Book picks similar to
Hairspray and Homicide by Cindy Bell
mystery
cozy-mystery
cozy-mysteries
ebook
Cutthroat Cupcakes
Cate Lawley - 2021
Now, if only the wizard detective assigned to the case weren't such a distraction.Cutthroat Cupcakes is a magical witch culinary cozy with a touch of romance, the first of three books in the Cursed Candy Mysteries series!
Designer Dirty Laundry: A Samantha Kidd Mystery
Diane Vallere - 2012
She wasn't prepared for it to turn deadly.Ready to redesign her life, style expert Samantha Kidd accepts a job in her Pennsylvania hometown as a trend specialist. But her first day goes completely A-line when she stumbles across her legendary boss dead in the elevator. And after the body disappears, she can't help but pull on the mystery's thread and unravel an entire wardrobe of suspects.Supervising her deceased employer's vogue competition, Samantha tries to hem in a sexy shoe designer and countless ego-driven creatives to stitch together the clues. But when her own name appears on the police's suspect list, the sleuthing fashionista's days on the catwalk could be numbered.Can Samantha put a killer in the spotlight before she's sewn up for a crime she didn't commit?Designer Dirty Laundry is the first book in the feel-good Samantha Kidd mystery series. If you like witty protagonists, clever dialogue, and fashion-forward drama, then you'll love Diane Vallere's chic story.
If You Can't Stand the Heat
Robin Allen - 2011
Poppy's not sure if her dad will ever forgive her for leaving the family business to become a public health inspector-the most reviled figure in the restaurant industry-but when he asks her back into the kitchen to help out during the restaurant's grand re-opening, she can't refuse. Chaos ensues when the guest of honor, Michelin-rated chef Évariste Bontecou, is found stabbed to death with Ursula's knife. Sacrebleu!Sorting through everyone who had it in for the hot-headed, philandering French chef is worse than deboning a Coho salmon. Could it be the bad-boy sous chef eyeing his chance at the top or the conniving waitress rumored to be Évariste's paramour du jour? The closer Poppy gets to solving the mystery, the hotter things get. And as everyone knows: if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Murder Passes the Buck
Deb Baker - 2006
Her son Blaze, the sheriff in a backwoods community of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is petitioning to become her legal guardian, but Gertie, a sassy sixty-six-year-old widow with a taste for detective work, has got bigger fish to fry: solving the murder of Chester Lampi who was shot dead in his deer blind. Blaze-who's more interested in retiring than investigating-rules Chester's death as a hunting accident. So, Gertie takes on the case with help from her friends, man-hungry Cora Mae and pin-curled Kitty. Interrogating neighbors, spying, impersonating the FBI . . . the stubborn, spunky grandmother won't give up the chase even when the killer takes aim at her.
Blueberry Cupcake Mystery
Naomi Miller - 2016
Katie Chupp spends her days at The Sweet Shop, taking care of customers and baking delicious treats . . . not exactly a profession where one expects to be thrown into the midst of mysteries and mayhem.But when the bakery is broken into, someone has to find the thief . . . besides finding another place to do the baking and get the orders to the customers.Is this a random theft, or is the thief trying to ruin the town's Independence Day celebration?Book 1 of the Sweet Shop Mysteries seriesAnd watch for book 2 - Christmas Cookie Mystery - COMING SOON!
Glad One: Crazy is a Relative Term
Margaret Lashley - 2017
Two gin and tonics. Three derelict beach-bum friends. Will Val’s fourth stab at starting over add up to a big fat zero?St. Pete Beach attracts weirdos like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. But when thrice-divorced native Val Fremden feels the tug to fly back to her old stomping grounds, she finds everyone and everything she knew squashed under the heels of change. Reluctantly cast into the weirdo world of down-and-outer beach bums, Val’s got nothing to go on but her own dry sense of humor and the life coach advice of a beer-guzzling old lady she meets at the beach. When an old hoarder passes away and leaves an uncertain heir to the throne, Val and her pals stir up a hornet’s nest trying to uncover the truth. Who’ll get stung and who’ll be named queen to the throne? It’s anybody's guess.If you like wacky, deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you’ll love Glad One! It’s the first book in Margaret Lashley’s hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series.
Flying by the Seat of My Knickers
Eliza Watson - 2016
NOT a cozy mystery series.Why run from your troubles when you can fly instead?When Caity Shaw is fired from her first job that doesn't require an elf uniform, her older sister, Rachel, an event planner, hires her to work a meeting in Dublin. Caity jumps at the opportunity to travel abroad and escape her pathetic life. However, even four thousand miles from home, there's no avoiding debt collectors, an overbearing mother, and haunting memories of a controlling ex.While in Dublin, Caity suffers a series of humiliating mishaps, causing her to lose even more faith in herself. Caity struggles to earn Rachel's respect--and to keep Declan, her hot Irish coworker, at arm's length. Declan repeatedly saves Caity's butt and helps boost her self-confidence, making it difficult to keep her distance from the charming womanizer. When Declan helps her research her Irish grandmother, Caity discovers the mysterious past of the courageous woman she barely knew might hold the answers to her future.
