Book picks similar to
Pancakes and Pleas by Gretchen Allen


mystery
cozy-mysteries
cozy-mystery
fiction

A Lonely Death


Gillian Larkin - 2015
     Derek Quill is an elderly gent who can see the ghosts of murdered people. With the help of his ghostly friend, Pearl, he finds out who killed them. In his first investigation, Derek meets the ghost of Eric Malone. Derek knows Eric from his schooldays. Eric bullied Derek mercilessly back then and now he’s asking for Derek’s help. Derek soon discovers that Eric never changed his bullying ways and there is more than one person who could be a suspect.

Key to Savannah


Hope Callaghan - 2016
     With help from her daughter, Mercedes, she sets off to find out what the mysterious key belongs to and soon discovers she has inherited property in historic Savannah, Georgia. Carlita views the property as a sign and remembers Vinnie’s dying words to her to get their family out of the mafia. Against the wishes of her three sons, mother and daughter embark on a road trip to explore the property. While they're gone, someone breaks into their home and vandalizes it. This is the second time it has happened since Vinnie's death and Carlita is convinced that it's somehow tied to the mafia. Carlita and Mercedes are looking forward to leaving their old life behind with a fresh start in beautiful Savannah. They quickly realize you can run but you can’t hide from the past.

Scrabbling for the Culprit


Jane Wallace - 2020
     Adult triplets Cassie, Callie and Lonnie Parker, have thrown their hearts and souls into planning the Scrabble tournament Callie is hosting at the local high school. But, when a bookcase full of dictionaries lands on a beloved teacher, murmurs of foul play threaten the entire competition. With the new-to-the-county detective, who doesn't know the townspeople yet and a school full of suspects, can these siblings work together to find the killer, keep everyone else safe, and move all the pieces into place to run spectacular tournament?

Risky Bisqueness


Elizabeth Rain - 2020
    It should be the other half~The Best Half...That's what Julienne Mason told herself as she stared at herself in the mirror the morning after her 40th birthday...Husbandless...Jobless...Childless...Julienne Mason's Ego has taken a Beating. In the space of a day, she nearly burnt down the pizza parlor, lost her job, and walked in on her cheating rat of a husband.To top it all off? She's 40 and no one has noticed.With nothing to show for a lifetime of chasing the Joneses and trying to conform to everyone else's expectations but her own...Juli is more than ready for a change of lifestyle. But nobody ever told her that answering the summons to a strange letter would turn her entire life on a dime, and challenge every notion she's ever had on what normal is...Add in a Strange Inheritence, an Overbearing Ghost, A Snobbish Talking Cat, and a Sentient Recipe Grimoire; Sprinkle Liberally with Magic...And Maybe even Misfits like her deserve a second chance to get things right...But first she'll need to solve her Uncle's Murder and learn to Embrace her inner Witchiness...before she runs out of time and the killer Strikes Again...

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?

Murder, She Floats


Rachael Stapleton - 2017
    With a contest prize of ten thousand dollars on the line, the town is full of summer vacationers on the hunt for the rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel that was lost to Bohemian Lake over fifty years ago. With the help of spitfire local, Eve Berns and Cody Lumos, the town's handsome new detective, amateur sleuth Lucky Penny takes the bait and goes diving for the story behind the legend of the million dollar coin. Unfortunately, her dive turns up more bodies than missing treasure. The deeper she digs, the more secrets she finds hidden in the sand, but will she be buried along with them?

Crime and Nourishment


Miranda Sweet - 2017
    Neither does the island of Nantucket. A NEW RELEASE cozy mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Frost, Cynthia Ellingsen, Cindy Bell and CeeCee James When Agnes Mary Clarissa Christie Prouty, a.k.a. Angie, abandons her fiancé and her analyst job at a big Manhattan investment firm, she doesn’t expect to end up back where she started—the island of Nantucket.  It’s not every day you get a chance to open a bookstore, complete with bookmark-eating cats and cantankerous great-aunts.  Especially when your childhood friends agree to provide you with the world’s best pastries from their bakery down the street. Everything goes great until one of the locals turns up dead on the fourth of July, the sound of the gunshots covered by the local fireworks display. But did it have to happen right after Angie delivered a book to his home making her a prime suspect? Angie and every gossip on the island, including her great-aunt and her friends, are on the case.  But trying to discover the truth is going to take more than a simple murder investigation.  Someone’s guilty and the deadly secret might cut closer to home than anyone wants to admit.Being an amateur detective is harder than it looks, even when you’ve been named after the Queen of Crime.  This cozy mystery/amateur sleuth novel is book one in the Angie Prouty Nantucket Cozy Mystery Series

The Salty Taste of Murder


Christine Zane Thomas - 2018
    She's a foodie, and a runner. A restaurant reviewer by day, and a Netflix aficionado by night.Even if it doesn’t make her the most popular dinner guest in the charming southern town of Lanai, Georgia, Allie’s reviews are always honest.And her latest is no different from any other.But Allie’s review isn’t the only thing to hit the newsstand. The restaurant’s owner and Allie’s one-time high school nemesis, Jessica Hayes, is found murdered. When Jessica’s husband, Miller, is labeled the prime suspect, Allie’s convinced the police are mistaken.As if dodging the bad press while she works to clear Miller’s name isn't enough, one false step could put the real killer onto her.Can Allie clear Miller’s name without winding up with the next obituary?

Scene of the Grind


Tonya Kappes - 2017
     With the excitement of the Bean Hive opening and rush of business, Roxie is moving on with her life until she finds that one of her best customers, Lilia Walters, was found dead after eating one of Roxie's best-selling doughnuts after Roxie's aunt Maxine gave Lilia as a peace offering. Gossip in Honey Springs is as hot at the coffee served at the Bean Hive and Roxie has to uncover who is behind the murder not only to save her shop, her aunt, but her life.

