Book picks similar to
Tomes and Terriers by Hillary Avis
mystery
cozy-mystery
magical-realism
first-in-series
Impulse Spy
Carrie Ann Knox - 2017
The 3 G's: Grad school. Great job. Good, ORDERLY life. Do you see a side helping of private investigating anywhere on that menu? I don't think so. So how in the world did I find myself plunging, head first, into the dark depths of an underhanded, manipulative corporate scandal—risking life and career alike—when I SHOULD have been focused on my impending graduation and precisely planned future? Only one answer could explain it, really: Sloan. McKenzie. Impulse Spy is an exciting mystery adventure driven by a beautiful, mysterious stranger who might be nothing but trouble. Perfect for long-time cozy readers as well as YA and new adult readers looking for a little amateur sleuth intrigue in their lives. The super-hot sidekicks are just an added bonus;)
Dead Wrong
Vannetta Chapman - 2019
When Agatha Lapp’s brother and sister-in-law are tragically killed in a buggy accident, Agatha relocates to the new Amish community in Hunt Texas, nestled in the Texas Hill Country. She’s there to make a success of her brother’s dream--an Amish B&B. Agatha is friendly, efficient, and capable. She's also a fifty-five year old widow who has learned to be independent. When she discovers Russell Dixon’s lifeless body in Cabin 3, she runs next door where retired detective Tony Vargas lives. The police determine that her guest died of natural causes, but as Agatha and Tony put together the events of the previous two days they become convinced that the police are Dead Wrong.
Witch of a Godmother
Belinda White - 2020
The natural order of things is for a mother to raise her children. Not the other way around.My new housemate Kimberly doesn't know yet what (or who) her newborn daughter is, but I do. I was there when she was born and shared a short soul-gaze with my own mother. Someday, I'll have to break the news to Kimberly, but not today.Or this week, it looks like. Not with all the shenanigans going on in Wind's Crossing.Who would have thought buying a simple desk at an estate auction would lead to so much trouble for my little shop? The break-ins ticked me off, but I could live with them. I had my own way of handling things like that.But when the last break-in yielded a dead body? Well, a witch has to draw the line somewhere.Besides, I'm a Ravenswind Witch and head priestess of the Gemstone Coven. We don't rest until justice is served. One way or another.
Witch of a Godmother is the first book in the Witch Reborn Series, a Paranormal Witch Cozy Mystery starring none other than Opal Ravenswind, witch extraordinaire. This series is the second series featuring the Gemstone Coven's witches. If you want to start at the very beginning, check out the Accidental Familiar Series.
A Ghost of a Chance
Cherie Claire - 2017
For Viola Valentine of New Orleans, it was losing her dead-end job and leaving behind a loveless marriage and an overbearing family. But the storm also blew open a psychic door. Now she sees ghosts who have died by water. As she enters her new career as travel writer, solving mysteries that appear with apparitions everywhere she goes, the one person she hopes to speak to — her daughter who died of leukemia years before — continues to elude her. Or does she? A new paranormal mystery series from award-winning author Cherie Claire. BOOK DETAILS • Contemporary paranormal mystery • Book One of the Viola Valentine Mystery Series • A full-length novel of 82,000 words • R-rated content: Light sexuality • Set in Louisiana and the Deep South Coming out later this spring: “Ghost Town,” book two in the Viola Valentine Mystery Series!
Bells, Tails & Murder: A Cozy English Animal Mystery
Kathy Manos Penn - 2020
. . a grieving heroine . . . two furry sidekicks . . . and a murder!
Do you like heroines who’ve lived a little? Who’ve suffered life’s ups and downs but kept on trucking? Then you’ll love Leta Parker and her new friends in the Cotswold village of Astonbury.When tragedy strikes Leta Parker’s life, the successful banker and closet sleuth chases a lifelong dream to retire to England. Leaving her friends and neighbors in Atlanta, she settles into Astonbury with her talkative dog and cat, Dickens and Christie.
Picture her driving a refurbished London taxi to the bookshop and the tearoom, enjoying leisurely walks with Dickens the dog, and sipping coffee in the garden with Christie, her sassy cat.
