The Lake


AnnaLisa Grant - 2013
    Having lost both her parents and grandparents, and with nowhere else to go, Layla is moving from Florida to a small town in North Carolina to live with the only family she has left: her estranged uncle and aunt.The last five years of Layla’s life were spent appeasing her less-than-loving grandmother, followed by being her grandfather’s caretaker. Growing old before her time, Layla lost her identity. Now she must learn how to allow herself to be the one cared for and loved.Life takes an unexpected turn when Layla meets Will Meyer. His breathtaking good looks are enough to catch her eye, but his sincerity and passion are everything she needs to find the strength and confidence she lost — and lead her into love.When tragedy once again strikes Layla’s life, her hope is all but completely crushed. Through it all, Layla learns what it means to truly love and be loved.

One Deadly Sister


Rod Hoisington - 2009
    She doesn't need this. She's holding an old grudge and resents having her life interrupted. The brother doesn't come looking for trouble, he simply wants to get past his Philadelphia divorce and start a new life in Florida, but woman-trouble comes looking for him. Unfortunately, he arrives in the small Florida ocean side town just as someone murders the local gubernatorial candidate. The brother doesn't have a clue about women and gets seduced and framed. The brother hasn't bothered with his estranged sister up north for years, but now as a stranger in a hostile town she's his only hope. She reluctantly decides to at least check out her brother's predicament in Florida. This small step leads the sister into an ever-increasing entanglement of deceit, double-cross, and danger, and she must somehow persuade the irresistible investigating detective to play things her way. ONE DEADLY SISTER is the first book in this popular women sleuth mystery romance series. Followed by THE PRICE OF CANDY, SUCH WICKED FRIENDS, CHASING SUSPECT THREE, ALIVE AFTER FRIDAY and INTO THE HEAT.

Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies


Addison Moore - 2018
    One too many suitors. And a killer. Living in Honey Hollow can be murder. A HILARIOUS cozy mystery from the New York Times bestselling author Addison Moore My name is Lottie Lemon and I see dead people. Okay, so I rarely see dead people, mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety. And for some reason those sweet, fluffy albeit paranormal cuties always seem to act as a not-so-great harbinger of deadly things to come for their previous owner. So when I saw that sweet orange tabby twirling around my landlord’s ankles, I figured Merilee was in for trouble. Personally, I was hoping for a skinned knee—what I got was a top spot in an open homicide investigation. Throw in a hot judge and an ornery detective that oozes testosterone and that pretty much sums up my life right about now. Have I mentioned how cute that detective is? Lottie Lemon has a bakery to tend to, a budding romance with perhaps one too many suitors and she has the supernatural ability to see the dead—which are always harbingers for ominous things to come. Throw in the occasional ghost of the human variety, a string of murders and her insatiable thirst for justice and you’ll have more chaos than you know what to do with. Living in the small town of Honey Hollow can be murder.

Antiques Roadkill


Barbara Allan - 2006
    Now they are in a race to find the murderer before he or she strikes again because they could very well be next!

Murder on the Rocks


Karen MacInerney - 2006
    Natalie Barnes buys the Gray Whale Inn, a bed and breakfast in Maine, and publicly opposes Bernard Katz's proposed resort development, which threatens a colony of black-chinned terns, and when Katz is found dead, Natalie must find the true killer in order to clear her own name.

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?

The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre


Elisabeth Crabtree - 2014
     What begins as a run of the mill, albeit tasty, assignment turns into something much more dangerous when one of the Cookie Jar’s employees is poisoned. Now Kat is chasing the biggest story of her life, while trying to catch the eye of her handsome editor and avoid becoming the killer’s next victim. A cozy novella: approximately 44,000 words

Miss Spelled


Morgana Best - 2015
    Her boyfriend dumps her when she inadvertently gives him food poisoning. Her workplace, a telecommunications center, fires all their staff as they are outsourcing offshore, and she is evicted due to smoke damage resulting from her failed attempts at baking. Amelia thinks her luck has changed when she inherits her estranged aunt’s store, two mysterious cats, and beautiful Victorian house.Yet has Amelia jumped out of the frying pan into the fire? To Amelia's dismay, the store is a cake store, and she discovers that her aunt was a witch. To add to the mix, the house has secrets of its own. When a man is murdered in the cake store, will Amelia be able to cook up a way to solve the crime? Or will her spells prove as bad as her baking? All Morgana Best books are clean cozy mysteries.

A Fatal Twist of Lemon


Patrice Greenwood - 2012
     They don't belong in Ellen Rosings's Victorian tearoom. But when her opening day thank-you tea ends in the murder of the president of the Santa Fe Preservation Trust, the police invade her haven. Enter Detective Tony Aragon: attractive and unsympathetic, with a chip on his shoulder that goes beyond the murder investigation, and Ellen's delicate bone china cup is full. Is the murderer one of her honored guests, or the ghost rumored to haunt the building? Will Ellen solve the mystery, or will the Wisteria Tearoom's premiere turn out to be its—and Ellen's—finale?

