Book picks similar to
The Pine Hill Inn by J.A. Whiting


mystery
paranormal
cozy-mystery
first-in-series

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells


Rose Pressey Betancourt - 2011
    Her dishes don't turn out as full of smidgens of enchantment and dashes of wishes come true as she'd hoped. When handsome customer Rory Covington takes a bite of the wrong burger, he ends up capturing the attention of every woman in town. Elly doesn't know if her feelings for Rory are true or based on her magic gone awry.Tom Owenton is an investigator the National Organization for Magic sent to look into the magical mishap. Unless Elly can reverse the spell, the cafe will be closed permanently. Tom is more than willing to help Elly out of this magical pickle, but she's not sure she should accept his offer.Elly only has forty-eight hours to find a way to reverse the spell, or she'll lose the cafe and never discover if her feelings for Rory are real.

The Witch who Couldn't Spell


Katie Penryn - 2016
    Despite her reading disability, she's qualified as a lawyer in London and raised her two brothers on her own. But she doesn't have the skills to hunt down a murderer.True Mpenzi's a white witch, so she could use magic, and she does have her mother's Book of Spells, but she's hit a stumbling block. Try as she may, Mpenzi cannot decipher the grimoire's medieval script. She needs help desperately if she's to save her mother from a life in prison.Will the High Council of the Guild of White Witches listen to her plea and allow her an assistant in time to free her mother? An assistant with supernatural powers of their own?If you love stories about witches, magic, and talking cats and dogs, all spiced up with a dollop of danger, you’ll love following along with Mpenzi and Felix, her shape-shifting sidekick, as they fight the good fight against evil in the small French seaside town of Beaucoup-sur-Mer.

Sweet Deal Sealed


Judith A. Barrett - 2020
    She moves to her hometown in southern Georgia and buys a charming, old-fashioned donut shop, complete with the owner's dog, cat, and secret recipes. Karen O’Brien begins her new life as the Donut Lady.Karen's struggles to solve the prison murder and adapt to civilian life become even more complicated when a neglected boy suddenly disappears from his sketchy living conditions. While the Donut Lady searches for the missing boy and pursues clues to solve the prison murder, the killer stalks her.The Second Edition of BOOK 1 of SWEET DEAL SEALED, DONUT MYSTERY SERIES includes all of the FIRST EDITION story PLUS murders to solve and a killer to stop. Right up Donut Lady's alley!

Dramatic Paws


Corrine Winters - 2020
    But when someone starts targeting her customers with death, all signs point to her. Luckily, Ember has a few aces up her sleeve. See, she’s not just a small business owner. She’s a witch.Too bad you don’t need magic to see the whole town start to talk, suggesting she killed her problem customers.It’s not like the victims were pillars or society or anything. One was a boyfriend-stealing bully. The others were just as bad.Who had the motive? Seems everyone had reasons to hate them. And plenty of people in this sleepy little town had things to hide.It’s up to Ember, her bat shifter bestie, the ghost of her ancestor, and Kali, her cat familiar who quotes Sun Tzu’s Art of War to piece it all together.They better hurry. Because right now, all roads lead to Ember as the murderer. And sure, Sheriff Jamison might be giving her the benefit of the doubt, but he’s only going to tolerate her butting around in his investigation for so long.Can his hazel eyes get lost in hers long enough so she can uncover the clues?

Witchy Whiskers


Danielle Garrett - 2021
    I ran a successful business in a tight-knit magical community, and lived just blocks from a beautiful lake and series of hiking trails.Then Selene showed up.According to some magical code I inherit my aunt’s ancient familiar; a grumpy ten-pound cat with a broken filter. She fancies herself something of a saber-toothed tiger, and claims to have wrestled the thread of her ninth life from the hands of the Fates themselves — although, I’m pretty sure that last part isn’t true.Almost positive.I’m still looking into the magical fine print, but in the meantime I’m stuck as the guardian to a cat with the personality of Sophia from the Golden Girls. Oh, and by another cruel twist of fate, my ex-husband just moved back into town. I thought I couldn’t take any more, but when a murder rocks my small community, I wind up entangled in the investigation thanks to a handsome stranger.If only life came equipped with a rewind button.**Witchy Whiskers is the first book in a brand new series by paranormal mystery author, Danielle Garrett. Grab your copy now and dive into a colorful world filled with magic, mystery, adventure, and a spark or two of romance.**

The Silence of the Elves


Meg Muldoon - 2016
    FREE for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. If there’s one thing that every elf in the North Pole knows, it’s this: Never get on Mrs. Claus’s bad side. Never. Ever. Ever... After getting reassigned from the North Pole by a jealous Mrs. Claus, misfit elf Holly Hopewell is sent to work in the worst place imaginable: The North Pole Emporium Department store in Mistletoe, Oregon. The elves call it Mistletoe Row: a place so devoid of joy and Christmas spirit, that many a curly-toed folk has lost their poor mind working there. But just when Holly thinks things can’t get any worse, the store’s manager, who also happens to be Mrs. Claus’s nephew, is found murdered in his office. And good-natured Holly Hopewell finds herself as the prime suspect in the local police’s investigation. Will Holly be sent to a row of a different sort for a crime she didn’t commit? Or will the handsome yet mysterious homicide detective assigned to the investigation find the real murderer before the gumdrops hit the fan for Holly?