Book picks similar to
Bodies on the Beach by Stacey Alabaster


cozy-mysteries
mystery
mystery-cozy
series-first

Trudy, Madly, Deeply


Wendy Delaney - 2013
    With no physical evidence of foul play, Char's on the case, much to the irritation of Detective Steve Sixkiller, who doesn't want her to stick her pretty nose for trouble in his investigation. But she's a woman on a mission to uncover the truth, and she'd better keep her eyes open or the next body on the way to the morgue could be hers....

Deadly Magic


Elisabeth Crabtree - 2012
    None more so than Grace Holliday. After all, it's not every day she gets invited to the annual costumed bash at the Dragon's Lair, the premier magic theater in Manhattan.What promises as a night of magic and mystery, quickly turns into a night of mayhem and murder when the boss' equally tyrannical wife dies on stage.According to the police, it was an obvious suicide. Now it's up to Grace to discover which one of her co-workers pulled off the trick of the year before she becomes the killer's next victim.

Dead Girls Don't Blog


Pamela Frost Dennis - 2014
    Sickened that he could soon be preying on other young girls, Katy throws caution to the wind and sets out to make sure this doesn't happen, not realizing she might not survive to blog about it.Sometimes, doing the right thing can get you killed.

Flowers and Foul Play


Amanda Flower - 2018
    Her fiancé left her for their cake decorator. Then, her flower shop wilted after a chain florist opened next door. So when her godfather, Ian MacCallister, leaves her a cottage in the Scottish Highlands, Fiona jumps on the next plane to Edinburgh. Ian, after all, is the one who taught her to love flowers. But when Ian’s elderly caretaker Hamish MacGregor shows her to the cottage upon her arrival, she finds the once resplendent grounds of Duncreigan in a dreadful shambles—with a dead body in the garden.Minutes into her arrival, Fiona is already being questioned by the handsome Chief Inspector Neil Craig and getting her passport seized. But it’s Craig’s fixation on Uncle Ian’s loyal caretaker, Hamish, as a prime suspect, that really makes her worried. As Fiona strolls the town, she quickly realizes there are a whole bouquet of suspects much more likely to have killed Alastair Croft, the dead lawyer who seems to have had more enemies than friends. Now it’s up to Fiona to clear Hamish’s name before it’s too late in Flowers and Foul Play, national bestselling author Amanda Flower’s enchanting first Magic Garden mystery.

Dead Man Calling


Kendra Ashe - 2015
    She bids farewell to her job at Happy Days Burgers and sets out to convert Blackwell Rest into a nightclub.    But she has a few surprises coming her way.   It would seem that her estranged grandfather's accidental death, might not have been an accident. If this isn't bad enough, old man Blackwell's pet monkey now needs a home, and the ghosts that come along with her inheritance, need a new psychic detective to help them with all their unfinished business, which usually involves murder.   And then things get worse!   A murder victim is discovered in the cemetery, and he just happens to be a member of the biker club known as the Death Dogs. To complicate matters, Jazz may have been a witness to the murder, kind of.   Brock Logan, the leader of the Death Dogs, has taken an interest in her, which opens up a whole new can of worms. He's one hot bad boy, and exactly the kind of guy she doesn't need in her life.   Caught in the middle of a biker war and a murder investigation, Jazz begins to think that working at Happy Days Burgers might not have been such a bad deal.

Sign Off


Patricia McLinn - 2012
     TV journalist Elizabeth “E. M.” Danniher will tell you she committed two sins — she didn’t stay young, and she made an enemy of a powerful news executive — her ex. She used to break national news. Now her top story as the “Helping Out!” reporter at dinky KWMT-TV in Sherman,Wyoming is getting a refund for a defective toaster. Tough, funny and determined, Elizabeth wrestles with isolation, keeping a professional edge, and an evolving self-image. Is Wyoming — the land of cattle, cowboys, tumbleweeds, and fewer than six people per square mile — her new home or a road to permanent obscurity? Soon she’s in a battle of wills with ex-football player turned journalist Mike Paycik, who sees her as a handy rung on his career ladder. And there’s the matter of a deputy sheriff—missing or murdered? Elizabeth finds herself investigating at the insistence of a girl who’s set on proving her father’s innocence. Not that enigmatic rancher Thomas David Burrell makes investigating easy. But Elizabeth won’t fade to black without a fight, no matter how final some might want to make her SIGN OFF. Don’t miss any of the Caught Dead in Wyoming series by USA Today bestselling author Patricia McLinn:Sign OffLeft HangingShoot FirstLast DitchLook LiveBack StoryCold OpenHot Roll

Murder at Cold Creek College


Christa Nardi - 2013
    Although Sheridan Hendley is not a sleuth, when her colleague is murdered she assists the Detective in gathering information. As Sheridan draws connections among the people in Adam's life, she realizes many women have a strong motive for murder. As information leaks out on Adam's exploits to college administration, she's charged with creating sexual harassment training. Slashed tires are the first indication that her curiosity and involvement in the investigation is making someone nervous. The murderer is afraid of what she might have found. In the meantime, as she works closely with the handsome detective, she hopes for romance in her future.Meet Sheridan Hendley and her friends in this first in a series of five cozy mysteries.

Books Can Be Deceiving


Jenn McKinlay - 2011
    Lindsey’s friend Beth wants to sell the editor her children’s book, but Beth’s boyfriend, a famous author, gets in the way. When they go to confront him, he’s found murdered—and Beth is the prime suspect. Lindsey has to act fast—before they throw the book at the wrong person.

