Book picks similar to
Death by Appointment by Mairi Chong


mystery
bloodhound
mystery-cozy
first-in-series

Death Comes to the Village


Catherine Lloyd - 2013
    Mary in Catherine Lloyd's charming Regency-set mystery debut.Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil façade of the village begins to loom sinister. . .Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington. As the dutiful daughter of the widowed rector, following up on the major's suspicions offers a welcome diversion--but soon presents real danger. Someone is intent on stopping their investigation. And in a place where no one locks their doors, a series of thefts and the disappearance of two young serving girls demands explanation. . .As Robert grapples with his difficult recovery, he and Lucy try to unearth the dark truth lurking within the village shadows, and stop a killer waiting to strike again...

The Pharmacist


Gillian Jackson - 2021
    Has he left her for another woman, or has something more sinister happened? In a world that is becoming increasingly muddled, Alice is unsure whom she can trust. Even her daughter appears to be lying to her. How much heartache can one person endure?As strange things begin to happen, Alice struggles to separate reality from fantasy--and to make sense of a mystery surrounding Millie, her beautiful five-year-old granddaughter. Sometimes it takes a stranger to help. And sometimes you need a detective . . .

Game of Scones


Mary Lee Ashford - 2018
    Except this time, the recipe truly is to die for . . .   After losing her job as food editor at a glossy magazine, Rosetta Sugarbaker Calloway—aka “Sugar” to friends—isn’t sweet on accepting defeat and crawling back to her gossipy southern hometown. So when she has an opportunity to launch a community cookbook business with blue-ribbon baker Dixie Spicer in peaceful St. Ignatius, Iowa, she jumps at the chance to start over from scratch . . .   But as Sugar assembles recipes for the local centennial celebration, it’s not long before she’s up to her oven mitts in explosive threats, too-hot-to-handle scandals, and a dead body belonging to the moody matriarch of the town’s first family. With suspicions running wild, Sugar and Spice must solve the murder before someone innocent takes the heat—and the real culprit gathers enough ingredients to strike again . . .   * Includes delicious recipes! *

Going Organic Can Kill You


Staci McLaughlin - 2012
    In fact, it's all tofu fish sticks, stuffed squash blossoms, and enough wheat grass shots to scream bloody murder - especially when Dana discovers the body of Maxwell Mendelsohn, Hollywood producer and opening weekend guest, deader than a yoga corpse pose. While Dana pens the Spa's blog and balances the attentions of the local police and reporter Jason Forrester, her escalating job duties now include finding clues, motives and suspects. One thing's for certain, she better act fast before all this healthy living kills her.

Murder at Merisham Lodge


Celina Grace - 2016
    Unfortunately, it’s not enough to prevent her being bludgeoned to death one night in the study of Merisham Lodge, the family’s country estate in Derbyshire. Suspicion quickly falls on her ne’er-do-well son, Peter, but not everyone in the household is convinced of his guilt. Head kitchen maid Joan Hart and lady’s maid, Verity Hunter, know that when it comes to a crime, all is not always as it seems. With suspicions and motives thick on the ground, Joan and Verity must use all the wit and courage they possess to expose a deadly murderer who will stop at nothing to achieve their aim… Murder at Merisham Lodge is the first in a new series of historical mysteries, Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate, set in the 1930s. The author, Celina Grace, is the creator of the bestselling The Kate Redman Mysteries and The Asharton Manor Mysteries, as well as several standalone thrillers.

Pride, Prejudice, and Peril


Katie Oliver - 2021
    Darcy. As a young, respected (if somewhat peculiar) English professor, her expertise lies in all things Jane Austen--but she knows that the closest she'll ever get to being a real-life Elizabeth Bennet is in her dreams.When Who Wants to Marry Mr. Darcy, a new reality TV show, starts filming at her best friend Charlene's estate, Phaedra is intrigued. And when the producer asks her to lend her Austenian knowledge as a consultant on the show, she's over the moon. But on the first day of filming, when Charlene's new husband is found electrocuted and Charlene herself is accused of the crime, Phaedra comes crashing back to reality.With murder on the syllabus and her best friend in dire straits, there's no Mr. Darcy around to help Phaedra--she'll have to get to the bottom of this mystery herself.

The Operation


Dylan Young - 2020
    She is a co-worker, nothing more. But when a leaked video of him and the missing woman arguing goes viral, the social media reaction is vicious. When harrowing images of the kidnapped woman start to appear on his phone, along with a demand from her abductor that Jake confesses to a crime he has no recollection of committing, he is forced to act or face terrifying consequences. He needs to delve into the past for answers. But time is running out for Katy. Will he admit to his failings and lose everything, or plead ignorance and let an innocent girl die?

