Book picks similar to
Death by Dog Show by Arlene Kay


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An Affair to Dismember


Elise Sax - 2013
    That’s why Gladie is more than a little skeptical when her Grandma Zelda — who is more than a little psychic — recruits her into the family’s matchmaking business in the quaint small town of Cannes, California. What’s more, Gladie is also highly unqualified, having a terrible track record with romance. Still, Zelda is convinced that her granddaughter has her clairvoyant “gift.” But when the going gets tough, Gladie wonders if this gift has a return policy. When Zelda’s neighbor drops dead in his kitchen, Gladie is swept into his bizarre family’s drama. Despite warnings from the (distractingly gorgeous) chief of police to steer clear of his investigation, Gladie is out to prove that her neighbor’s death was murder. It’s not too long before she’s in way over her head — with the hunky police chief, a dysfunctional family full of possible killers, and yet another mysterious and handsome man, whose attentions she’s unable to ignore. Gladie is clearly being pursued — either by true love or by a murderer. Who will catch her first?

Murder in an Irish Village


Carlene O'Connor - 2016
    Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.   It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.   With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.

Staging is Murder


Grace Topping - 2019
    But when a body falls from a laundry chute and lands at Laura’s feet, replacing flowered wallpaper becomes the least of her duties. To clear her young assistant of the murder and save her fledgling business, Laura’s determined to find the killer. Turns out it’s not as easy as renovating a manor home, especially with two handsome men complicating her mission: the police detective assigned to the case and the real estate agent trying to save the manse from foreclosure. Worse still, the meddling of a horoscope-guided friend, a determined grandmother, and the local funeral director could get them all killed before Laura props the first pillow. - - - - - - - - - - - - - STAGING IS MURDER by Grace Topping | A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.

In Peppermint Peril


Joy Avon - 2018
    In the run-up to Christmas Eve, organizer of book-themed tea parties Callie Aspen and her lovable Boston terrier will have to conquer threefold trouble—a mysterious will, a missing heirloom and a dead body—to restore the festive spirit to their small town.This Christmas, Callie Aspen returns to her childhood hideout Heart's Harbor, Maine where her great aunt runs Book Tea, a vintage tearoom where every sweet treat contains a bookish clue. Upon arrival in the fairy-tale snowy town, Callie is drawn into the preparations for a special tea party at Haywood Hall, the rambling house of Heart's Harbor's oldest resident, rich but lonely widow Dorothea Finster, who invited her estranged relatives, old friends and the elite of the town to make a mysterious announcement about her will. Believing they can touch a part of her fortune, everybody is determined to come, despite not liking each other or even their hostess. And Callie's old friend Sheila complicates things by using the tea party to announce her daughter's engagement, even though her daughter isn't sure she's in love with the young lawyer her mother thinks so perfect for her. Catering to people who each have their own agenda isn't easy for the Book Tea crew, especially once the valuable engagement ring goes missing and a dead body turns up in the conservatory. Can Callie and her great aunt use their love of clues to dig into the crimes and show their unhappy hostess and squabbling guests the true Christmas spirit?

Saddled with Murder


Eileen Brady - 2020
    She's overworked, unappreciated, and dealing with two dissatisfied clients. Throw in a very complicated personal life and Kate's definitely got a case of the holiday blues.To make matters worse, Kate's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, is mugged and robbed after they have a heated argument in the hospital parking lot. Then, two of her dissatisfied clients turn up dead (which really gets Kate's tinsel in a tangle). All of these events seem like coincidences, but they add up to something much more venomous.Saddled with Murder is a cozy holiday mystery from beloved author Eileen Brady that explores the fragility and resiliency of animals and humans whose trust has been broken, and will keep animal-loving readers riveted until the last page.

Death by Didgeridoo


Barbara Venkataraman - 2013
    Rarely leaving the house, she shares most of her days with her late mother's cranky cat.But soon, Jamie is forced into action by a frantic call from her Aunt Peg, whose autistic son Adam is in police custody and suspected of murdering his music teacher, a once-famous rock star named Spike.It's up to Jamie to find the real killer. The problem is, Spike seems to have had more enemies than he had friends, and Adam had confessed to the murder already. Can Jamie piece together the evidence and bring the murderer to justice before it's too late?A delightful, light mystery set in the small town of Hollywood, South Florida, Death By Didgeridoo is the first book in Barbara Venkataraman's Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries series.

The Quick and the Thread


Amanda Lee - 2010
    But it was nothing compared to finding a dead body in her store.For the grand opening of her shop, the Seven Year Stitch, Marcy throws a soirée. Her friend Sadie, who owns the coffee shop down the street, provides the delicious refreshments, and the party goes swimmingly. Marcy’s registration sheet for embroidery classes fills up, and everyone in town seems willing to raise a glass—or a needle—to support the shop.But the morning after the party, Marcy and Angus, her pooch, find a nasty surprise: The man who leased the shop before Marcy is lying dead in the storeroom, with a message scratched by a tapestry needle on the wall beside him. Now Marcy’s shop has become a crime scene, and she’s a suspect in the murder. But Marcy will be darned if she doesn’t get to the bottom of this mystery, because it’s starting to look as if someone’s intent on putting the final stitch in her.

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter


Blaize Clement - 2005
    Then came a tragic accident. Now Dixie's a pet-sitter on Siesta Key, a lush, exotic barrier island where the people tend to be rich, suntanned, and tolerant of one another's quirks. As Dixie tried to get her life back in order, pet-sitting is the perfect job. She goes into people's homes while they're gone and takes care of their pets; she likes the animals, they like her, and she doesn't have to deal with people very much. She especially does not have to be afraid that she'll run into a situation that will cause her to lose her hard-won composure. But when Dixie finds a man bizarrely drowned in a cat's water bowl, she is drawn into a tangled web of danger and secrets. Unbeknownst to Lieutenant Guidry, the homicide detective handling the murder, Dixie begins her own investigation into the whereabouts of the cat's owner, who has now vanished. Fans of The Cat Who... book series by Lilian Jackson Braun will adore this riveting new pet-oriented sleuth and will eagerly await Dixie's next case: Will duplicity dog the dachshund?

Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai


Elizabeth Ashby - 2015
    What she wasn't counting on was a client dying during a dye job. But when eighty-year-old Margaret Appleby comes in for her biweekly appointment, that's exactly what happens: Margaret drinks her usual soy chai, dozes off under the dryer...and doesn't wake up. Now The Clip and Sip is under suspicion, clients are wary, and Cassidi is on a mission to prove that while her styles may be killer, her employees are innocent! But as Cassidi wades through the myriad of suspects in the small, costal town, the killer sets his sights straight on everyone's favorite stylist. If Cassidi doesn't watch her back, she may just end up Danger Cove's latest fashionable victim.The Danger Cove books:Secret of the Painted Lady (a Danger Cove Renovation Mystery)Murder and Mai Tais (a Danger Cove Cocktail Mystery)Death by Scones (a Danger Cove Bakery Mystery)Four-Patch of Trouble (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery)Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai (a Danger Cove Hair Salon Mystery)Killer Closet Case (a Danger Cove B&B Mystery)Tree of Life and Death (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery)About Danger Cove:Danger Cove is a sleepy little town in the Pacific Northwest and home to renowned mystery novelist, Elizabeth Ashby. While Elizabeth swears the stories she writes are fiction, you can find the inspiration for her murderous tales all over Danger Cove...from the intriguing cast of local characters to the places to eat, play, and explore in Danger Cove. Don't let our name fool you—we're the friendliest (even if deadliest) town in the Pacific Northwest! Visit us at dangercovemysteries.com

Murder at Redwood Cove


Janet Finsilver - 2015
    But Bob Phillips did plunge off the cliff to his death, and Kelly's starting to think it may not have been an accident. Bob's retired friends--The "Silver Sentinels"--are also on the case, especially when Kelly is attacked . . . and another body turns up. Kelly has her hands full with overseeing the B&B's annual Taste of Chocolate and Wine Festival, but she's also closing in on the killer . . . who's ready to send Kelly on her own permanent vacation.

A Literal Mess


J.C. Kenney - 2019
    . .   Allie Cobb left home for the literary circles of Manhattan to make her name out from under the shadow of her legendary father. Now his death brings her and her rescue cat Ursula back to the southern Indiana town of Rushing Creek, population: 3,216. But a tragic new chapter hits the presses when the body of her father’s hard-drinking, #1 bestselling client is found under the historic town bridge. The local police suspect foul play and their prime candidate for murder is the author’s daughter—Allie’s longtime friend.   Determined to clear her bestie, Allie goes into fact-checking amateur detective mode while trying to ignore the usual rumormongers. Those with means, motive, and opportunity include the vic’s ex-wife, his rejected girlfriend, the mayor, and a rival agent trying to mooch clients. With a rugged genealogist distracting her and the imminent Fall Festival about to send tourists descending on their once-peaceful hamlet, Allie needs to stay alive long enough to get a read on a killer ready to close the book on a new victim: Allie . . .

Drizzled with Death


Jessie Crockett - 2013
    It’s sponsored by the Sap Bucket Brigade, aka the firefighters auxiliary, and the Greene family farm provides the syrup. But when obnoxious outsider Alanza Speedwell flops face first into a stack of flapjacks during the contest, Greener Pastures’ syrup falls under suspicion. Dani knows the police—including her ex-boyfriend—are barking up the wrong tree, and she’s determined to pull her loved ones out of a very sticky situation. The odds may be stacked against her, but she’s got to tap the real killer before some poor sap in her own family ends up trading the sugar house for the Big House…

Fatal Brushstroke


Sybil Johnson - 2014
    After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer.Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows—her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet. Just two weekends before, Rory attended one of Hester’s weekend painting seminars, an unpleasant experience she vowed never to repeat. As evidence piles up against Rory, she embarks on a quest to identify the killer and clear her name. Can Rory unearth the truth before she encounters her own brush with death?

Footprints in the Frosting


Laura Pauling - 2015
    When footprints in the frosting lead to a body facedown in one of her cheesecakes, Holly becomes a prime suspect.With her opening day delayed, Holly deals with a nosy no-good reporter and the local cop, the handsome Officer Trinket, as she puts her sleuthing skills to the test to save her business and her name. With the help of her dog, Muffins, she needs to find the real murderer, before the killer looks to frost someone else.

Pushing Up Daisies


Katherine Hayton - 2018
    Instead, she ends up with a dead body on her doorstep! When the murder victim is revealed as her 'kind-of' boyfriend, the finger of blame points squarely at Willow. To avoid a murder charge, she needs to track down the real killer. Believing that the local Aniseed Valley sheriff is unequal to the challenge, Willow sets about clearing her name. She must also decide the fate of a gifted Maine Coon kitten, who's set her allergies ablaze. As the net tightens, Willow draws on the book-smarts of best friend Harmony and conspiracy-laden facts from second-best friend Reg to help solve the crime. And, of course, she can always rely on handy hints from her favorite TV show of all time - Miss Walsham Investigates! Tea Shop Cozy Mysteries are quick 1-2 hour reads, perfect for filling in time waiting for appointments, commuting to work, or when your significant other insists on watching a TV show that makes you roll your eyes! These books contain no swearing, no gore, no cliffhangers, and no graphic scenes.