Dead Air


Mary Kennedy - 2009
    where she hosts a talk radio show on WYME, parceling out psychological wisdom between interviews with guests, commercial readings and turns on the news floor. All the local lunatics appear to love her show.Well, maybe not all of them. She receives threats on her phone lines while interviewing New Age guru Sanjay Gingii. When he turns up dead, Maggie's roommate Lark comes under suspicion by an annoying--and gorgeous--detective. Maggie not only has to prove Lark's innocence, she must find out who's made more than one attempt on her life.

Apple Pie and Arsenic


C.A. Phipps - 2018
     She wasn’t expecting to find the dead body of her good friend beside her car or to be accused of murder. Things like that just don’t happen in small towns like Maple Falls. With nowhere else to turn, she enlists the help of her old flame Sheriff Ethan Tanner, as well as her irrepressible Gran, to find the murderer before Maddie’s put in jail or there’s another death on their hands. Danger threatens at every turn, and when Maddie ends up on her own, scared and out of her depth, it seems that even an award-winning baker isn’t safe from Maple Falls’ first serial killer.

Resort to Homicide: A Merrifield Mystery Novella


Christine Chianti - 2016
    Giving in to her brother's request, she goes to visit his new island resort during a special weekend for the investors. Spending time at Rim Runners should have been the perfect prescription to help rebuild her life, but the mood at the resort is like the weather-stormy. As hurricane Anna cuts them off from the mainland, tempers flare resulting in threats and sabotage. When the body of one of the guests is found, Laura is forced to rely on her training to find the killer before the storm lets up and they can slip away.

Cruel Candy


Mildred Abbott - 2017
    Fred is about to open her dream bookshop, and the only challenges she anticipates are adjusting to small-town life, tourists, and living close to her loveable mother, Phyllis, and hippy stepfather, Barry. When Fred steps into her soon-to-be-bookshop for the first time, she expects dust bunnies and spiders… not the dead body in the upstairs kitchen. The local police have an easy suspect — Barry. Determined to prove quirky Barry innocent of murder, Fred puts on her detective hat, and with Watson by her side, she explores her new town and gets acquainted with her fellow shopkeepers. Could one of her friendly neighbors be the real culprit? And what would be the motive for killing the owner of the Sinful Bites candy store? The secrets Fred discover put her at odds with the local police sergeant and threaten her cozy future in Estes.   With snow falling outside, all Fred wants to do is curl up by the fire with a good book and Watson snuggled at her feet. But before she can begin her new life and put her plans for her bookshop into action, Fred and Watson have a mystery to solve…

Death Drops


Chrystle Fiedler - 2012
    Willow McQuade must find the killer before he strikes again.Dr. Willow McQuade, N.D., a twenty-eight-year-old doctor specializing in natural remedies, has decided to take sabbatical and visit her Aunt Claire, the owner of Nature’s Way Market and Cafe in idyllic Greenport, Long Island. The idea of rest and relaxation is quickly forgotten when Willow arrives from a morning meditative walk to discover her Aunt Claire dead in the store, a strange almond-like smell emanating from her mouth and a bottle of flower essences by her side.Despite her Zen nature and penchant for yoga, Aunt Claire had a knack for getting into confrontations with folks. An activist, she held weekly meetings for different causes every week in the store. The police want to believe the death is accidental—but Willow thinks she may have been poisoned.Things get worse when Aunt Claire’s valuable recipe for a new natural age-defying formula, Fresh Face, is stolen during a store break-in, and an attempt is made on Willow’s life. Desperate for a way out of the mess, she turns to a handsome young cop Jackson Spade. Together the two set about solving the case the natural way—through a combination of hard work, common sense, and a dose of luck.

Sprinkled


Gina LaManna - 2014
    She just never expected the lows to be so… sparkly. After falling on her face during an attempt to follow in her recently-deceased mother’s stripper-boots, Lacey realizes she’s not cut out for life on stage. She sets out on a year-long investigation to find her true family, never expecting she’ll find it with a capital “F.” With a rumbling stomach, a need for money (check engine lights don’t fix themselves!), and a conscience that operates at 78% on a good day, Lacey is sucked into a whirlwind of Family secrets, hard-as-cement cookies, and mysterious, sexy men who unfortunately shoot guns, sometimes aimed at her face. The long-lost-granddaughter of Carlos Luzzi, the Godfather of the Italian Mafia, Lacey accepts her first assignment for the mob: finding fifteen million dollars of ‘the good stuff.’ Even after she enlists the help of her mouthy best-friend and her cousin, a technical genius and social disaster, she finds that going toe-to-toe with the rival Russian mob is more dangerous than expected. No one chooses their Family, but Lacey Luzzi will be lucky if she can survive hers. ** ** Lacey Luzzi: Sprinkled, is a full-length, laugh-out-loud, humorous cozy mystery with a strong female protagonist in the spirit of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, albeit one working for the wrong side of the law…

The Sweet Dreams Bake Shop


J.A. Whiting - 2015
    The building's new owners are not renewing the bake shop's lease and Angie is running out of time to find a new location. When one of the town's long-time residents is murdered, Angie finds herself on the suspect list. With the help of her three sisters and a huge orange cat, Angie works to uncover the killer's identity. A cozy mystery with recipes ! This story has some mild paranormal elements. The main mystery is solved in each book but you will enjoy the series more if the books are read in order as some story threads run from book to book. In The Sweet Cove Mystery series: 1. The Sweet Dreams Bake Shop 2. Murder So Sweet 3. Sweet Secrets 4. Sweet Deceit (Coming late July 2015) And more to come ! Thank you for reading