Cocoa and Chanel


Donna Joy Usher - 2013
    There, she becomes entangled in a case of the worst kind - a serial killer targeting young women.As she is drawn further into the seedy underground in her attempt to unravel the truth, Chanel makes new friends, new enemies and attracts the attention of the killer. Can she solve the case in time, or will she become the killer's next victim?This is a light-hearted cozy mystery with plenty of laughs suitable for fans of Janet Evanovich, Deborah Coonts, Jana Deleon and Stephanie Bond.

Bundle of Trouble


Diana Orgain - 2009
    From the moment she and newborn Laurie lock eyes, Kate can't imagine returning to work after her six-week maternity leave, but in expensive San Francisco, she and her ad exec husband, Jim, need every bit of both incomes. Then a dead body is fished out of the bay and linked to Jim's estranged brother, George. Both the police and PI Albert Galigani, hired by the dead man's mother, believe that Jim and Kate know more than they're revealing. Kate is determined to find the elusive George and get some answers, but she soon gets in over her head. Galigani serves as a charming mentor as Kate navigates the twists of motherhood and an uncomplicated but engaging plot. (Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review "[AN] ENTERTAINING NEW SLEUTH." -GILLIAN ROBERTS, AUTHOR OF THE AMANDA PEPPER SERIES "A charming, gutsy, wry character who will make you laugh so hard you'll forget the labor pains." -LOUISE URE, SHAMUS AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Book Description: A body has been dredged from the San Francisco Bay. Kate Connelly, pregnant and ready to pop, has reason to fear it may be her long lost brother-in-law. Battling sleep deprivation, diaper blowouts and breastfeeding mishaps she muddles through her own investigation, Mommy style: To do: 1. Find Killer 2. Figure out hideous breast pump. 3. Avoid cranky cop. 4. Send out Make birth announcements – need pink paper. 5. FIND KILLER

Diamonds and Cole


Micheal Maxwell - 2013
    In the past, Cole a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. Now, he’s returned to the paper where he started his career, The Chicago Sentinel. Instead of writing the big stories, he’s doing the work of a rookie reporter. His “big story of the day” is a cat caught in a tree. During its rescue, the cat’s owner takes her Good Samaritan neighbor hostage. Cole witnesses something so disturbing it reawakens the journalist’s desire to write again.Returning to the paper, Cole finds a desperate message asking for help from Ellie, one that got away. The one that has continually haunted his life. Cole drops everything and flies to California. He must find what would make her so desperate, she would call him after so many years. Cole finds her terminally ill, and abandoned by her husband. He discovers while Ellie was heavily medicated, she mistakenly signed a Power of Attorney. Now her estranged daughter Erin’s inheritance, won’t go to her, but her abusive step-father. Cole vows to find the girl and right the situation.The path to keeping his word is blocked at every turn by the husband who abandoned her, his shady real estate deals, violent con men, street thugs and the lure of a fortune in diamonds that unite them. The anger, sorrow, and crippling guilt of twenty years fires Cole's drive to keep a promise, that in the end, will heal and return the soul to the great journalist.Beaten, bloody but determined, Cole Sage conquers greed and hatred with a strength that only love, and a will as hard as diamond, can achieve.

Poison Pen: A Claudia Rose Novel


Sheila Lowe - 2007
    Alongside detective Joel Jovanic, she’ll have to find the killer before the killer finds her… “Dynamite” (Publishers Weekly).

314


A.R. Wise - 2012
    She has a good life as a music teacher now, and might rekindle her relationship with her one true love. However, the number 314 haunts her, and threatens to bring her back to the day that her brother disappeared. When a reporter shows up, just days before March 14th, Alma realizes that her past is coming back to haunt her. What happened on March 14th, at 3:14, 16 years ago? No one but The Skeleton Man can remember.

The Lanvin Murders


Angela M. Sanders - 2014
     But when Joanna finds a key in a 1930s Lanvin coat cast off by an ex-showgirl, everything changes. The elderly woman turns up dead, and Joanna is pulled into a long-ago drama of back room deals, blackmail, and lost love. She must find a very real—and present day—killer before she becomes his next victim. “As you dive into this intriguing mystery novel featuring vintage clothing dealer/sleuth Joanna Hayworth and a quirky cast of characters, prepare for an entertaining ride through long-buried crimes and Portland lore to solve the mystery of 'the woman in the Lanvin coat.' A truly enjoyable read!" --Christine Finlayson, author of Tip of a Bone, a Pacific Northwest mystery "Slip on a pair of pink mules and a silk robe, mix up a shaker of martinis, and relax with this delightful mystery set in a Portland vintage clothing store. Populated by a charming heroine and a flock of odd characters, this engaging tale will satisfy the sleuth in you as well as the fashionista." --Ann Littlewood, author of Endangered, a zoo-dunnit