Book picks similar to
Murder in the Rose Garden by Tabitha Tate


cozy-mystery
mystery
mysteries
cozy-mysteries

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....

Deadly Secrets


Terry Odell - 2011
    And to Gordon, a promise is a promise, even if the person you made it to isn't around anymore. However, doubts creep in, and he wonders if he was shoved into the job because his mentor thought he couldn't cut it on the streets. Everything changes when a fatal traffic accident well outside Mapleton seems connected to elderly Rose and Sam Kretzer, two of Mapleton's most beloved citizens. The arrival of Megan, the Kretzer's grown ward, and Justin, their grandson add to his troubles when Megan is mugged. In addition, Justin is renovating his grandparents' house despite their objections, and then someone breaks in and the house is ransacked. When Gordon ties the car accident to a grisly murder in Mapleton—the first anyone in town can remember—he's afraid he's into more than he bargained for. His fears are realized when his investigation seems to link the Kretzers to a Nazi war criminal. Can he work with the big-city detective brought in to assist? Will he be able to solve the crime without revealing the secrets of his citizens? DEADLY SECRETS revolves around a secret journal kept by a Nazi during WWII, and the lengths people will go to protect those they love. Set in a small Colorado community, Deadly Secrets deals with people trying to do what they think is right while protecting those they love.

The Third Girl


Nell Goddin - 2015
    She’s looking for peace, beautiful gardens, and pastry—a slower, safer life than the one she’d been living outside of Boston. But you know what they say about the best intentions… Molly has barely gotten over jet-lag before she hears about a local student’s disappearance. In between getting her old ramshackle house in order and reveling in French food, Molly ends up embroiled in the case, along with the gendarmes of Castillac. And unlike the Nancy Drews she loved as a child, this mystery stirs up emotions she thought had been put to rest..and terrifies the residents of her beloved village.

Die Noon


Elise Sax - 2018
    Her insomnia is one more reason to move to the quirky small town of Goodnight, New Mexico, after she inherits a house, a small newspaper, and two old dogs there. But despite the Goodnight name, Matilda still spends hers wide awake, and she has good reason after a reporter is murdered. With a mystery to solve, she begins to investigate the town and uncovers more suspects than she knows what to do with. Meanwhile, the hottie cowboy sheriff is doing his own investigation into Matilda, and the mysterious, handsome stranger, who just happens to live with her, is showing up in all the wrong places. As her investigation continues, danger increases, and it might end up spelling lights out for Matilda.Die Noon is the first installment in the hilarious, romantic Goodnight Mysteries series and a spinoff of the Matchmaker Mysteries.Goodnight… Sometimes sweet dreams end in murder.

Cars, Cats and Crooks


R.H. Carter - 2014
    What should he do next with his life? Become a private detective, of course! Although the answer is obvious to the imaginative and intelligent Peyton, who feels like he’s been waiting for this opportunity all his life, his other half, Sherri, initially thinks he’s having some sort of mid-life crisis. But with the support of his sister Ros and her eighteen year old lazy, but clever drop-out son, Jackson Chadwick – who soon becomes Peyton’s assistant – the 'Kimble Detective Agency' takes off with a bang! Their first case is the mystery of Mrs Boggins’ missing cat, a seemingly simple, boring and childish investigation which actually ends up being a little more complicated than they initially imagined, and lands them an article in the local paper after their heroic rescue of poor Speckles. But when Gordon Tate turns up dead, Peyton and Jackson are drawn into an entirely more sinister world that will change both their lives forever. The police rule the death as a suicide, but Peyton and Jackson have other ideas. Will The Outcome Be A Total Success? With all the evidence stacked against them and even the police turning their backs, can Peyton and Jackson prove that this was something more than a simple suicide? The revelations they uncover will turn Peyton's entire family upside down, dredging up old secrets and scandals from the past that most thought were long buried and forgotten. Scroll Back Up & Click BUY NOW To Discover The Secrets Of The Past

Wanna Get Lucky?


