Book picks similar to
Down the Hatch by Constance Barker


paranormal
cozy-mysteries
first-in-series
mystery-cozy

One Tequila


Tricia O'Malley - 2015
    The original cover edition is here.Tequila Key is just like any other small town and I'm just like any other small town psychic. Scratch that. Tequila Key is a world onto itself and some people might think that I am one crayon short of the box. And, if we're being totally honest, Tequila Key is just like any other small town – if that town boasts a voodoo priestess and a few white witches for flavor. Turquoise blue water and the best margaritas this side of Mexico make it hard to leave. I'm Althea Rose, co-owner of Luna Rose Potions & Tarot Shop, and I've just stumbled into a love triangle while trying to save my best friend from being accused of murder. See? Just like any other small town.

Witch Myth: A Yew Hollow Christmas- The Beginning


Alexandria Clarke - 2017
    As the only one aware of the time loop, Noelle must find a way to reverse the mistake before Yew Hollow’s festive cheer attracts the attention of dangerous magical visitors.

Witch Is When It All Began


Adele Abbott - 2015
    Private investigator, Jill Gooder, has been hired to find a serial killer because, as usual, the police can't buy a clue. Jill, the not so proud owner of a crazy, one-eyed cat, probably can't expect too much help from her PA/Secretary, Mrs V, who spends all day knitting. And just in case all of that wasn't bad enough, Jill's just about to discover she's a witch. ...break out the custard creams.

Books and Brews


Susan Harper - 2018
     Monica Montoya is the new owner of the Back Room Bookstore, an ordinary bookstore with a back door to the supernatural realm. When a man is killed at a party, her plan to live a normal life is turned upside down. With the help of a little magic, she seeks to bring the killer to justice. Can Monica keep her secret and protect her friends, both mortal and supernatural?

Rowan's Responsibility


Terri Reid - 2018
    Others, seeking knowledge in spiritualism and the occult, also made their way to the city and, through their ignorance, unleashed an evil entity poised to destroy the city. Three sisters, the Willoughby Witches, created an incantation strong enough to ensnare the demon. But, magic requires payment and so the sisters sacrificed themselves to keep their city and their family safe. Now, 120 years later, the incantation is at its end and the demon grows stronger every day. Three sisters, three witches, know that now is the time for them to step up and face the creature their ancestors faced and sacrifice whatever they need in order to keep Whitewater safe. Lord Henry McDermott, college professor, anthropologist, and archeologist has yearned to learn more about the legend of the Willoughby Witches. Taking the summer off to research the folklore, Henry discovers that there is more waiting for him in Whitewater than just a story. More than just the beautiful woman who finds him after his accident. And more than data and details. There is, in fact, magic.

Dangerous Magic


Evie Hart - 2019
    Magically bound to find the culprit, the last thing she needs is the new detective getting under her toes.Unfortunately for her, she finds herself colliding with the hot cop more than she wants. And since her familiar hates him, it's not always pleasant.New magic and a devastating tragedy threaten to derail their investigations--but not quite as much as the person who isn't happy they're involved...

Christmas Crackers


Jane HincheyMélanie Day - 2020
    A Paranormal Cozy Mystery CollectionIt’s time to get your jingle bells on and celebrate the holiday season with a whole lot of fun and a little bit of murder with the Christmas Crackers Cozy Mystery Collection.This limited-time festive collection of holiday whodunits includes 10 new paranormal cozy mystery novellas from ten of your favorite authors, including:Jane Hinchey, Nancy Warren, Patti Larsen, Beth Prentice, Dionne Lister, Kelly Ethan, Maggie Mundy, Christine Bernard, Polly Holmes, and Susanne Becker.…happy holiday reading!Ghost the Halls - Jane HincheyGingerdead House - Nancy WarrenMerry Little Mystic Murder - Patti LarsenThe Hollyday Spirit - Beth PrencticeChristmissing in Westerham - Dionne ListerCookies, Curses and Christmas Corpses - Kelly EthanMagic & Mayhem at Mistletoe Manor - Maggie MundyCoffee, Carols & Curses - Christine BernardA Killer Christmas List - Polly HolmesJingle Bells Cracker Spells - Susanne Becker

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum


Kirsten Weiss - 2016
    Railroaded into managing the local paranormal museum, she’s certain the rumors of its haunting are greatly exaggerated. But a new ghost may be on the loose. A fresh corpse in the museum embroils Maddie in murders past and present.With her high school bully as one of the officers in charge, Maddie doubts justice will be served. When one of her best friends is arrested, she’s certain it won’t be.Maddie grapples with ghost hunters, obsessed taxidermists, and the sexy motorcyclist next door as outside forces threaten. And as she juggles spectral shenanigans with the hunt for a killer, she discovers there truly is no place like home.

