Book picks similar to
Waves of Deception by Hope Callaghan


mystery
ebook
cozy-mysteries
hope-callaghan

Squirrel & Swan Precious Things


M.D. Archer - 2018
    No one else thinks they’ll make something of this new and unexpected venture. But why wouldn’t they be a success? Paige understands the mechanics of the mind and Sophie can read behaviour like a book. They’re a little light on investigative experience or, erm, practical life skills, but they make up for it with intelligence, tenacity, and diligence.After a couple of frustrating months without even a whiff of a client, they finally get a break. Someone is kidnapping pets, and the head of the Remuera Ladies Bridge Club wants them to find out who.As they start investigating with gusto, the possibility of another case appears. Nineteen-year-old Polly Dixon has disappeared.Can they prove everyone wrong and find the missing girl?"Loved this book from start to finish. It’s so funny, witty… good story line that keeps you guessing. The characters are written in such great detail that I could see them in my mind. I can’t wait for the next and hope there are many more to come!"S & S Investigations is a cozy mystery series set in New Zealand. With a bit of crime-fighting, humour, romance and drama, this series has it all. Get started on the Squirrel & Swan adventures today.Sign up to M. D. Archer’s mailing list - mdaauthor@gmail.com - to hear about new releases (and special deals), first! You can also find her on twitter @mda_008.*Note, Squirrel & Swan: Precious Things is 55,000 words.

She Belongs to Me


Carmen DeSousa - 2011
     Charlotte police officer Jordan Monroe is used to being in control. Ever since his father died, he has provided for his mother and sisters and even hired his two brothers-in-law to help run his successful construction company. On a chance business trip, however, he meets the one person who throws his life into a whirlwind--Jaynee.Jaynee has lived a tragic life and has sworn off all men. That is until a rugged southern gentleman lands in her seating area, refusing to take no for an answer. From the moment they meet, Jordan sweeps her off her feet, assuring her that happiness exists. But can she really escape her past?Five years later, Jordan finds Jaynee on their back porch with a gunshot wound to the head. While Jaynee lies in a coma, Jordan has to go back to their beginning and figure out what went wrong. Did he push his wife to the edge, or has her past come back to haunt them? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "You'll be swept off your feet along with Jaynee as she discovers the man of her dreams. You'll be drawn into the drama. And you'll flip the pages fast as Jordan must desperately figure out the truth in time. I was and did!" -- New York Times bestselling author Jaime Rush⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "SHE BELONGS TO ME is definitely a good suspenseful read. Ms. DeSousa is a talented author and I had no problem in connecting with the characters. The story displayed a realistic relationship between Jordan and Jaynee." -- The Romance Reviews

A Berry Deadly Welcome


A.R. Winters - 2018
    Only one problem: Kylie can’t cook to save her life, and the longtime chef walks out on Kylie’s first day. Answering the call for a new chef, in walks lovely Rachel Summers, a friendly local brownie-addict who immediately gets the job. But when Rachel is found dead a few hours later, all fingers point to Kylie and her killer brownies. Could Kylie have made a major kitchen blunder and poisoned the woman? Did a bitter former employee tamper with her pantry? Or was there more to Rachel than the kind smile and eager-to-please attitude she sported at the interview? With the help of the few remaining café regulars, Kylie sets out on a journey to uncover the truth behind who killed Rachel Summers!

The Secret of Seaside


Agatha Ball - 2017
    AND MURDER! Paige Comber dreams of running off to Paris to train at the Cordon Bleu, but fresh out of college, she is stuck running her granny's coffee shop in the small town of Seaside. It looks like a lousy summer until a handsome stranger named Nate arrives. He's here to help his Uncle Byron with his affairs, but when his uncle's body washes up on the beach and Nate is thrown into prison, it is up to Paige to find out who might have been crazy enough to do it. BOOK ONE in the PAIGE COMBER MYSTERY series

Sweet Saboteur


C.A. Phipps - 2020
    But when a murder in Cozy Hollow points to the café as a likely cause, Scarlett must put all fears aside to solve the mystery before everything she’s fought to keep is lost—or worse!Cozy Hollow might never be the same again.The Cozy Café mysteries are light, cozy mysteries featuring a family-focused café owner who discovers she’s a talented amateur sleuth—and a magnet for animals.Other books in the series:Book 1 Sweet SaboteurBook 2 Candy CorruptionEnjoy a FREE sweet treat recipe in every book!

