Book picks similar to
Between a Rock and a Deadly Place by Zoey Chase
cozy-mystery
mystery
fiction
humor
Out with the Sunset (Parks Pat Mysteries #1)
P.D. Workman - 2021
How can Calgary’s park-goers feel safe with a murderer still on the streets—or pathways? Margie and the team are on the case while at the same time she and her daughter try to acclimatize to the new city.If she wants her coworkers to believe that she’s not just a ‘diversity hire,’ she needs to show them what she’s made of and track this killer down.Looking for a police procedural set in picturesque Canada? Let Award-winning and Bestselling Author P.D. Workman take you her favourite Calgary parks, as Métis detective Margie Patenaude investigates a murder in this fast-paced new series. These short mysteries are just right for those days when you could use a break from your busy life. Take a walk in a Calgary park with Parks Pat.Climb into/Take a dip into/Immerse yourself in a new mystery today!
Ghost of a Chance
Cate Dean - 2016
His search leads him to Holmestead, and a stubborn, fascinating American who has acquired the box that once contained the rare jar.When the missing jar turns up, clutched in the hand of the very dead local historian, Martin becomes the prime suspect. He and that dead historian were bitter rivals.With his future on the line, Martin turns to Maggie for help, and they join forces to find the real killer.Maggie Mulgrew Mysteries:Ghost of a ChanceWritten on the Wind - coming August 2016Check out all my books here: amazon.com/author/catedean
Rain Girl
Gabi Kreslehner - 2010
Summer is for growing, not for dying. So when the body of a beautiful young woman is found on the autobahn, dressed in a glittering party dress and bathed in June rain, Franza is determined to give her justice.Revealing victims’ hidden lives is part of the job, but as Franza and her partner, Felix, peel back the layers shrouding the girl’s disturbing past, darker mysteries emerge. Everyone has something to hide—even Franza, who must face her own secrets to reveal the truth.
Brownies & Betrayal
Heather Justesen - 2012
That was before she found the body of a woman with whom she had traded heated words the previous night, left her fingerprints on the murder weapon, and came under attack for trying to clear her name. When her cheating ex-fiance shows up, intent on convincing her to come back to work for him, Tess—armed with an extra batch of éclairs—decides to take control and solve the mystery herself, with the help of friends and frenemies alike. But will that be enough to save her when she gets too close and the killer decides it’s safer to get her out of the way?
Assault and Batting
Tess Rothery - 2019
A good job, a home in the city, and someone she loves to share life with. But when her mom dies unexpectedly, she doesn’t hesitate to drop everything for her family. With a baby sister still in high school, an elderly grandfather at home, and the family quilt shop to run, she knows where she needs to be. Belle, Taylor’s sister, fears their mom’s death is her fault. She thinks her birth mom may just have wanted her back badly enough to kill. To lay Belle’s fear to rest, the Quinn girls search out exactly what happened the night of the accident. But in doing so, Taylor finds herself tangled in a mess of secrets, envy, and small town gossip that threatens to unravel the family she loves. Ripping out the stitches that hold her family together may be the only way to keep their lives from falling apart.
May Day
Jess Lourey - 2006
Due to a dead-end job and a cheating boyfriend, the Twin Cities have lost their charm, and Mira decides to begin a new life in rural Battle Lake. Right away she is offered jobs as an assistant librarian and part-time reporter, and falls into an unexpected romance with a guy who seems to be the perfect man until he turns up dead between the reference stacks her tenth day on the job. Anxious to learn more about the man who had briefly stolen her heart, Mira delves into the hidden mysteries of Battle Lake, including a old land deed with ancient Ojibwe secrets, an obscure octogenarian crowd with freaky social lives, and a handful of thirtysomething high school buddies who hold bitter, decades-old grudges. Mira soon discovers that unknown dangers are concealed under the polite exterior of this quirky small town, and revenge is a tator-tot hotdish best served cold.A hip, humorous, and gripping account of small-town murder, this novel is the first in a series of cozies featuring Mira James, an urban woman with rural Minnesota roots.