When Leta stumbles across the dead body of a new acquaintance, her inner Nancy Drew comes out. Before you know it, she’s enlisted the help of Wendy, a retired English teacher friend—and even Wendy’s elderly mum.
Two whipsmart retirees, one spunky senior citizen, and a feisty dog and cat are on the case!
Who better to unearth clues from their friends in the village? Even Dickens and Christie get in on the act gathering intelligence from their four-legged friends and pointing out the obvious to Leta.
What do authors A. A. Milne, Arthur Conan Doyle, and J. M. Barrie have to do with all this?
Is their connection with the Cotswolds merely an interesting bit of trivia, or is it more? Will Leta and Wendy let their literary noses lead them astray?You’ll be captivated as this unlikely team chases clues and ferrets out a long-buried secret—a scenario that would make any BBC cozy mystery producer proud. No matter the clues uncovered by Dickens and Christie, you’ll be hard-pressed to guess who the villain is unless, like Leta, you’re able to “talk to the animals.” Grab a copy of Bell, Book, and Murder today—book one of a new and finely crafted Cozy Animal Mystery Series by author Kathy Manos Penn.
A Flytrap Fiasco
P.A. Mason - 2021
But before everything went south, I had a lot of fun tending my magical plants and catching some waves in my spare time. I never imagined things could go so wrong. Or that I’d find myself caught up in a mystery where everyone was a suspect.Now I don’t think of myself as an amateur sleuth, but there was no getting around the fact that I had skin in the game. So it was up to me to crack the case, or my life would be left in ruins. I’d love to tell y’all who did it… but you’ll have to read the book to find out!If you enjoy paranormal cozy mysteries with a horticultural twist, this introductory story for Trouble Down Under should be just the ticket.
Murder, She Floats
Rachael Stapleton - 2017
With a contest prize of ten thousand dollars on the line, the town is full of summer vacationers on the hunt for the rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel that was lost to Bohemian Lake over fifty years ago. With the help of spitfire local, Eve Berns and Cody Lumos, the town's handsome new detective, amateur sleuth Lucky Penny takes the bait and goes diving for the story behind the legend of the million dollar coin. Unfortunately, her dive turns up more bodies than missing treasure. The deeper she digs, the more secrets she finds hidden in the sand, but will she be buried along with them?
Down on the Charm
E.L. Wilder - 2019
Several, really. There’s her knack for stealing the limelight. The one for working the red carpet. For charming producers and audiences alike. And the one she’d rather not talk about. The Knack. The one for magic. She’s been ignoring her destiny as a witch since she ran away to Hollywood, but when one very public slip of magic derails her career, she returns to idyllic Vermont. Only it’s true you can never go home again, and Hazel finds the twenty-first century is fast encroaching upon Bennett Farms, threatening its status as a haven and gateway to the magical world. To top it off somebody is murdered before Hazel can even unpack—crushed by the business end of an antique tractor. Now Hazel must prove her sister’s innocence without the faintest idea how. There is no script. No direction. And improv has never been her strength. And that Knack she’s been ignoring all these years? It could be the key to saving both her sister and the farm before all its secrets become tabloid fodder. Down on the Charm is the first in the Farm to Fable Paranormal Mysteries, a cozy mystery series that is packed with spell casters, mythical creatures, and all the things that make Vermont the quirky little state it is. Sometimes deadly serious, sometimes deadly funny, and sometimes just deadly.
Acting Can Be Murder
Bobbie Raymond - 2018
Paul neighborhood. The initial calm of this new position is shattered immediately when a local critic–who had just panned the theater’s latest production–is found murdered on the show’s set. On the heels of this grisly discovery, the show’s lead actress tumbles down a flight of stairs–or was she pushed? In order to keep the show running and the theater afloat, Leah offers to step into the leading role. The arrival of her ex-boyfriend amid anonymous threats against her and the show require Leah to act as if her life depends on it. Because it does.
