Book picks similar to
The Preening Peacock by Lisa Shea


cozy-mystery
short-stories
cozy-mysteries
short-story

Murder in Hatterton Crow


Ormolu Mockingbird - 2013
    Her father is having one of his 'prescient turns' again, her mother is planning a trip to Spain with her informal ladies' society, and to cap it all the village baker, Ben Tonkins, has died, which means that Gretchen will be bereft of her favourite dense, jammy sponge cakes. And there is something entirely fishy about Ben's death that sits ill with the intrepid mortician.And what's worse is that Gretchen's solemn and sensible boss, the honey-voiced Carmel, seems to have come down with a case of the crazies, botching the embalming process on Ben, and getting wildly smashed on vodka before bashing both Gretchen and another villager, Rosie Tawber, with a cricket bat.But Gretchen knows Carmel, and she knows that cricket was never her game, so she sets out with the help and hindrance of the villagers to discover who, exactly, is the murderer in their midst - and what could be their motive in this sleepy corner of England.

White Satin & Murder


Harper Harris - 2018
    A clingy Yorkie. And a dead Maid of Honor. It’s the first wedding Valerie Masters has ever planned and the start of her new business.There’s money flowing in Buckingham Downs, California, a small coastal town largely taken over by the rich, where weddings are a billion-dollar business. Val works tirelessly to make sure this one- the very first that she’s been hired to plan- is perfect, juggling a temperamental florist, a diva cake baker, and a self-obsessed DJ who’s threatened to walk off the job if the Chicken Dance is requested.Not to mention the biggest Bridezilla Val has ever seen, the bride’s “unique” family and snooty Maid of Honor.Starting a new business is hard, and this first wedding is turning out to be more than Val bargained for. Right before the wedding, Val finds the Maid of Honor dead and the expensive, one-of-a-kind wedding dress missing!Now, on top of getting a hitch-filled wedding to go off without a…well…you know, she has no choice but to solve this mystery. No wonder half of all new businesses fail!The stakes couldn’t be higher. This socially influential family has already threatened to ruin Val if any part of the wedding is ruined.But who among this motley cast of characters could be a murderer and a dress thief? And will Val figure it out in time to pull off the perfect wedding? Or will her business crash before it’s even started?White Satin & Murder is a full length cozy mystery novel full of humor, intrigue, and an adorable furry friend named Buttons. It's the first book in the Val Masters Wedding Planner series, which can be read in any order and are best enjoyed together.

Alas, She Drowned


Monica Knightley - 2016
    Betrayal. Tea and Scones. When ex-novice nun, turned steamy romance writer, Maggie O’Flynn moves to the charming village of Stratford Upon Avondale to open a tea room she expects plenty of murders, betrayal, and duplicity. On the stages of the town’s renowned Shakespeare Festival. But when a theater critic is found murdered on the town’s riverbank and the prime suspect turns out to be the sexy bookshop owner Maggie has had her eye on, she takes matters into her own hands. Will she be able to dig through the layers of betrayal and duplicity to find the true murderer before that handsome bookseller, Nate Larimer, finds himself behind bars? With the help of her loud, brash, spitfire of a friend, Gina Mattucci, Maggie plans to do just that. With a bit of Shakespeare, copious amounts of tea, and a faux-English setting to rival anything the real England has to offer, ALAS, SHE DROWNED is the first book in THE STRATFORD UPON AVONDALE mystery series. Lovers of cozy mysteries will find a cozy home in Stratford Upon Avondale.

Last Chance for Murder


Estelle Richards - 2017
    Too old for Hollywood at age 29, Lisa Chance leaves her failed acting career and a cheating boyfriend in LA and goes home to Moss Creek, Arizona. The Folly, a stately 1870s mansion in the middle of her hometown, has always drawn Lisa like a magnet. She thought she was done with that place, but now she has the chance to turn it into the coffee shop of her dreams. But when a dead body turns up on the property, she’s the prime suspect in the murder. Can Lisa figure out whodunit, or will she lose her last chance at happiness?

"A" is for Actress


Rebecca Cantrell - 2015
    After a decade spent in the glare of the Hollywood spotlight as the star of kids’ TV show Half Pint Detective, Sofia Salgado has had enough. Desperate to build a life outside showbiz, she quits acting to do something that everyone around her– including her family – thinks is plain nuts. Get a real job. They think she’s even crazier when she announces that she’s going to become a real detective, instead of playing one on TV. She’s convinced the technical consultant from her TV show, Brendan Maloney, to take her on in his detective agency, but can accident-prone Sofia hack it?

Christmas Party


Mary Hiker - 2016
     Avery Barks is excited about the search and rescue team's annual Christmas party. The holiday event is packed full of friends and fun for both the SAR dogs and their humans. Everyone is having a ball... That is, until a stranger crashes the party in the most surprising way. "Christmas Party" is a stand alone short story. It involves the characters of both the "Avery Barks Dog Mysteries" series and the "Shady Springs Dog Mysteries" series. These books can be read in any order.

Murder, Mystery & Dating Mayhem


Elaine Spaan - 2015
    Even after his death, I remained close to her. When she dies, I'm naturally devastated.Grandma's knitting group of Jessica Fletcher wannabes are convinced Grandma's death wasn't natural. Something to do with knitting needle placement? No idea what they're talking about. The police think the old ladies are senile. I don't necessarily disagree, but I'm always up for a bit of excitement as long as it doesn't lead to a night in jail. Well, more than one night anyway. But someone is not happy with our snooping around, which only spurs us on to snoop more. Things are starting to heat up in our little town.Will we find Grandma's killer in time?

