Book picks similar to
Jacob's Coins by Gillian Larkin


cozy-mystery
mystery
paranormal
short-stories

Skeletons in the Closet


Jennifer L. Hart - 2008
    As the wife of retired Navy SEAL, and the adoptive mother of two little hellions, Maggie is constantly looking for ways to improve her family’s financial situation. She accepts a cleaning position for her new neighbors (who redefine the term ‘eccentric’), never imagining she will end up as the sole alibi for a man with a fascination for medieval torture devices when he is brought up on murder charges.While Maggie struggles to prove the man’s innocence, her deadbeat brother arrives, determined to sell Maggie and Neil on his next great scheme and to mooch with a vengeance. If that isn’t bad enough, her in-laws, (the cut-throat corporate attorneys) descend on the house, armed with disapproval and condemnation, for the family’s annual Thanksgiving celebration.As the police investigation intensifies, Maggie searches for the killer among the upper echelon of Hudson, Massachusetts in the only way she can— by scrubbing their thrones.Of the porcelain variety, that is…

Trouble at Happy Trails


Minnie Crockwell - 2014
    By night’s end, a death in the park finds her consoling the deceased man’s widow...or his killer. Whether the dearly departed died by his own hand or whether someone murdered him remains to be seen. It seems the deceased had a lot of character flaws. A lot! Peregrine Ebenezer Alvord, otherwise known as Ben, is tagging along with Minnie on her travels. That he is an early 19th century ghost is only a minor complication. Ben has the ability to venture unseen where others cannot. Minnie never imagined herself as an amateur sleuth, but with Ben’s help, she might just be able to discover the source of the Trouble at Happy Trails! Trouble at Happy Trails is Book 1 of a series of short stories featuring Minnie and Ben. Each story can stand alone, but to avoid extensive repetition of the back story, the stories would be best read in order. Look for Book 2 soon!

Greensmith Girls


Raven Snow - 2016
    It’s an insular community and home to a lot of strange happenings. It’s also home to the Greensmith family. Rumor has it that they’re a family of witches. The rumors are right. Rowen Greensmith moved away to escape her crazy family. She has her own place and a job in tabloid journalism. Things aren’t perfect, but she’s hopeful they’ll improve. When Rowen’s Aunt Lydia calls her with news of a murder, all of that is turned on its head. During the annual Greensmith family yard sale, Rowen’s Aunt Nadine sold a chest that turned out to have a dead body in it. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the woman she sold it to has now turned up dead! It’s a juicy story, and once Rowen’s boss catches wind of it, Rowen is put on the case. Now Rowen is thrown back into the life she tried to escape. Everyone in the town of Lainswich remembers her, even the ones she rather wishes didn’t. The only total stranger is a handsome businessman who’s new to town. Unfortunately, he has motives all his own. If Rowen wants to save her family, she’s going to have to solve not one but two murders. First, though, she’s going to have to deal with the police, suspicious locals, and her crazy family. Knowing Lainswich, there’s a decent chance she’s going to have to deal with quite a bit of the supernatural as well. Rowen is about to be thrown into one of the most hectic weekends of her life. She’ll be lucky if she can make it out in one piece. The theme of this book is a Supernatural/Paranormal Witch Themed Cozy Mystery. It is a Novel, approx. 40,000 words in length which will typically take the average reader about two hours to read. It is the first volume of the Lainswich Witches Mystery Series. This book is a standalone, reading further volumes is not required to resolve or enjoy the book. Romance is clean.

Death Wore Brown Shorts


Audrey Claire - 2015
    They enjoyed the view when he wore those brown shorts every spring and summer. But someone is less appreciative of Paul’s muscular legs. Annie Holloway, mystery writer and lover of a good challenge, finds Paul strangled to death in his truck. She is determined to finger the murderer. Annie enjoys the excitement of what she does for a living, especially when it comes to research. Nothing is better than the hands-on approach. The task is that much harder because of Annie’s dark family history. Then there’s the fact that she’s self-diagnosed as having borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not that anything can stop Happy Holloway! A new cozy mystery series.

Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse


Sherri Bryan - 2015
    Eves, nestled in the south-west corner of England. While she loves the tranquility of St. Eves, where crime is almost unheard of, and nothing really exciting ever happens, her good friend, Chief Inspector Nathan Costello, is longing for a good, juicy felony to get his teeth into.When the arrival of newcomers to the community of St. Eves triggers a chain of events that end in tragedy, Nathan relishes the thrill of investigating his first murder, while Charlotte unwittingly turns amateur-sleuth to help solve the case and restore peace and harmony to the town as quickly as possible. Twists and turns abound in Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse, the first book in the Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery series.

One Tequila


Tricia O'Malley - 2015
    The original cover edition is here.Tequila Key is just like any other small town and I'm just like any other small town psychic. Scratch that. Tequila Key is a world onto itself and some people might think that I am one crayon short of the box. And, if we're being totally honest, Tequila Key is just like any other small town – if that town boasts a voodoo priestess and a few white witches for flavor. Turquoise blue water and the best margaritas this side of Mexico make it hard to leave. I'm Althea Rose, co-owner of Luna Rose Potions & Tarot Shop, and I've just stumbled into a love triangle while trying to save my best friend from being accused of murder. See? Just like any other small town.

Alice in Murderland


Samantha Silver - 2017
     When Alice Calliope takes over her recently deceased aunt's bookshop in Sapphire Village, Oregon, she's not expecting her world to be flipped upside down, but that's exactly what happens when her cousin Cat reveals to Alice that she's actually a witch. Add in the fact that the two of them stumble upon a dead body, and Alice's first day in town ends up being a lot more eventful than she could have possibly imagined! What was supposed to be a simple cross-country move winds up with Alice having to learn how to navigate a whole new magical world while at the same time trying to clear Cat's name as she emerges as the main suspect in the murder. Add in the eccentric Grandma Cee, witchcraft lessons, a whiny old ghost and the laziest cat ever, and Alice definitely has her hands full. With pressure mounting for the super-hot local sheriff to arrest her cousin, will Alice be able to hunt down the real killer before it's too late? Alice in Murderland is a full-length novel and the first book in the Magical Bookshop Mystery series of paranormal cozy mysteries.

Murder Under Construction


Maddie Cochere - 2014
    She wants two things in life - a new career as a private investigator, and to lose the sixty pounds she packed on after her divorce.When she crashes her bike in a construction site, she lands on a girl with a large knife in her chest. Jo enlists her sister, Pepper, and their journalist friend, Jackie, to help solve the dead girl's murder. Things become creepy for Jo when the murdered girl appears in her dreams to offer unusual clues to her death.Murder Under Construction is a humorous mystery with Jo's family adding to the antics of the three women. Mama caterwauls, Jackie's two children offer sleuthing assistance, and her brother, Hank, laughs at all of them from the sidelines. Murder Under Construction is light, easy-breezy reading from Maddie Cochere.

Rise and Die


Ginny Gold - 2014
    For two years, she’s been the sole breakfast spot in town so when culinary rival, Tessa Doyle, moves to the small town, Kori can’t help but think she’s just there to compete. Suddenly, Tessa’s Sunrise and Shine café is under attack, with a rock through the window on Monday morning. Kori knows she’s innocent, but still doesn’t feel much empathy for her breakfast nemesis. But when Kori gets arrested and grilled by Detective Gunn and childhood friend Lieutenant Zach Gulch, she can’t help but wonder if she’s the new target. And when things escalate to Tessa’s murder, Kori comes under more scrutiny. Will she and best friend Nora Farmer be able to crack the case before she’s on the receiving end of a deadly dish? Or is she in more danger than she realizes and should skip town to avoid the heated investigation? INCLUDED: In The Kitchen with Ginny Gold—Goat Cheese Omelets and The Early Bird Café’s menu! **Rise and Die is approx. 28K words and is volume 1 in the The Early Bird Café Cozy Mystery Series.

