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and things go downhill quickly. All of the books cross genres of chick lit, mystery, romance, humor, and action, bringing you a fast-paced, easy-breezy read.Working in a weight-loss center by day and a racquetball club by night, Susan Hunter enjoys her life, the sport, and her friends. ... Sunshine Hunter opens with Susan finding out her new boyfriend of three months is married. To escape the drama, she accepts an offer from her best friend to tag along for a week in Florida. Here the mystery begins, and Susan believes she and her friend are being stalked. She also learns of a murder back home in Ohio and soon finds out she's wanted for questioning. The story takes an adventurous turn when she ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. ... Humorous, sometimes ominous, Sunshine Hunter is quirky and fun! Approx. 52,000 words.

Legwork


Katy Munger - 1997
    Casey is a big, bad bottled blonde who takes no prisoners as she delves into cases for those who are marginalized on the outskirts of society. Set in North Carolina and the surrounding states, LEGWORK features a colorful cast, solid plot and writing that is both laugh out funny and vry moving at times.

Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries: Books 1-3


Jennifer S. Alderson - 2021
    Was it an accident or a murder? For Lana Hansen, the answer will mean freedom or imprisonment for someone close to her…

The Manatee Did It


Kay Dew Shostak - 2020
    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 one of the Mantelle cousins turns up dead, Jewel needs something she’s never really had before — friends. As her lunch bunch puts on their detective caps to get to the bottom of this murder, Jewel discovers that she may get more than she bargained for out of Sophia Island.THE MANATEE DID IT is a clean and cozy beach mystery set in a historic small town. It’ll keep you turning pages well after bedtime and slathering on more sunscreen to get a few more poolside pages in.

A View to Die For


Richard Houston - 2012
    The sleuth is not a detective, private eye, or lawyer. He's an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog.Jacob Martin is trying to make the best of a divorce and mid-life crisis when he gets a call at two o’clock Sunday morning from his mother. His sister has been arrested for the murder of her fourth husband, and his father is near death. Thus begins an adventure that takes Jake and his golden retriever from their Colorado retreat to a backwater town in the Missouri Ozarks where they search for cold-blooded killers, a cache of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and the love of a beautiful nurse.

Christmas Corpse


Mona Marple - 2020
    When her car skids into a snow bank, she's rescued by a sweet old lady who promises her name is Mrs Claus. Holly is taken to Candy Cane Hollow to recover, and finds herself in a genuine winter wonderland. As Christmas Day approaches, the grouchy medical receptionist appears to have been poisoned by a mince pie.And to Holly's surprise, Mrs Claus is the prime suspect. With Mrs Claus under suspicion, Holly vows to return the woman's generosity by clearing her name.Maybe it will impress Mrs Claus' dimpled dish of a son, too?

The Man With a Load of Mischief


Martha Grimes - 1981
    At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer. Except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest parts of his neighbors’ hearts…