Book picks similar to
Pies & Peril by Janel Gradowski


mystery
cozy-mysteries
fiction
mysteries

Rise and Die


Ginny Gold - 2014
    For two years, she’s been the sole breakfast spot in town so when culinary rival, Tessa Doyle, moves to the small town, Kori can’t help but think she’s just there to compete. Suddenly, Tessa’s Sunrise and Shine café is under attack, with a rock through the window on Monday morning. Kori knows she’s innocent, but still doesn’t feel much empathy for her breakfast nemesis. But when Kori gets arrested and grilled by Detective Gunn and childhood friend Lieutenant Zach Gulch, she can’t help but wonder if she’s the new target. And when things escalate to Tessa’s murder, Kori comes under more scrutiny. Will she and best friend Nora Farmer be able to crack the case before she’s on the receiving end of a deadly dish? Or is she in more danger than she realizes and should skip town to avoid the heated investigation? INCLUDED: In The Kitchen with Ginny Gold—Goat Cheese Omelets and The Early Bird Café’s menu! **Rise and Die is approx. 28K words and is volume 1 in the The Early Bird Café Cozy Mystery Series.

The Shadow of Death


Jane Willan - 2018
    Life seems perfect, except for Sister Agatha, a die-hard mystery fan who despairs of ever finding any real life inspiration for her own novel. That is, until the Abbey’s sexton is found dead under an avalanche of gouda. Despite the reservations of the local constable, Sister Agatha is convinced it’s murder and the game is afoot.Armed only with the notes she’s scribbled during her favorite podcast, How to Write a Mystery Novel, as well as a lessons learned from crime heroes ranging from Hercule Poirot to Stephanie Plum, Sister Agatha leads the nuns of Gwenafwy Abbey (and her unwitting sidekick, Father Selwyn) as they begin a race against time to resolve the death of Jacob, save the Abbey, exonerate a beloved postulant, and restore the good name of their cheese.

Murder on the Ghost Walk


Ellen Elizabeth Hunter - 2003
    The mansion that Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, is restoring, with its crescendo-thumping spectral organist, is no exception. When Ashley makes a grisly discovery, the residents of quiet, quaint Orange Street are horrified. Halloween weekend finds Ashley and Melanie dressed to kill at the Cape Fear Crime Festival's costume party where an evil trickster treats them to murder.

The Pickled Piper


Mary Ellen Hughes - 2014
    But she isn’t in town long before she encounters a barrelful of trouble… The Cloverdale fair offers Piper a sweet opportunity to promote her business. With her new assistant, Amy, she sets up a booth centered around an eye-catching display of the ever-popular dills in an old-fashioned barrel of brine. But things soon turn sour when fairgoers witness a fight between Amy’s boyfriend, Nate, and town council blowhard—and bagpipe player—Alan Rosemont. When Rosemont is found floating in Piper’s barrel, Nate becomes the prime murder suspect. With Amy’s boyfriend in a pretty pickle, there’s no time to dillydally. But as Piper searches for the real killer, she needs to be careful to preserve her own life…or she may end up a pickled Piper herself.INCLUDES RECIPES

Triple Dipped Murder


Gretchen Allen - 2018
    Trying her best to protect a trusted employee, she finds herself smack dab in the middle of investigating a murder that rocks the tiny town to its foundations. Situations get sticky as secrets are exposed, forcing Yvette to race against the clock to solve the crime in this edge-of-your-seat Cozy Mystery.

Asking Fur Trouble


Ally Roberts - 2018
     Back home on Sweetwater Island after a decade long absence, Wendy is looking to start anew. Armed with a place to live and her trusty dog, Trixie, all Wendy needs is…well, everything. Money. A job. A plan. When one of the locals on the island assumes she’s a dog walker, she jumps at the chance to make a little money. But walking dogs leads her directly into the path of Caroline Ford. Or, rather, the body of Caroline Ford. An unfriendly police chief soon suspects that Wendy might be involved in the crime and she immediately sets out to prove her innocence. As she works to clear her name, she meets several islanders who already have the wrong impression about her…and who might be the one responsible for Caroline Ford’s murder. The situation turns dire when Wendy realizes she’s not just a suspect…she might soon be a victim, too. She knew coming back home wouldn’t be easy. She just didn’t expect it to be deadly, too.

Curses, Boiled Again!


Shari Randall - 2018
    . .Allie Larkin was living her dream as a ballet dancer when a bad fall put her out of business. Now she’s back home in Mystic Bay to heal a broken ankle while also helping her dear Aunt Gully get her Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack off the ground. Nothing would help Gully more than winning the local food festival’s Best Lobster Roll contest. The competition is sure to be killer―especially after one of the contest judges dies after eating a roll from one of Gully’s biggest rivals.Soon, all eyes fall on Gully as the prime suspect. Allie may only have one good leg to stand on, but she’s not going to let her aunt go down for a crime she never could have cooked up. Can Allie, along with her devoted crew of friends, family, and customers, find a way to trap the killer and claw herself out of this hard-boiled murder case?