A Fresh Brew
Verena DeLuca - 2021
Azure is actually a cat-dragon.If discovering dragons were real wasn’t enough, Azure is convinced Hailey’s aunt was actually murdered.The town’s sheriff and his deputy are oblivious. Which means it falls to her to solve the mystery.All while running the cafe.Will Hailey bring her aunt’s murderer to justice?Can she learn to run Aconite Cafe?Does she have what it takes to be a Dragon Protector?A Fresh Brew is the first book in the Hill Country Mysteries series set in the heart of Texas. Each book is a clean, full-length, snarky, cozy mystery, that doesn't always involve a death.
The Killer Outdoors
Jodi Linton - 2020
With all her guided tours booked, it finally seems lady luck is on her side.But then Bucky is found dead. Not great.And she’s the prime murder suspect. Double not great.Being framed for murder sucks worse than a rabid chipmunk bite. Andie’s determined to clear her name, and this time her survival training skills won’t be used to fetch an ice pack. But how long can she stay one step ahead of a killer before she becomes the final victim?
A Death in Devon (Sugar Martin Vintage Cozy Mysteries Book 1)
Shéa MacLeod - 2019
However, everything is not as it seems, and Sugar finds herself stuck in England for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, she’s also been offered a job. Unfortunately, that job means going undercover to solve a series of thefts at manor houses in Devon, England. Determined to prove her worth, Sugar sets out to find the thief amongst the glittering houseguests, and instead stumbles across a murder victim. With the dubious help of a grumpy corgi and a handsome Englishman, she’s on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer. From the author of the popular Lady Rample Mysteries comes the first book in the Sugar Martin Vintage Cozy Mysteries set in post-WW2 London.
Murder is Elementary
Diane Weiner - 2014
What a joy to be able to attend the holiday concert without worrying about how her chorus will perform. But wait. Where's the principal? Susan offers to check, only to find the principal lying dead on her office floor. Of course, now that she's retired she has time to help the local police (one of whom is her daughter) solve the mysterious crime. Did the principal die of natural causes? The bruise on her face doesn't seem severe enough to be fatal. What about that funfetti cupcake sitting on her desk? Could she have been poisoned? Susan has just found the perfect retirement activity, much to her daughter's chagrin. And when the principal's teenage daughter, one of Susan's all time favorite students, asks for help - how can she say no? Little does she realize that this crime will take her far from the schoolhouse doors, as she investigates a mystery that extends back into one family's painful past.
Crime and Nourishment
Miranda Sweet - 2017
Neither does the island of Nantucket. A NEW RELEASE cozy mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Frost, Cynthia Ellingsen, Cindy Bell and CeeCee James When Agnes Mary Clarissa Christie Prouty, a.k.a. Angie, abandons her fiancé and her analyst job at a big Manhattan investment firm, she doesn’t expect to end up back where she started—the island of Nantucket. It’s not every day you get a chance to open a bookstore, complete with bookmark-eating cats and cantankerous great-aunts. Especially when your childhood friends agree to provide you with the world’s best pastries from their bakery down the street. Everything goes great until one of the locals turns up dead on the fourth of July, the sound of the gunshots covered by the local fireworks display. But did it have to happen right after Angie delivered a book to his home making her a prime suspect? Angie and every gossip on the island, including her great-aunt and her friends, are on the case. But trying to discover the truth is going to take more than a simple murder investigation. Someone’s guilty and the deadly secret might cut closer to home than anyone wants to admit.Being an amateur detective is harder than it looks, even when you’ve been named after the Queen of Crime.
This cozy mystery/amateur sleuth novel is book one in the Angie Prouty Nantucket Cozy Mystery Series
Haunted Hijinks
Madison Johns - 2014
When she wakes up in the hospital, not only is her son Stuart there, who she hasn't seen in years, but a ghostly apparition! Instead of getting ready for the loony bin, Agnes and Eleanor help ready the Butler Mansion for a grand opening as a bed and breakfast on Halloween, except they find the body of Katherine Clark. It's game on, as usual, for Agnes, except she now has a new partner, one who has remained silent and is—well—a ghost. Agnes now struggles to keep her wits, keeping her ghostly companion a secret from Eleanor, not such an easy feat since Eleanor is sharp as a tack. Not only that, but where has Stuart been all of these years and what is he up to?
