Eat, Pray, Die


Chelsea Field - 2016
    The one side of the job that lives up to expectations is the money. Which is just as well for Izzy, since she needs an awful lot of it. Who knew when she made a lifelong commitment to a man that it would be one year living with him and the rest of her life paying for it?But even her scoundrel ex-husband doesn’t look so bad compared to her new client. He’s competent, condescending, and annoyingly attractive, and Izzy doesn’t know whether to sleep with him or poison him herself. Throw in a loan-shark, a nosy neighbor, and a murder attempt, and Izzy will have her work cut out for her.

Spying in High Heels


Gemma Halliday - 2006
    shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her...

Hazardous Duty


Christy Barritt - 2006
    Claire dropped out of school and started her own crime scene cleaning business. Now, when a routine cleaning job leads her to a murder weapon the police overlooked, she realizes that the wrong man is in jail. With the help of her new and attractively single neighbor, Riley Thomas, Gabby plays the detective to make sure the right man is put behind bars.

Cliffhanger


Amy Saunders - 2012
    Even worse, Belinda must return to the events surrounding a tragic sailing accident to set things right.But new possibilities emerge in the form of security expert Bennett Tate. Between her connections and his know-how, they're bound to catch the killer - and kick the skeletons out of the closet for good.

Trudy, Madly, Deeply


Wendy Delaney - 2013
    With no physical evidence of foul play, Char's on the case, much to the irritation of Detective Steve Sixkiller, who doesn't want her to stick her pretty nose for trouble in his investigation. But she's a woman on a mission to uncover the truth, and she'd better keep her eyes open or the next body on the way to the morgue could be hers....

Quiet the Dead


Morgan James - 2011
    AND PSYCHIC CLUES FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE...Promise McNeal is startled awake one night by a jarring dream: she sees a beautiful woman, hanging over a shallow creek, strangled to death with a red scarf. An unsettling image to say the least for a woman who recently left her lucrative job as a psychologist in bustling Atlanta for the mountains of North Carolina, hoping for some peace and quiet. Promise begins to dig into the mystery surrounding the woman’s murder…until a brand new murder occurs. And Promise’s hoped-for peace and quiet flies right out the window. Promise has always been a little psychic, and a little embarrassed about it. But here in the mountains, the effect seems magnified. Now making her living as a struggling country-store owner, she has to rely on her psychologist’s knowledge of what makes people tick to make her way through the thicket of intrigue within the family of the dead woman. Along the way, she makes a surprising art world find, and starts to fall in love (maybe, just a little…) with a very attractive new man...Her tentative relationship with Daniel, the father of Susan, her semi-Goth, twenty-something employee, is one of the major delights of this slightly psychic cozy mystery. Both Daniel and Susan are renowned bluegrass musicians and, well…characters. Despite what's right in front of her nose (and what Susan tells her), Promise’s psychic abilities fail her when it comes to mountain men—because Daniel is most definitely “sweet on her,” as Susan attests. And, true to form, opposites attract here—alien as he may seem to this city girl, something deeper’s responding.Meanwhile, there’s that murder mystery. Daniel, despite his endearing overprotectiveness, is able to help out there too, and so is Susan. Meanwhile, Promise’s amusingly sexist friend, Garland Wang, provides just the right dash of humor.The fiftyish Promise is an attractive new female sleuth who’s sure to appeal to fans of cozies, especially those by Julia Spencer-Fleming and Louise Penny, and those with a light sprinkling of psychic suspense; admirers of amateur sleuths and their close sisters female private investigators; readers of supernatural suspense and psychic detective fiction of all sorts; and especially to fans of other great North Carolina mystery authors like Margaret Maron, Barbara Neely, Elizabeth Daniels Squire, and Vicki Lane.

Louisiana Longshot


Jana Deleon - 2012
    Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small, bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.

Taking the Fall


Laney Monday - 2014
    Now, she’s just burned out—and burned by love. She’s ready to retire from competitive judo and pursue a new dream in a new town, with her biggest supporter, her recently divorced little sister, Blythe. But on their first day in town, Blythe falls for local sleaze-bag reporter, Ellison Baxter, and their small-town welcome is stained by Baxter’s murder. The weapon—Blythe Battle’s hair brush. In this fast-paced, fun cozy mystery, Brenna, the proud new owner of the building that formerly housed Bonney Bay’s lone recreational opportunity for kids, Little Swans Ballet, is ready to turn tutu-clad powder-puffs into little warriors by opening a judo school for kids in its place. But now she must clear her sister’s name and save her new dream from ending even more disastrously than her Olympic hopes. Brenna must deal with one crazy member of the local police force, who’s determined to see the sisters pay—and another cop, whose deep brown eyes just might drive Brenna crazy—in a way her battered heart just can’t take.