In for a Penny


Kelsey Browning - 2013
    Desperate to keep up the family name and give the man a decent burial, penniless Lil cooks up a shady deal that lands her smack-dab in the slammer.Burdened by her shameful secret and a crumbling family estate, Lil entrusts Summer Haven’s care to her best friend, Maggie, who recruits two more over-fifty ladies to help. But when Maggie discovers that Lil’s restitution is ten times the amount she “borrowed” from the federal government, she’s convinced Lil has taken the fall for someone else’s crime.Will these gals be able to get some vigilante justice for Lil, or will the swindler get away with hoodwinking a sweet little old lady?Recipes included!(Originally published as In for a Penny in the Granny/G Team series)

Never Buried


Edie Claire - 1999
    Too bad his body didn't!Advertising copywriter Leigh Koslow doesn't pack heat--just a few extra pounds. And she doesn't go looking for trouble. When she moved into her cousin Cara's refurbished Victorian house, she wasn't planning on discovering a corpse--certainly not one that had been embalmed ten years before. But as anyone in the small Pittsburgh borough of Avalon could tell her, her cousin's house has a history attached. A history dating back to two mysterious deaths in the summer of 1949.Someone wants Leigh and Cara out of the house--someone who has something to hide. But that someone doesn't know Leigh's impetuous cousin, and when Cara digs her heels in, Leigh looks to her old college chum, local policewoman Maura Polanski, for help. But the answers the trio find only point to more questions. Were the scandalous deaths of fifty years ago really an accident and a suicide? Or were they murder?The nearer the women get to the truth, the more desperate someone becomes. Because some secrets are better off kept. Especially when they hit close to home!

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

A Ghost for Christmas


J.D. Winters - 2014
    What she wasn’t expecting was finding a new guy… or that dead body on the doorstep! Could her sweet aunt really be involved? Or was it someone else near and dear to her? And then there was the handsome ghost from her Hawaiian childhood. Not what she'd bargained for – but sometimes you just have to deal with what the cat dragged in. Will she figure that out before the murderer finds a way to silence her forever? Yummy recipes for Hawaiian style cooking in each book – Chicken Hekka in this one. The books in this series have minor themes that run through them all, but each story can stand on its own.

The Appleton Case


Diana Xarissa - 2015
    The story is complete, no cliffhanger ending. Janet Markham enjoyed meeting Bessie Cubbon on the Isle of Man when she and her sister, Joan, were on holiday there. (See Aunt Bessie Decides.) Janet especially enjoyed hearing about the different investigations Bessie had been involved with over the previous months. Now back in Derbyshire, Janet and Joan have just purchased a small bed and breakfast, Doveby House, but Janet finds herself doing her own investigating. Just how did the previous owner, Margaret Appleton, die? Margaret's son isn't happy that he was left out of his mother's will, but what's he so desperate to get inside Doveby House to find? And are there really ghosts in Janet's bedroom, the library and the coach house? This new series of novella length stories will be quick reads with lighter story lines (and a lot fewer bodies) than the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series by the same author. This is the first novella in the series. They are best read in alphabetical order, like the Isle of Man Cozy books. You do not have to read that series to enjoy this one.

Death of a Wolfman


Susan Boles - 2016
    Quicker than she can stitch together the threads of a genealogy project she's just signed on to research, Lily Gayle Lambert finds herself embroiled in investigating the murder of a stranger who suffers from 'wolfman syndrome’. And, when a member of a prominent family turns up dead soon after the 'wolfman', Lily Gayle must find the link between the two and solve the mystery before she becomes the next target. Escaping from a trailer in the woods owned by two good ole boys and a confrontation with the eldest son of the town's wealthiest family have Lily Gayle hot on the trail of the killer…much to the consternation of her cousin. Who just happens to be the County Sheriff. With the help of her lifelong best friend, Dixie, and town busybody, Miss Edna, she pieces together the clues leading to a conclusion that shocks the entire town