Deborah Coonts - 2010
    Almost everyone writes her off as another Vegas victim. But, Lucky O’Toole, head of customer relations at the Babylon megacasino, smells a rat, though she’s got a lot on her plate: the adult film industry’s annual awards banquet, a spouse-swapping convention, sex-toy purveyors preying on the pocket-protector crowd attending ElectroniCon… Still Lucky can’t resist turning over a few stones.When a former flame is one of the snakes she uncovers, Lucky is certain the woman’s death was no Sin City suicide. To top it all off, Lucky’s best friend, Teddie—Las Vegas’s finest female impersonator—presses to take their relationship to the next level. Leave it to Lucky to attract a man who looks better in a dress than she does.Lucky must manage the Babylon’s outrageous festivities, solve the crime, and struggle to keep her life and libido from spinning out of control.

Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot


Sarah Osborne - 2018
    So when a childhood friend asks Ditie to babysit her kids for a few days, she jumps at the chance. She never imagined she’d be solving a murder too . . .   Despite growing up together, Ditie hasn’t seen Ellie Winston in two years, and she didn’t even know Ellie was living in Atlanta. But when Ellie asks her to take care of Lucie and Jason for the weekend, she thinks nothing of it. They’ll bake cookies together, play with her dog—it’ll be fun! Until the police call with terrible news . . .   Ellie may not have been the best friend, but who would want her dead? Could it have something to do with the vague get-rich-quick scheme she mentioned to Ditie? Or the men in a black truck following her and breaking into her home? Not sure who to trust other than her best friend, Lurleen, Ditie’s buried maternal instincts kick in to protect the kids and find their mother’s killer—before they’re orphaned again . . .   Includes Family-Friendly Recipes!

Twisted: A Tracy Turner Murder Mystery Novel


Keyla Hunter - 2014
    Tracy Turner is out to prove herself, but a pro golfer’s murder is not the kind of event that she’s prepared for. Just a day into Tracy’s promotion, Frank Walters is dead and her best friend Ryan Evans has been framed. The case against Ryan seems iron-clad—no one believes he’s innocent but her. The more she digs into the murder, the further from the truth she gets. And the closer she gets to the real killer, the closer she gets to dying. Tracy has to save Regency’s reputation, but first she has to clear Ryan’s name and stay alive. Twisted is a stand-alone murder mystery thriller novel and the first book in The Tracy Turner Mystery Series. Love juicy mysteries? Then get your copy of this murder mystery exclusive to the Amazon store NOW!

Don't Mess With Mrs. Sedgewick: A Caper Story


Marie F. Martin - 2016
    She convinces her three golfing buddies, all in their seventies, to sell their homes and buy adjoining condos. The widows intend to spend the rest of their days golfing, gambling at the casino, and having fun. Oh, the heaven of it. But then they all hire the same maid who uncovers long-hidden criminal secrets kept by each woman. Oh, the horror of it. The reputations of their deceased husbands, a banker, a minister, and a respected farmer, will be tarnished forever. Three of the widows could face jail time, and the fourth fears for her life. Whatever will they do with the conniving, blackmailing maid? If you grew to love the characters in Marie F. Martin’s previous novels Maternal Harbor, Harbored Secrets, and Ratham Creek, you will treasure Roberta and her friends in the mystery Don’t Mess With Mrs. Sedgewick.This is a caper story where the not so pure put their lives at risk to catch the real bad guys and save their little town.

Miss Spelled


Morgana Best - 2015
    Her boyfriend dumps her when she inadvertently gives him food poisoning. Her workplace, a telecommunications center, fires all their staff as they are outsourcing offshore, and she is evicted due to smoke damage resulting from her failed attempts at baking. Amelia thinks her luck has changed when she inherits her estranged aunt’s store, two mysterious cats, and beautiful Victorian house.Yet has Amelia jumped out of the frying pan into the fire? To Amelia's dismay, the store is a cake store, and she discovers that her aunt was a witch. To add to the mix, the house has secrets of its own. When a man is murdered in the cake store, will Amelia be able to cook up a way to solve the crime? Or will her spells prove as bad as her baking? All Morgana Best books are clean cozy mysteries.