Murder at Hawthorn Cottage


Betty Rowlands - 1990
    Now, she flees London, her devoted but over-protective lover and her kindly but dominating agent, and takes refuge in the Cotswolds. With no more serious distractions than Iris, her eccentric, artistic neighbour, her cheerful, romantic domestic help Gloria and a rector who is a secret devotee of her fiction, Melissa dreams of undisturbed peace for the production of yet more bestsellers.But a series of bizarre telephone calls leads to a meeting with an engaging young journalist convinced that a real crime has been committed. When a corpse is discovered in woodlands a short distance from her isolated cottage, curiosity gets the better of judgment. In the course of a little gentle sleuthing, Melissa finds the truth stranger than her own fiction and uncovers a story of villainy, frustration and despair which leads to further violent death before the mystery can be resolved.

Carrots


Colleen Helme - 2011
    Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children. All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots. As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber's mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer. The next thing she knows, she's lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn't suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly 'hears' what people are thinking. With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she's bossy and too old to understand them, but that's nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her, but what is it about the redhead at work that he doesn't want her to know? As if that isn't enough, the gunman knows she can identify him, and he's out to silence her forever. In her fight to stay alive, she is saved from certain death by a handsome hit-man with ties to organized crime. This pulls Shelby even deeper into danger, where knowing someone's thoughts can not only hurt her feelings, but get her killed.

Easter Egg Hunt Murder (A Reporter Roland Bean Cozy Mystery Book 1)


Rachel Woods - 2020
    Not only was she unfaithful to her husband, but she was blackmailing her lover and cheating her business partner and may have been involved in a scam with a vicious island cartel. As Beanie continues to investigate, he uncovers sinister secrets and devious motives among those who were closest to the victim. Racing to discover the killer, he ends up the target of a diabolical murderer who won’t hesitate to kill again. Easter Egg Hunt Murder is a contemporary whodunit murder mystery novel in the Reporter Roland Bean Cozy Mystery Series, but can be read as a standalone. With lots of clues and red herrings, it features plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end! Get your copy today!

The Big Chili


Julia Buckley - 2015
    But when one of her clandestine concoctions is used to poison a local woman, Lilah finds herself in a pot-load of trouble…After dreaming for years of owning her own catering company, Lilah has made a start into the food world through her Covered Dish business, covertly cooking for her neighbors who don’t have the time or skill to do so themselves, and allowing them to claim her culinary creations as their own. While her clientele is strong, their continued happiness depends on no one finding out who’s really behind the apron.So when someone drops dead at a church Bingo night moments after eating chili that Lilah made for a client, the anonymous chef finds herself getting stirred into a cauldron of secrets, lies, and murder—and going toe to toe with a very determined and very attractive detective. To keep her clients coming back and her business under wraps, Lilah will have to chop down the list of suspects fast, because this spicy killer has acquired a taste for homicide…

Strawberries and Strangers


Leena Clover - 2018
    Locals are lining up at the Boardwalk Café for her tasty cakes and muffins. But when her aunt, a local artist, is accused of killing a stranger, Jenny is forced to set her apron aside and put on her sleuthing cap.Jenny battles with the cranky local sheriff and quirky local characters to get to the truth. Aided by her new friends, she will move heaven and earth to find out who the dead stranger was and what he was doing in Pelican Cove.If you like cozy murder mysteries with friendly small towns, scenic settings, yummy food and a touch of romance, you will like Strawberries And Strangers.

Murder in the Manor


Fiona Grace - 2019
    She needs to quit her job, leave her horrendous boss and New York City, and walk away from the fast life. Making good on her childhood promise to herself, she decides to walk away from it all, and to relive a beloved childhood vacation in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire.Wilfordshire is exactly as Lacey remembers it, with its ageless architecture, cobblestone streets, and with nature at its doorstep. Lacey doesn’t want to go back home—and spontaneously, she decides to stay, and to give her childhood dream a try: she will open her own antique shop.Lacey finally feels that her life is taking a step in the right direction—until her new star customer turns up dead.As the newcomer in town, all eyes are on Lacey, and it’s up to her to clear her own name.With a business to run, a next-door neighbor turned nemesis, a flirty baker across the street, and a crime to solve – is this new life all that Lacey thought it would be?

Greyhound at the Gravesite: A Humorous Cozy Mystery for Animal Lovers


Kyla Colby - 2018
     Samantha Hodges is ready to get as far away from crime reporting as possible — especially after what happened in Chicago. Writing for the paper in her pets-obsessed hometown will be easy. Except that she’s not really into animals. And her first interviewee turns up dead. Sam must solve the murder to clear her name — all while attending Dog Zumba class with a new four-legged sidekick like it’s no big deal. If Sam’s going to uncover the dark side of her hometown, she’ll have to embrace the lighter side of life to do it. “Greyhound at the Gravesite” is a new cozy mystery. This novel is lighthearted, fast-paced, and full of quirky characters you can’t wait to meet again. ☆ Free novella — “Catnip & Culprits” — included in purchase! ☆ Scroll up and click Buy Now!

French Vanilla & Felonies


Erin Huss - 2018
    She's got a nice home for her daughter, a steady source of income, and the cute maintenance guy is certainly a nice perk! But her luck takes a bad turn again when a dead body turns up, a crime spree takes over the community, and Cambria finds her complex squarely at the center of it all! With her dream job suddenly on the line, Cambria dons her detective hat to get to the truth—after all, she's watched enough crime shows on TV to know how to catch a perp! Or so she hopes as she wades through a streaker in apartment 40, an ex-con with a shady agenda, an overly frisky retired couple, and the suspiciously sneaky dealings of the dentist in apartment 36. But will Cambria be able to catch a killer... or will she get caught up in his game and lose it all?