Steeped in Suspicion


Eryn Scott - 2020
    Ghosts are everywhere, and only she can see them.When Rosemary Woodmere inherits her estranged grandmother's Victorian teahouse, she didn't expect to also inherit a ghost named Asher from the 1920s.Things get weirder for Rosemary.Her grandma was supposedly murdered.A body has washed up on the beach and the police suspect her in the man's murder.She's trying to navigate her newfound ability to talk to ghosts.And she doesn't even know the first thing about tea.Rosemary's experience as a librarian hasn't prepared her to solve a murder, but everyone around her is steeped in suspicion and she has to find the truth before someone else ends up dead.

Stilettos & Scoundrels


Laina C. Turner - 2020
     Freelance journalists fight for their assignments, and Presley thinks she’s won the battle when she’s hired to interview pompous womanizer Senator Daniels. But when the senator turns up dead a day later, Presley climbs right to the top of the senator’s security team’s suspect list. A security team run by her high school ex-boyfriend. Can she prove her innocence and not fall for the one guy she swore she’d never look in the eye again, or will she wind up with a lifetime gig in prison?

Scent of a Killer


Lisbeth Reade - 2015
    Which turns out to be a nice surprise, after all.But just as she’s getting to know her eccentric Aunts and learn to harness her newfound magic, a shocking murder threatens the entire world she’s just uncovered. Her mother’s best friend is found dead, with her Aunts’ fingerprints all over the murder weapon, and Ella must act to save her family.Combining forces with Rory, the cute mailman she’s been crushing on, Ella uses her skills of scent and sense to track the killer. But when clues cross social classes, Ella realizes that catching the killer could alienate Rory.Will Ella catch the killer and still get her man?

Then There Were Nun


Dakota Cassidy - 2018
    Okay, that’s a lot to swallow at once. But it’s true I was booted from the convent after doing something unspeakable. Something I had no control over. Something that lives inside me to this day, exploding out like that chestburster in Alien when I least suspect it. But I have help. My amazing friend Coop—the demon who saved me from an ugly end—remains by my side, loyal and true. She was Hell’s best tattoo artist back in the day, and together with my designs, we’re opening Inkerbelle’s Tattoos and Piercings, right in the heart of Portland’s most darling district, Cobbler Cove. Of course, our bid to fit in would be a little less rocky if I could help Coop assimilate with humans, keep a lid on our sassy talking owl, Livingston…oh, and if someone hadn’t killed our landlord on day one—in our shop. This mystery-loving, bumbling ex-nun and her trusty demon sidekick are on the case! If I don’t bumble my way right into my own demise first… This new cozy mystery series from USA Today bestselling cozy mystery author Dakota Cassidy is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat as Trixie and Coop hunt for a killer. Then There Were Nun is book 1 in the all new, Nun of Your Business series.

Brownies & Betrayal


Heather Justesen - 2012
    That was before she found the body of a woman with whom she had traded heated words the previous night, left her fingerprints on the murder weapon, and came under attack for trying to clear her name. When her cheating ex-fiance shows up, intent on convincing her to come back to work for him, Tess—armed with an extra batch of éclairs—decides to take control and solve the mystery herself, with the help of friends and frenemies alike. But will that be enough to save her when she gets too close and the killer decides it’s safer to get her out of the way?

Murder by Chance


Pat Dennis - 2013
    At fifty, Betty is unemployed, divorced and penniless, but with her stunningly beautiful niece Lori, she opens Take A Chance Tours, a Chicago-based company specializing in gaming destinations. Betty quickly becomes close friends with Tillie, the perky, effervescent bus driver who happens to be an ex-con. As soon as the tour bus arrives at Moose Lake Bay Resort and Casino in northern Minnesota, Betty and her driver Tillie, discover a dead body in the locked bathroom of their motor coach. The 350-pound corpse is riddled with stab wounds. With Tillie and Lori's help, Betty puts her amateur sleuth ability to work and searches for the killer.

Die Buying


Laura DiSilverio - 2011
    But there's no time to be bored when someone 'liberates' a 15-foot python from the Herpetology Hut, and a mannequin turns out to be a very real corpse.

The Case of the Missing Finger: A Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery


Cheri Baker - 2021
    Two years later, with her children grown and the rest of her life ahead of her, she's ready to have the adventure she'd planned before her life was turned upside-down. She's excited to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands on her very first cruise.After boarding the most beautiful cruise ship she's ever seen, Ellie's surprised when she's assigned a cabin inside the cruise line's new singles club at sea, but she quickly sees that her new friends aboard could use some advice when it comes to romance. Unfortunately, Ellie's matchmaking efforts are interrupted when a fellow passenger finds a finger with a big diamond ring on it in her Sangria Surprise!Passengers are scandalized and tongues are wagging all around the ship. The ship's security chief seems eager to brush the crime under the rug while others are eager to point fingers at Ellie's favorite bartender. After thirty years married to a small town police chief, Ellie's picked up some sleuthing skills of her own, and she knows that justice demands honest answers to the questions rocking the ship. Who does the finger belong to? How did it end up in the boozy drink special of the day? And what other secrets lurk beneath the Caribbean sun?It's all hands on deck for adventure with this matchmaking sleuth.