Accidental Leigh
Melanie James - 2014
She overcomes her grief by taking matters in her own hands and takes up a little romance writing to resurrect her vampire-werewolf book-boyfriend. Leigh gets more than she bargained for when she discovers that every steamy erotic scene she creates is magically reenacted by her family, friends and coworkers.In her hilarious first diary, Leigh unwittingly sets her parents up for a weekend dinner party that they will never forget. She has two weeks to find out what her new found magic is capable of. Can she prevent a wild erotic encounter that could devastate her sweet parent’s marriage? What and who else will get caught up in her magic spells?Read a story so witchingly fun, that you won’t be able to put it down and you will be eagerly awaiting the rest of the Literal Leigh Romance Diaries!
Burned in Broken Hearts Junction
Meg Muldoon - 2014
Mixing up a mean cocktail, listening to Dwight Yoakam, and matching folks with their soulmates. Born with an almost supernatural gift for matchmaking, Bitters has helped hundreds of people find true love. But when Bitters’ own soulmate leaves her behind in the dust of Broken Hearts Junction, she loses all faith in her abilities and decides to give up on matchmaking altogether. But when her boss ends up dead in a freak accident involving a 50-year-old mounted ox head, Bitters discovers she has bigger steaks to fry than her own troubled love life. Bitters soon realizes that nothing is as it seems in Broken Hearts Junction. And when a handsome stranger starts appearing nearly everywhere she goes, Bitters realizes something else too. No one is as they seem in Broken Hearts Junction either. Burned in Broken Hearts Junction is the first book in the Cozy Matchmaker Mystery series.
Mystic Falls
Vickie McKeehan - 2017
While trying to come to terms with the loss of her Gram, disturbing things begin to happen. Women are disappearing. Just when she begins to realize Coyote Wells has changed—and not for the better—she’s forced to bump heads with Lando Bonner, her ex, a man who still carries around a grudge. But since she’s digging for answers trying to explain exactly how her grandmother died, she needs his help. It won’t be easy. Lando has never forgiven her for leaving him. Tensions flair between the two as a killer grips the town in fear. Is it kill or be killed? Who will the killer target next? And when will it all end?
Murder at Stake
Constance Barker - 2017
One of the regulars at the Old School Diner is found with a stake to the heart. Is the stake from his collapsed barn, or as a couple of conspiracy theorists from the diner speculate...that the dear departed was indeed a vampire and there is a vampire hunter among them. Find out what happens in this new hilarious mystery series where the owner, Mercy, has her hands full with a colorful cast of characters.
Plateful of Murder
Carole Fowkes - 2016
Ordinary objects like roller coasters and men's hairpieces make her knees knock loud enough to be a band's rhythm section. Unfortunately, the only job Claire can find is working for her Uncle Gino in his seedy detective agency. Until now, her cases have all be middle-aged men with trophy wives who needed watching. But when Gino retires and leaves her in charge, Claire gets swept up in a murder case despite her fears. Both the client who hired her and the handsome police detective want her off the case. When the wrong person is charged, it's up to the terrified detective to summon all the courage she can to find the true killer.
Murder on the Rocks
Karen MacInerney - 2006
Natalie Barnes buys the Gray Whale Inn, a bed and breakfast in Maine, and publicly opposes Bernard Katz's proposed resort development, which threatens a colony of black-chinned terns, and when Katz is found dead, Natalie must find the true killer in order to clear her own name.
Bundle of Trouble
Diana Orgain - 2009
From the moment she and newborn Laurie lock eyes, Kate can't imagine returning to work after her six-week maternity leave, but in expensive San Francisco, she and her ad exec husband, Jim, need every bit of both incomes. Then a dead body is fished out of the bay and linked to Jim's estranged brother, George. Both the police and PI Albert Galigani, hired by the dead man's mother, believe that Jim and Kate know more than they're revealing. Kate is determined to find the elusive George and get some answers, but she soon gets in over her head. Galigani serves as a charming mentor as Kate navigates the twists of motherhood and an uncomplicated but engaging plot. (Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review "[AN] ENTERTAINING NEW SLEUTH." -GILLIAN ROBERTS, AUTHOR OF THE AMANDA PEPPER SERIES "A charming, gutsy, wry character who will make you laugh so hard you'll forget the labor pains." -LOUISE URE, SHAMUS AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Book Description: A body has been dredged from the San Francisco Bay. Kate Connelly, pregnant and ready to pop, has reason to fear it may be her long lost brother-in-law. Battling sleep deprivation, diaper blowouts and breastfeeding mishaps she muddles through her own investigation, Mommy style: To do: 1. Find Killer 2. Figure out hideous breast pump. 3. Avoid cranky cop. 4. Send out Make birth announcements – need pink paper. 5. FIND KILLER
Me and My Ghoulfriends
Rose Pressey Betancourt - 2008
By day, Larue Donavan is a down-to-earth bookstore owner. But by night, she's a world-renowned psychic investigator dedicated to helping lost spirits find peace. Dead people won't leave her alone and Abraham Lincoln thinks he's in charge of her lovelife. Larue can handle ghosts and undead presidents. It's the living that drive her crazy. When Callahan Weiss moves to town, the handsome newcomer opens a coffee shop right next door. She's smitten from the start, but she's not the only one -- The boutique owner across the street has her eye on Callahan too, and uses witchcraft to fight dirty. When Callahan gets hit by a love spell, Larue will need more than a little help from her ghoul-friends to save the day...