A Good Man Gone


A.W. Hartoin - 2013
    Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she’s off the hook for doing any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack, Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she’s her father’s daughter. Soon Gavin’s death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her wedding day. Can the two be connected? Was Gavin murdered? Now Mercy can’t stop. You do for family. That’s all there is to it.

Murder in Starry Cove


Lucinda Harrison - 2021
    Will this be the new beginning she so desperately wants, or will the mysteries and secrets of this small town bring it all crashing down?After Poppy unexpectedly inherits her uncle’s Victorian mansion in Starry Cove, she makes grand plans to open a bed-and-breakfast. But when the local handyman winds up dead and the bodies start to pile up, Poppy’s recent arrival in the town raises eyebrows and sets tongues wagging. To make matters worse, she soon discovers the mansion has hidden secrets of its own that threaten her very safety.With the help of two faithful new friends, Poppy hatches a plan to track down the killer and clear her name. But can she nab the murderer before one of them becomes the next victim?

Murder in the Mystery Suite


Ellery Adams - 2014
    To increase her number of bookings, resort manager Jane Steward has decided to host a Murder and Mayhem week so that fans of the mystery genre can gather together for some role-playing and fantasy crime solving.But when the winner of the scavenger hunt, Felix Hampden, is found dead in the Mystery Suite, and the valuable book he won as his prize is missing, Jane realizes one of her guests is an actual murderer. Amid a resort full of fake detectives, Jane is bound and determined to find a real-life killer. There’s no room for error as Jane tries to unlock this mystery before another vacancy opens up…

Murder on the Island


Daisy White - 2021
    

Dial P For Poison


Zara Keane - 2017
    Lured by her aunt’s promise of a restful Irish vacation, Maggie agrees to help out at the Movie Theater Café in exchange for bed and board. Things are looking up—until the most hated woman on Whisper Island is poisoned at the café. With her aunt as the prime suspect, Maggie and her rock-hard muffins are hurled into the murder investigation.With the help of her UFO-enthusiast friend, a nun, and a feral puppy, Maggie is determined to clear her aunt’s name. Can she catch the murderer before they strike again? Or will her terrible baking skills burn down the cafe first?

Starvation Lake


John Carson - 2020
    Every year on the anniversary of her incarceration, she taunts him with a phone call, giving him one message; when I get out, I'll kill you.Now, Bracken has transferred back to Edinburgh from Fife and is thrown into the deep end on his first day back on duty.There's a killer who is emulating Ailsa, threatening to surpass her body count.Bracken knows he needs her on board to help him track the killer down, but she's reluctant to get involved.Then the case takes an unexpected twist, and she agrees to help. But this new killer is taking them down a dark, twisted path, where nobody sees the outcome.Until it's too late.

Arsenic in the Azaleas


Dale Mayer - 2019
    … Controlling to chaos. … But murder … seriously? After her ex-husband leaves her high and dry, former socialite Doreen Montgomery's chance at a new life comes in the form of her grandmother, Nan's, dilapidated old house in picturesque Kelowna … and the added job of caring for the animals Nan couldn’t take into assisted living with her: Thaddeus, the loquacious African gray parrot with a ripe vocabulary, and his buddy, Goliath, a monster-size cat with an equally monstrous attitude. It’s the new start Doreen and her beloved basset hound, Mugs, desperately need. But, just as things start to look up for Doreen, Goliath the cat and Mugs the dog find a human finger in Nan’s overrun garden. And not just a finger. Once the police start digging, the rest of the body turns up and turns out to be connected to an old unsolved crime. With her grandmother as the prime suspect, Doreen soon finds herself stumbling over clues and getting on Corporal Mack Moreau’s last nerve, as she does her best to prove her beloved Nan innocent of murder.

A Little Taste of Murder


Carolyn L. Dean - 2018
    With only her beloved doggie as a companion, even the promise of hopping a ferry for the beautiful San Juan Islands seems like an impossibility when everyone is trying to point fingers at each other. Right in the middle of it all, Claire has to convince the tight-knit town that she’s not the murderer, even if the clues tell another, horrible story. Originally published as part of a three-book collection of classic cozy mysteries, THREE CAROLS OF COZY CHRISTMAS MURDER. If you've already got that book (which has been newly edited and updated, too), this book would be a duplicate.