A Hair Raising Blowout


Constance Barker - 2016
    Owner of the Teasen & Pleasen Hair Salon in the heart of Louisiana, she’s used to big hair, Southern style, and tall tales of the latest town scandal. But her quiet life is turned on its head when Savannah finds an upstanding member of the community murdered outside her salon in cold blood. Savannah investigates, only to find that her pleasant, cute town is just a façade, and that there’s more deception than truth in the lives of its residents. As the case intensifies, Savannah finds herself dealing with a bad blowout, a man who might lose a limb, and a woman scorned, leading to a firefight the village of Knockemstiff will never forget. Desperate Housewives marries GCB in this exciting murder mystery full of humor, suspense, and moonshine. Readers will be laughing aloud and gasping in shock while enjoying A Hair Raising Blowout, the first book in a stunning new thriller series by Constance Barker.

Two Birds with One Stone


Sigrid Vansandt - 2014
    Someone just whacked everyone’s least favorite villager, Sir Carstons, on his villainous head. That’s when American expats, paralegal Martha Littleword and book expert Helen Ryes, find themselves knee-deep in Yorkshire murder. Spirited empty-nesters, they throw their newbie detective hats into the ring, only to discover that a murder mystery can quickly turn from adventurous lark into personal peril. With a dash of Southern charm and humor, and the help of a few quirky villagers, the girls just might sjavascript:void(0)urvive. They’ll also have to figure out how to handle the local catch-of-the-day, Piers Cousins, and the cantankerous Chief of Police, DCI Johns. Will they or won’t they? If they do, they might solve a murder, or two, along with a hundred-year-old mystery involving a Brontë sister and a famous piece of English history.

Mama Does Time


Deborah Sharp - 2008
    Mama's antics - especially her penchant for finding trouble - drive her daughters Mace, Maddie and Marty to distraction.One night, while settling in to look for ex-beaus on COPS, Mace gets a frantic call from her mother. This time, the trouble's for real: Mama found a body in the trunk of her vintage convertible, and the police think she's the killer. It doesn't help that the handsome detective assigned to the case seems determined to prove Mama's guilt, or that the cowboy who broke Mace's heart shows up at the local Booze 'n' Breeze in the midst of the investigation. Before their mama lands in prison - just like an embarrassing lyric from a country-western song - Mace and her sisters must find the real culprit.MAMA DOES TIME is a traditional mystery with a comedic edge: Agatha Christie meets "My Name is Earl.''Penned by a native Floridian, set in cattle-and-citrus country, the story reveals an authentic slice of the state. Everyone knows Disney World and sexy South Beach. But how many know Florida's ranches, rodeo, and Southern-fried flavor, just fifty miles from the coast?

The Locked Room Murder


Nancy McGovern - 2016
      She has a job working at her mother's salon in the small town of Lledrith.  She has a fiance with whom she's in love.  And, after years of trial and error, she has finally found a dye that effectively masks her naturally neon-blue hair, allowing her to blend in for the first time in her life! But things are about to go bad...fast! When her fiance is found murdered and Bluebell wakes up in the middle of a field with no memory of the night before, even she has to wonder if she could be to blame.  After all, he had just broken her heart, effectively turning her perfect life upside down.   But could Bluebell have done it?  The fact is, with the body being found alone in a locked room, no one seems to have a clue as to what happened.  It's almost as if it were...MAGIC! And speaking of magic... The Locked Room Murder is the first Bluebell Knopps Mystery, a witch-based cozy mystery, written by Nancy McGovern.  Nancy McGovern is also the author of "A Murder In Milburn", a culinary cozy mystery series containing delicious mysteries and even tastier recipes!

Let Us Prey


Jamie Lee Scott - 2011
    Though Mimi is hired to act as bodyguard for Lauren’s upcoming book tour, plans change when Lauren's assistant is murdered and the slaying is a replica of a scene from Lauren’s newest novel. A novel that hit bookstores the same day as the killing. Now instead of playing bodyguard, Mimi is cracking computer code, and chasing down vampires. These vampires come alive on the streets of Santa Cruz, as part of a live-role-playing game. Mimi must find the connection between the vampires and the author to track down the killer. This would be much easier if Detective Nick Christianson wanted her investigating the case.Nick, Mimi’s old college fling, is the lead homicide investigator. Though he wants her off the case, he also wants to pump her for information. Nick may have used her in the past, but this time she’ll use him to try to catch the murderer first.