Heard It Through the Grapevine


Lizbeth Lipperman - 2013
    The problem is that Tessa is not in the coffin. Dealing with the wisecracking ghost of her sibling, Lainey and her three surviving sisters set out to fulfill Tessa's wish from beyond the grave--to find out who killed her.But hidden among the vines of the dead sister's multi-million dollar wine-making business lurks a killer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Money, Murder and Mayhem


K.P. Stafford - 2016
    In twenty-four hours her world is shattered. She loses her parents and her job. Rummaging through the attic she discovers her “dead” grandmother is very much alive. She returns to her hometown; a quiet, sleepy little town perched above the sea. The disappearance and death of an elderly couple sets the town on edge. Accusations fly. The past is dredged up. Bodies are found. Some even question her return and the timing of the murders. As she joins the town constable to help solve the case, she finds herself attracted to her main suspect, Jake Donovan. Jake is handsome, charming, and secretive. Is he a threat to her or just a threat to her heart?

The Root of All Evil


R.T. Green - 2021
    

Murder at Mile Marker 18


Denise Jaden - 2020
    Her late husband had been the mystery novelist with a penchant for the suspicious. She was born for the crock pot, not the magnifying glass, and yet here she is elbow deep in fettuccine, cat treats, and teenagers with an attitude, the combination of which lands her smack-dab in the middle of a murder investigation.Maybe she should have thought twice about delivering a casserole to a grieving family. Maybe she should have avoided the ever-changing green eyes of her seventh-grade crush—now the most heart-stopping cop in town. Maybe she should have stopped listening to the insightful mewls of her cat, Hunch, who most likely wants her to be the town’s next murder victim.Whatever the case, Mallory Beck got herself into this investigation, and she has a distraught teenage girl counting on her to deliver the truth.Add book one in the brand new Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Series, to your to-read list now!

The Curse: A Cozy Mystery From the 1920s


Alice Simpson - 2018
    Jane grapples with a vandalized shop, a kidnapping, a creepy doll with seemingly supernatural powers, and a stolen diamond necklace. What do all these have in common? It's up to Jane to find out. About the Jane Carter Historical Cozy Mystery Series: This quirky historical cozy mystery series is set in the fictional American city of Greenville during the 1920s, and features Jane Carter, a young widow who returns home to live with her father after the tragic death of her journalist husband. Jane’s father owns a local newspaper, and wants Jane to take it over someday, but Jane is adamant that she has no desire to be a reporter. Instead, she turns her talent for writing to concocting melodramatic romances for fly-by-night rags who almost never pay on time. This work pays so poorly that Jane supplements her income by becoming an agony aunt, soliciting letters from the lovelorn through advertisements in the back of women’s weekly magazines. Jane dispenses advice to all and sundry, but her personal life is in shambles. Jane claims that she's holding out for a millionaire before she marries again, but the only man who makes her heart beat faster is Jack, a reporter on her father's staff. Not only has Jane vowed she will never be a newspaper man herself, she's doubly insistent on never again marrying one. While trying to turn out enough column inches of overwrought romantic bilge to keep her old car on the road, and herself in shoes, Jane runs into the most extraordinary circumstances. In Jane's madcap world, it's a constant round of kidnappings, curses, stolen jewels, counterfeit paintings, and hidden stashes of gold. There's plenty of crime to go around, but nary a murder. Accompanying Jane on her adventures is her best friend, Florence. Jane and Flo may get into one perilous situation after another, but they are never damsels in distress, because, as Jane puts it, "A real lady always carries her own pocket knife." Neither Jane nor Flo think it beneath them to slip a cosh into their handbag, either, should the situation call for it. All this getting into harm's way alarms the Carter's housekeeper, Mrs. Timms. Mrs. Timms believes it's her mission in life to turn motherless Jane into a proper lady, but seeing as Jane has just turned twenty-four, Mrs. Timms considerable efforts appear to have been in vain. However, the housekeeper won't give up trying, just as Jane won't give up on seeing Mrs. Timms and her father center-aisling it to the alter and saying, "I do." If you like light-hearted historical mysteries with quirky characters and a bit of zany humor, this may be the series for you! These are murderless mysteries. Despite a constant crime wave, there seem to be no murders in the city of Greenville. There may be plenty of peril in the form of kidnappings, heists, and the occasional assault, but nobody ever dies, and justice is always served. There’s plenty of romance, but sex is strictly behind closed doors. Suitable for readers looking for a "clean" mystery novel. This series may be of interest to fans of: Lee Strauss (Ginger Gold Mysteries), Jaqueline Winspear (Masie Dobbs Mysteries), Patricia Wentworth (Miss Silver Mysteries), Jessica Ellicot (Berl and Edwina Mysteries Series), Clara Benson, L. B. Hathaway (Posie Parker Mysteries), Leighann Dobbs (Hazel Martin Mysteries), T. E. Kinsey (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries), Margarete Addison (Rose Simpson Mysteries), Emily Organ (Penny Green Mysteries), and the Phryne Fisher Mystery Series.

Truffles and Troubles: Book 1 in The Chocolate Cafe Series


Valley Sams - 2016
     After the death of her beloved grandfather, Catharine “Mac” Mackenzie opens a chocolate shop in her sleepy little New England bayside town with her best friend Sabrina. Things are going well for the daring duo, until Sabrina’s landlord, one of the wealthiest women in town, is murdered. Toss in a British detective with a wicked sense of humor, a shudder-worthy encounter with a childhood friend, and you’re in for a delectable mystery experience that’ll have you on the edge of your seat!