Fame is a Killer


Meredith Potts - 2016
    In the last twenty-four hours, her boyfriend has broken up with her and her long-running police procedural TV show has been canceled. When a homicide detective shows up at her door the next morning with news that her ex-boyfriend has been murdered, she realizes that her troubles are just beginning. She is shocked--not only to learn of her ex's death, but also to find out that the police consider her to be a suspect in the killing. Hope soon realizes that the only way to clear her name is by finding the real killer herself. Fans of page-turning cozy mysteries will love this series that mixes a healthy dose of clues, romance, and humor. Books In The Hope Hadley Series 1. Fame Is A Killer 2. Fishing For A Murderer 3. Murder Of A Yoga Instructor 4. Drowning In Deceit 5. A Not So Merry Christmas Murder 6. Killer Injustice 7. Murder Of A Restaurant Critic 8. Murder Of A Movie Producer 9. The Killer Holiday Office Party Note -- All of the Hope Hadley books can be read in any order.

Mark of the Loon


Molly Greene - 2012
    She struggles with the inability to put down roots years after the sudden death of her beloved parents. Madison and her three wise, hilarious friends all wonder if she uses her busy, work-centric lifestyle as an excuse to avoid connection with anyone but them.When Madison checks out a probate sale outside Healdsburg, California, she falls in love with the European-style house on a private tract of land overlooking Lake Sonoma. In fact, she likes the place so much she climbs in the window for a private tour. With help from lawyer and friend Genevieve Delacourt, Madison soon learns that the estate’s corrupt attorney has manipulated the sale and is attempting to steer the purchase to an anonymous client in a deceitful plan for personal gain.Good fortune enables her to purchase the Blackburne’s property, but far more than a new home and lush gardens await discovery during this renovation. As Madison works on the remodel, she’s drawn into an old love story with dangerous consequences. In the process, she discovers herself as she unearths buried secrets. The series of events both endanger Madison and lead her to love – and a permanent home. Mark of the Loon is the skillful combination of history, mystery, and romance in a novel that explores deep friendship, choices, and how individuals cope with loss.

Makeup & Murder


Stephanie Damore - 2017
    When she’s attacked inside a client’s home and wakes to find a dead body, she gives up the safety of selling lipsticks for the dangerous role of detective. The dead man was her top client’s husband, and it turns out he used his money to buy more than happiness. With suspects piling up, a killer on the loose and her own life threatened, Ziva vows to solve the case and digs her high heels in even deeper. The last thing she expected is finding another dead body – or befriending the murderer!

Nuts and Dolts


Marc Jedel - 2020
    See Marty before he becomes the super-sleuthing, crime-busting hero of the Silicon Valley Mystery series. In this short read, you’ll meet the lovable hero, an amateur sleuth who constantly frustrates and astounds everyone around him.Can Marty complete the retelling of a story without bumbling into yet another mystery? Nuts and Dolts is the humorous prequel novella in a refreshingly modern cozy mystery series set in Silicon Valley. If you like quirky sleuths, wacky side characters, and laugh-out-loud moments, you’ll love this offbeat whodunit.Try Nuts and Dolts to log in to a great mystery series today!