Social Medium


Patti Larsen - 2019
    I’d had time, my six months behind bars, to come to terms with my innocence, and subsequent loss of said naiveté. There’d been a time I’d held a grudge, but that time was long gone. The fact she was dead helped. Did it make me a bad person I wasn’t sorry? Sometimes I wondered. Then again, other times? This life—and the afterlife—had a funny way of evening out the scales of justice. I’d seen it happen often enough to know judging myself for what I was thinking at any given minute was a waste of energy better used in other endeavors. Medium and paranormal debunker Alice Moore has found romantic bliss for the first time, but her happy heart does nothing to pay the bills. When a fellow ghost hunter hires her and boyfriend Denver Hatch to investigate the haunting of a Florida plantation house, she reluctantly agrees. Roman Ellis isn’t her favorite person in the world, but the money he’s offering is too much to turn down. If only she’d listened to her instincts… when she stumbles over a freshly dead body—the long ago departed more her forte—she’s suddenly in the middle of a murder investigation and her record makes her a suspect. Can she uncover the killer and prove her innocence? In this spin-off series to the award-winning Fiona Fleming Cozy Mysteries, medium and paranormal blogger/debunker Alice Moore travels the US uncovering truth, fraud and murder!

The Pine Hill Inn


J.A. Whiting - 2019
    A. Whiting.Ella Daniels, a professor of American history at Green Hill University, comes from a family with many talents, and seeing ghosts is one of them. The family matriarch, Aunt Jin, has agreed to allow a journalist to do a story on their business, Green Hill Investigations.When the man accompanies Ella to a centuries-old inn to try to help a ghost cross-over, they stumble over the body of a dead man in the garden.Who killed him? Why? Will more bodies pile up?With the help of her brother, sister, and a black cat named Raisin, will Ella and her family find the killer before he or she strikes again?This story has ghosts and mild paranormal elements.

The Girl Who Brings the Dead


Alessa Winters - 2021
    But she couldn’t just let her brother die.◆◆◆A Necromancer hasn’t been seen in over a generation, and nobody knows why. Lyra just wanted a quiet life and for her brother to grow up healthy. But ever since she raised him from the dead, she’s been stalked by a Demon of immense power.He wants to kill her. He needs to kill her. Instead, he introduces himself. His name is Melekai, and Lyra belongs to him now. Whenever he chooses, he comes to her and steals from her soul, and in exchange, she gets to stay alive.Their uneasy peace is disturbed when two Magicians discover Lyra’s powers. They think they’ve found their savior, they think they’ve found a weapon that can save the world.Lyra wants to be left alone. Melekai wants her safe, to be his. Magic has other plans.◆◆◆If you like: Gothic Romance Romance with a little bit of gore Villain Love Interests Found FamilyThen you will LOVE this book.

The Book Of Ill Deeds


Phaedra Weldon - 2018
    Getting a call from her home town’s Sheriff with the message, “We’ve arrested your grandmother for murder,” wasn’t it.Three bodies later and Ginger finds herself, and the hot new small-town doctor, up to their broomsticks in trouble. Ginger sets out to find the real killer before her missing sister’s name shows up on a list of the dead in The Book of Ill Deeds. A Paranormal Cozy Mystery.

Butter Witch


Tess Lake - 2015
     Someone has murdered one of the Butter Festival competitors. Was it Zero Bend, punk sculptor extraordinaire with a history of violence? Perhaps Fusion Swan, a sleazy agent playing the publicity game when his clients meet their untimely end. Between trying to run her struggling online newspaper, dealing with her highly caffeinated cousins Molly and Luce, fending off three meddling witch mothers who will do anything to get their daughters married off (including drugging food with magic potions) and great Aunt Cass who appears to be running an underground laboratory of some kind, Harlow barely has time to breathe, let alone solve a murder. Romance certainly isn't on the cards either but the hot scruffy guy new to town seems to have other ideas...

Bone Witch


D.N. Hoxa - 2017
     I used to work in the only place in Manhattan that had use for a witch like me, until my boss kicked me out over a job gone bad (not my fault, I swear). Pure boredom and the lack of company got to my head fast. I was so desperate, I took a delivery job from a complete stranger. It was supposed to be an easy job, clean and simple. It was anything but. Now, there’s a price on my head and my own coworkers are hunting me down. My mad fighting skills alone aren’t going to be enough to keep me alive. Looks like the time has come to dig out my mother’s bones and complete the ritual that will finally ignite the magic in my bones—if I even make it that far. She never wanted me to be part of the Paranormal world, but she made sure I was prepared for it anyway. I'm finally about to find out why. **No cliffhanger.

Witch on Ice


Cat Larson - 2019
    And you thought you had problems.Hi, my name is Sammara Eve Hain and I don’t admit that to just anyone.Especially the witch part.If it were up to me, I would’ve been born into a nice, normal family. One that went camping on weekends and played board games and watched television.Not one that spent their Saturday nights cackling around a cauldron and turning people into frogs.Okay, that’s an exaggeration. They don’t cackle.But they’re definitely not normal. And the frog thing?May I introduce my fiancé, Fernando? Mr. Short, Green, and Bewitched. Courtesy of my sister.All I ever wanted when I left my small town of Bigfoot Bay thirteen years ago was to disappear into the big city and lead an ordinary life.I never expected to return.And when I stumbled upon my childhood nemesis frozen solid inside a wall of ice, I never expected I’d be forced to stay.With my betrothed frog at my side and no sister in sight.** Witch on Ice is the first in a new humorous cozy mystery series. Suitable for all ages. **