Not Like Her
H.K. Christie - 2019
A possessive boyfriend. Can she save herself from a similar fate?Selena longs to flee her uneasy home life. Prepping every spare minute for a college escape, the headstrong, high school senior vows never to be like her alcoholic mom with her string of abusive boyfriends. So when Selena finds her beaten nearly to death, she knows safety is slipping away...With her mother's violent lover evading justice, Selena's cute new beau's offer to move in seems Heaven-sent. But jealous rage and a renewed search for her long-lost father threaten to pull her back into harm's way.Can Selena break free of an ugly past, or will brutal men crush her hopes of a better future?Not Like Her is the first book in the suspenseful Selena Bailey series. If you like thrilling twists, dark tension, and smart and driven women, then you'll love H.K. Christie's new mystery series.
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....
Murder in the Manor
Fiona Grace - 2019
She needs to quit her job, leave her horrendous boss and New York City, and walk away from the fast life. Making good on her childhood promise to herself, she decides to walk away from it all, and to relive a beloved childhood vacation in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire.Wilfordshire is exactly as Lacey remembers it, with its ageless architecture, cobblestone streets, and with nature at its doorstep. Lacey doesn’t want to go back home—and spontaneously, she decides to stay, and to give her childhood dream a try: she will open her own antique shop.Lacey finally feels that her life is taking a step in the right direction—until her new star customer turns up dead.As the newcomer in town, all eyes are on Lacey, and it’s up to her to clear her own name.With a business to run, a next-door neighbor turned nemesis, a flirty baker across the street, and a crime to solve – is this new life all that Lacey thought it would be?
Taking the Fall
Laney Monday - 2014
Now, she’s just burned out—and burned by love. She’s ready to retire from competitive judo and pursue a new dream in a new town, with her biggest supporter, her recently divorced little sister, Blythe. But on their first day in town, Blythe falls for local sleaze-bag reporter, Ellison Baxter, and their small-town welcome is stained by Baxter’s murder. The weapon—Blythe Battle’s hair brush. In this fast-paced, fun cozy mystery, Brenna, the proud new owner of the building that formerly housed Bonney Bay’s lone recreational opportunity for kids, Little Swans Ballet, is ready to turn tutu-clad powder-puffs into little warriors by opening a judo school for kids in its place. But now she must clear her sister’s name and save her new dream from ending even more disastrously than her Olympic hopes. Brenna must deal with one crazy member of the local police force, who’s determined to see the sisters pay—and another cop, whose deep brown eyes just might drive Brenna crazy—in a way her battered heart just can’t take.
Pineapple Lies
Amy Vansant - 2015
Golf cart racing with her surrogate mothers Mariska and Darla was about as nutty as life got...until she found the hot pawnbroker's mom buried in her backyard. Talk about making a lousy first impression. Armed with nothing but her wits, Pineapple Port's questionable cast of characters and a growing crush, Charlotte is determined to solve the mystery of Declan's mother's murder. Hey, at least this guy's skeletons aren't in his closet.
Last Chance for Murder
Estelle Richards - 2017
Too old for Hollywood at age 29, Lisa Chance leaves her failed acting career and a cheating boyfriend in LA and goes home to Moss Creek, Arizona. The Folly, a stately 1870s mansion in the middle of her hometown, has always drawn Lisa like a magnet. She thought she was done with that place, but now she has the chance to turn it into the coffee shop of her dreams. But when a dead body turns up on the property, she’s the prime suspect in the murder. Can Lisa figure out whodunit, or will she lose her last chance at happiness?
The Ice Maiden
B.D. Smith - 2017
Seeming to select his victims at random, he acts out the rituals of the Spanish Inquisition before committing their bodies to the sacred waters of nearby Sebec Lake. Anne Quinn, an investigator for the Piscataquis County sheriff’s office, and Detective Douglas Bateman with the Major Crimes Unit of the Maine State Police join forces in tracking him down. Hiding in plain sight, the killer is clearly from the local community and plays a deadly “catch me if you can” game with Quinn and Bateman. He seems determined to humiliate them and demonstrate his superior intellect, leading them to suspect that perhaps there is a deeper motive and purpose behind his string of murders.
Silent Crime
W.L. Knightly - 2019
My mother used to tell me that evil only comes to those who are looking for it, and maybe she was right. Corruption and death walk hand and hand in this town. I refuse to give in, but giving up seems to be my only option. As a detective, I’ve seen enough killing for ten lifetimes, and now, leaving is the only way to keep my sanity. I never thought that my last case while training my replacement would have a stranglehold on me personally. It’s like the Hangman is placing the noose around my neck, and the rope is only getting tighter.