The Buzz Kill


Katherine Hayton - 2018
    Instead, after just one day, a dead body is discovered nearby covered in bee stings. Now the police believe that a killer used her bees as a murder weapon. Desperate to keep her hives safe from destruction, and the bees safe from police officers on the hunt for evidence, Alice sets out to solve the murder. Between an argumentative wife, a neighbor embroiled in property disputes, and a potential stalker, she's soon in over her head. As if having a potential murder conviction hanging over her hives wasn't enough of a worry, Alice's dog Chester is also feeling under the weather. Trouble just seems to be making a beeline to Alice's door. The Honeybee 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 the show that makes you roll your eyes! The stories contain no swearing, no cliffhangers, and no graphic scenes but are chockablock full of bees.

Sweet Revenge


Morgana Best - 2016
    The truth of the matter was that her love of eating chocolate had caused her to become excessively overweight. Some years later, a car wreck leads to her undergoing extensive plastic surgery on her face and body. Now that she is medically unable to gain weight, she decides to indulge her love for chocolate by opening a designer chocolate shop.When people who bullied her at high school are murdered one by one, she becomes the prime suspect. Will she be able to prove her innocence when the police think she’s out for revenge? Will Carl, her best friend, stop flirting with the police long enough to help her find the real killer?

The Case of the Missing Finger: A Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery


Cheri Baker - 2021
    Two years later, with her children grown and the rest of her life ahead of her, she's ready to have the adventure she'd planned before her life was turned upside-down. She's excited to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands on her very first cruise.After boarding the most beautiful cruise ship she's ever seen, Ellie's surprised when she's assigned a cabin inside the cruise line's new singles club at sea, but she quickly sees that her new friends aboard could use some advice when it comes to romance. Unfortunately, Ellie's matchmaking efforts are interrupted when a fellow passenger finds a finger with a big diamond ring on it in her Sangria Surprise!Passengers are scandalized and tongues are wagging all around the ship. The ship's security chief seems eager to brush the crime under the rug while others are eager to point fingers at Ellie's favorite bartender. After thirty years married to a small town police chief, Ellie's picked up some sleuthing skills of her own, and she knows that justice demands honest answers to the questions rocking the ship. Who does the finger belong to? How did it end up in the boozy drink special of the day? And what other secrets lurk beneath the Caribbean sun?It's all hands on deck for adventure with this matchmaking sleuth.

Messages


John Michael Hileman - 2011
    And as much as David Chance would like to hide from them, he can't. Words keep leaping off objects around him, forming messages in his mind. But how is this possible? Has his brain suddenly taken an evolutionary leap forward, or are the mysterious messages proof of divine intervention?Driven to answer a question he'd long ago abandoned, and stalked by the killer he's trying to stop, David risks everything to follow the messages to a dirty bomb set to go off in the heart of Boston. But can he trust the author of the messages to protect him from a terrorist who seems to know his every move.

Prescription to Die For


Bridget Bowman - 2015
    Deanna Devlin is a thirty-two year old reporter who dreams of tackling hard-nosed stories, but is stuck writing puff pieces for the local paper. When a murder strikes Desert Palms, Deanna suddenly gets her chance to cover some hard-hitting news. Unfortunately, one of Deanna's good friends is wrongly suspected as the killer by the local police detective. To prove her friend's innocence, Deanna has no choice but to take matters into her own hands and find the real killer herself.

Gone with the Wings


Leena Clover - 2017
    Mystery readers will enjoy this culinary cozy murder mystery featuring plenty of yummy recipes like Masala Fried Chicken and Shish Kabob Blue Plate Special. Meera Patel is back home with the family after she dropped out of graduate school. Now she shelves books for a living and rustles up fusion recipes at Sylvie's Cafe & Diner. Everything is fine until her old nemesis Prudence Walker floats up in the local pond. Meera is accused of murder! Well, she did publicly declare Prudence would drop dead. Meera cries foul and screams police harassment. But she has no defense when she is accused of a second crime. Flanked by pals Tony and Becky, Meera puts in the leg work, trying to solve clues and discard red herrings. Fall in Oklahoma has never been more exciting. Cozy mystery fans will love this new mystery series featuring an Asian American amateur sleuth. There is a full cast of characters with a professor father, young sibling, old grandparents, loyal friends and a candid glimpse into South Asian culture.