Book picks similar to
Blood on the Bulb Fields by Judith Cranswick
mystery
mystery-cozy
ebook
first-in-series
Dying To Win
Eve Craig - 2017
Holly Bridges had always dreamed of having her own stable. While out for a drive in the country, she found a farm with a large indoor arena and several outdoor arenas. Even though it looked like it hadn't been used in years, it was the perfect location for holding equestrian shows and stabling horses. Shortly after opening, Holly managed to acquire a prominent local's horse as her first boarder. With the new tenant it looked like Happy Hollow Stable's first equestrian show could be a huge draw for the locals. Well, that is until a dead body showed up in a nearby field. Will the show go on or will Holly have to give up her lifelong dream?
A Good Man Gone
A.W. Hartoin - 2013
Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she’s off the hook for doing any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack, Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she’s her father’s daughter. Soon Gavin’s death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her wedding day. Can the two be connected? Was Gavin murdered? Now Mercy can’t stop. You do for family. That’s all there is to it.
From Garden To Grave
Rickie Blair - 2017
It’s a perennial problem. Verity Hawkes is a shut-in. After two years bunkered in her apartment, the only thing that gets her out is the disappearance of her beloved but eccentric aunt. As she takes over her aunt’s landscaping shop, she’ll need to go from hoarder to horticulturist in a hurry…Her new home of Leafy Hollow is quaint, except for her most obnoxious client. When a series of freak accidents kills the customer, all signs point to Verity as the killer. The hunt for answers is on, and Verity must question a tipsy carpenter, a bacon-peddling vegan baker, and her dreamy landscaping competitor to keep her new life afloat. Failure to find the truth could put her back in a confined space for much more than two years…If you like lovably quirky characters, deceptively idyllic Canadian villages, and twists you won’t see coming, then you’ll love Rickie Blair’s Leafy Hollow Mysteries series.
Burned to a Crisp
K.A. Miltimore
Her bakery may be bizarre but it is the non-human guests who stay at her home, along with her resident ghost, and her menagerie of talking animals that truly is strange. Hedy hosts a waystation for supernatural travelers and while hosting two such travelers, the town is rocked by an arsonist who is kidnapping women, and pitting the residents of Enumclaw against each other. Hedy and her friends must solve the mystery when one of their own vanishes, leaving them racing to find out who is behind it all before it is too late. Cover Design by Melody Simmons
The Dessert Corpse
Tracey Quinn - 2018
The Breezy Spoon is a big success, and when hunky and flirtatious fireman Mark Adams offers to rent Dani his downstairs apartment, things are really looking up.... until a dead body with a chocolate pie smashed in his face shows up in the dumpster behind the diner! Trying to get to the bottom of the mystery isn't easy when dealing with the quirky and eccentric residents of East Spoon Creek City, and it gets even harder when the body keeps disappearing and popping up around town! There's not a moment to lose when dark secrets threaten to come to light, and Dani discovers that one of her customers just might be a serial killer!
Take the Monkeys and Run
Karen Cantwell - 2010
Typical, that is until she sets out to find the missing link between a bizarre monkey sighting in her yard and the bone chilling middle-of-the-night fright fest at the strangely vacant house next door. When Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor.Enter sexy PI Colt Baron, Barb’s ex-boyfriend who would love to be cast as new leading man, filling the role just vacated by her recently estranged husband, Howard. When Colt flies in from out of town to help Barb, events careen out of control and suddenly this mini-van driving mother of three becomes a major player in a treacherous and potentially deadly FBI undercover operation. It’s up to her now. With little time to spare, she and she alone, must summon the inner strength necessary to become a true action heroine and save the lives of those she loves. The question is can she get them out alive before the credits roll?
Photo Bombed
Daria White - 2021
She’s determined to stand on her own two feet in Edenville, Texas after her bitter divorce. When the town’s wedding of the year stars her friend as the bride, Bianca can’t wait to celebrate the nuptials. Neither she nor the guests expect a corpse! When the police suspect the bride, Bianca's determined to prove her friend’s innocence.Lamar Sims, the new police detective in Edenville, is investigating the murder case. Bianca’s “interference” is not helping, but she won't stop when her friend's freedom is on the line. He makes it clear he wants her to let the police do their job, so she has to find ways around him.No one in Edenville is safe until the killer is behind bars. Bianca won’t let Detective Sims dismiss her hunches. They may have to work together before another dead body shows up.
Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse
Harper Lin - 2015
She spends her days making delicious artisan cappuccinos, until she stumbles upon her neighbor’s dead body. When the police discover Mr. Cardosi was poisoned, Francesca becomes a suspect. The victim’s son, Matty, happens to be Francesca’s old high school friend. Together, they uncover the secrets of the locals in order to find the killer in their idyllic beach town. Includes two special cupcake recipes!
On the Chopping Block
Jenny Kales - 2016
The 36-year-old Greek-American proprietor of “Callie's Kitchen,” a meals-from-scratch business in an idyllic small town, has been busy creating a post-divorce life for herself, her young daughter and her Yorkie, Koukla. After a lot of hard work (including staving off her father’s continual advice), she’s got the locals and tourists clamoring for her delicious Mediterranean dishes and Midwest comfort food classics. Recently, she’s started a budding romance with a fellow foodie, the wealthy owner and chef of Crystal Bay’s most popular bistro. However, success is as fleeting as one of Wisconsin’s glorious autumn days. As local businesses begin to shut down due to a slow economy, Callie is struggling not to become another statistic. A contest with a hefty cash prize seems like the perfect chance to fix her financial woes, until a shocking murder threatens not only her livelihood – but her life. When she’s targeted as a prime suspect by an attractive expat British detective, Callie’s situation becomes more delicate than her Greek egg-lemon soup. She’s got to find the killer and fast if she wants to protect her daughter, save her business and stay alive.