One Lie Too Many (Rockford Security #1)


L.A. Dobbs - 2021
    or risk losing everything he’s worked for.But the presence of an enemy from his past complicates things and some unusual clues make him realize there’s something going on under the surface that goes far beyond the murder.Blake and crew have to sift through a web of lies to uncover the motive and killer in this case that ends in a final surprise twist.If you love suspenseful mysteries combined with character drama, you’ll love the first case in the Rockford family security mystery series! A binge-worthy series of suspenseful fast-paced clean reads.

Mama Does Time


Deborah Sharp - 2008
    Mama's antics - especially her penchant for finding trouble - drive her daughters Mace, Maddie and Marty to distraction.One night, while settling in to look for ex-beaus on COPS, Mace gets a frantic call from her mother. This time, the trouble's for real: Mama found a body in the trunk of her vintage convertible, and the police think she's the killer. It doesn't help that the handsome detective assigned to the case seems determined to prove Mama's guilt, or that the cowboy who broke Mace's heart shows up at the local Booze 'n' Breeze in the midst of the investigation. Before their mama lands in prison - just like an embarrassing lyric from a country-western song - Mace and her sisters must find the real culprit.MAMA DOES TIME is a traditional mystery with a comedic edge: Agatha Christie meets "My Name is Earl.''Penned by a native Floridian, set in cattle-and-citrus country, the story reveals an authentic slice of the state. Everyone knows Disney World and sexy South Beach. But how many know Florida's ranches, rodeo, and Southern-fried flavor, just fifty miles from the coast?

Three-Year Rule


Alaina Stanford - 2013
    Little did she know, Joshua would defy everything she ever wrote about relationships. Little did she know, he was also the key to her survival.

Never Buried


Edie Claire - 1999
    Too bad his body didn't!Advertising copywriter Leigh Koslow doesn't pack heat--just a few extra pounds. And she doesn't go looking for trouble. When she moved into her cousin Cara's refurbished Victorian house, she wasn't planning on discovering a corpse--certainly not one that had been embalmed ten years before. But as anyone in the small Pittsburgh borough of Avalon could tell her, her cousin's house has a history attached. A history dating back to two mysterious deaths in the summer of 1949.Someone wants Leigh and Cara out of the house--someone who has something to hide. But that someone doesn't know Leigh's impetuous cousin, and when Cara digs her heels in, Leigh looks to her old college chum, local policewoman Maura Polanski, for help. But the answers the trio find only point to more questions. Were the scandalous deaths of fifty years ago really an accident and a suicide? Or were they murder?The nearer the women get to the truth, the more desperate someone becomes. Because some secrets are better off kept. Especially when they hit close to home!

Out of the Mist


Lauren Giordano - 2017
    . .     Beaten and left for dead, Juliet awakens with no memory of how she ended up alone on an isolated road. After another attempt on her life, she's forced to rely on a man who's made it clear he doesn't trust her.   Hunting a ruthless drug deler, injured DEA agent Matt Barnes has seen just about everything in a decade battling the worst humanity has to offer. But he's never seen anything like Julie-- a beautiful blonde who reminds him more of sorority Barbie than a ruthless drug kingpin. But looks can be deceiving. He's got the bullet hole to prove it.    In a case going nowhere, Julie and her memory are all he has. To erase the worst mistake of his career, his team will use her to lure the most dangerous drug lord he's ever battled. But will the woman he's fallen in love with ever forgive him for making her the bait?

A Body On The Beach


P.F. Ford - 2020
    But he’s much happier with something to do… like solve a murder.Former Detective Sergeant Norman Norman’s retirement is boring him to tears. So when he’s asked to assist an upcoming female DI and mentor a new team of misfits in a sleepy Welsh coastal town, he jumps at the opportunity to lend his expertise. But the training has barely begun when a woman’s corpse washes up on the sand.With no reports of missing persons, DS Norman is stumped… until the post-mortem reveals a shocking hint to the culprit being local. But with a growing list of suspects who all have iron-clad alibis, the experienced cop and his fledgling team’s first case could be their last.Will DS Norman’s reinvigorated career end in a fizzer, or can he help his young charges nab a devious killer?A Body On The Beach is the fast-paced first book in The Rejoiner mystery series. If you like smart policemen, perfect British settings, and a complex web of clues, then you’ll love P.F. Ford’s captivating whodunit.Buy A Body On The Beach to reel in a murderer today!

No Game For a Dame


M. Ruth Myers - 2011
     Moving through streets where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a ragged newsboy; the other career girls at her rooming house. Her digging gets her chloroformed and left in a ditch behind the wheel of her DeSoto. She makes her way to an upscale bordello and gets tea – and information – from the madam herself. A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer. If you like Robert B. Parker's hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don't miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats -- but seldom a Smith & Wesson.