Nobody's Sweetheart Now
Maggie Robinson - 2018
Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard.Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie's, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up! Not in the flesh, but in—actually, as a—spirit. Rupert has to perform a few good deeds before becoming welcomed to heaven—or, more likely, thinks Addie, to hell.Before Addie can convince herself she's not completely lost her mind, a murder disrupts her careful seating arrangement. Which of her twelve houseguests is a killer? Her mother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Broughton? Her sister Cecilia, the born-again vegetarian? Her childhood friend and potential lover, Lord Lucas Waring? Rupert has a solid alibi as a ghost and an urge to detect. A debaucher in life and an annoyance in death, Addie knows she can't leave Rupert to solve the murders of her sweet old gardener and a naked neighbor by himself.Enter Inspector Devenand Hunter from the Yard, an Anglo-Indian who is not going to let some barmy society beauty witnessed talking to herself derail his investigation. Something very peculiar is afoot at Compton Court and he's going to get to the bottom of it—or go as mad as its mistress trying.The Lady Adelaide Mysteries:Nobody's Sweetheart Now (Book 1)Who's Sorry Now? (Book 2)Just Make Believe (Book 3)
Moon Signs
Helen Haught Fanick - 2011
Her sister Andrea has an altogether different point of view. When the sisters go to the Canaan Valley to search for paintings mentioned in a document found in an old hotel once owned by their grandparents—paintings that might be Monets—Andrea immediately becomes involved in tracking down a murderer. Kathleen would much rather be looking for the paintings, but she goes along with Andrea, since the victim was their hotel-keeper, murdered just down the hall from their room. The question is: Does the murder have something to do with the elusive paintings?There are many clues and many suspects, including hotel staff, valley residents, and the mysterious foreigners who come from the Eastern Seaboard for skiing. There are also many types of danger—icy roads, sub-zero temperatures, and a killer who doesn’t care how many people die in the attempt to make sure the right ones do.
Undertaking Irene
Pamela Burford - 2014
To dead people.Life gets complicated for Jane and her Death Diva business when she’s hired to liberate a gaudy mermaid brooch from the corpse during a wake—on behalf of the rightful owner, supposedly. Well, a girl’s got to make a living, and this assignment pays better than scattering ashes, placing flowers on graves, or bawling her eyes out as a hired mourner. Unfortunately for Jane, someone else is just as eager to get his hands on that brooch, and he’s even sneakier than she is, not to mention dangerously sexy.Just when she thinks her biggest problem is grand theft mermaid, things take a murderous turn. But hey, when you’ve teamed up with a neurotic seven-pound poodle named Sexy Beast, how can you go wrong?
Bed-Bugged
Susan J. Kroupa - 2010
Sniffing out bed bugs? Easy as pie. Well, easier, actually, as getting pie can be a problem for a dog. Doodle finds best part of the new job is Molly, the boss’s ten-year old daughter, who slips Doodle extra treats when she’s not snapping photos with the camera she carries everywhere. But Molly has secrets of her own. And when she enlists Doodle’s help to solve a crime, his nose and her camera lead them straight into danger.Readers have called the Doodlebugged mysteries perfect of fans of Spencer Quinn’s popular Chet & Bernie mysteries, and best-selling author Virginia Smith called Bed-Bugged, "a first-rate mystery" and a "triumphant beginning to a series."
High Strung
Janice Peacock - 2014
When she gets an offer to display her work during a bead shop’s opening festivities, it's an opportunity Jax can't resist—even though the store's owner is the surliest person Jax has ever met. The weekend’s events become a tangled mess when a young beadmaker is found dead nearby and several oddball bead enthusiasts are suspects. Jax must string together the clues to clear her friend Tessa's name—and do it before the killer strikes again. PRAISE FOR HIGH STRUNG "A fun mystery series with wacky characters, sparkly jewelry, a fiery torch and, of course, murders." —Nikki Haverstock, author of the Target Practice Mysteries "Janice Peacock writes a strong and unique cozy mystery. In between information on the world of glass beads, the reader is given a first-class mystery to solve that is entertaining and charming. Her characters are real and strong, her wordplay effortless, her sense of urgency skillful, and her story-telling skills are first-rate. Ms. Peacock continues to grow into the difficult role of writing a lasting and engaging cozy series, one that baffles, enlightens and endears." —Heather Haven, multi-award winning author of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries "Jam-packed with detail, deception and more than a few twists and surprises. The characters are very believable and their dialogue is very well written. I also enjoyed a few laugh out loud moments." —Lori Caswell, Great Escapes Blog Tours and Vine Voice Reviewer "The interaction between all the characters is fun to read, and there are plenty of humorous incidents as well. Mojitos will make me smile for the rest of my life!" —Teresa Kander, Book Babble
Powdered Murder
A. Gardner - 2015
But Patrick isn't back in town to mess with her head. He's in town with his celebrity tart of a fiancée for a secret wedding at the Pinecliffe Mountain Resort – the very establishment where Essie works. Essie is roped into becoming a stand-in bridesmaid by her sister Joy, the resort's Assistant Event Coordinator. But Essie has more than just her resurfacing feelings for the groom to worry about when she finds one of the bridesmaids dead at the hotel spa. Essie searches for the killer, and with a list of suspects ranging from an undercover reporter to the Mayor's gossipy wife, it isn't an easy feat. Especially with a nosy landlady, and a meddling ex in-law with a fondness for nudism. But after she becomes the killer's next target, Essie realizes all her evidence points to the most unlikely person. Will she get it right before the big ceremony, or will the fresh mountain powder become her permanent resting place? **Recipes Included**