Book picks similar to
Academic Curveball by James J. Cudney
mystery
cozy-mystery
fiction
mystery-cozy
Assaulted Caramel
Amanda Flower - 2017
. .Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier at world-famous JP Chocolates in New York City. But just when Bailey’s up for a life-changing promotion, her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather’s heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, and other assorted delights.She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen—with Jebediah King’s chocolate knife buried in his chest. Now the police are sweet on her grandfather as the prime suspect. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear Jebediah. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble . . .
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?
The Corpse with the Silver Tongue
Cathy Ace - 2012
All of the guests fall under suspicion, including Welsh-Canadian professor Cait Morgan. A criminologist who specializes in profiling victims, Cait sets out to solve the murder—and clear her name. Add to this the disappearance of an ancient Celtic gold collar said to be cursed and there you have the ingredients for a Nicoise salad of death, secrets, and lies. Will Cait find the killer before she, too, falls victim to a murderer driven by a surprising and disturbing motive?The Corpse with the Silver Tongue is the first in the Cait Morgan mystery series, a classic whodunit series featuring the eccentric Professor Cait Morgan.
A Muddied Murder
Wendy Tyson - 2016
Instead, her goat goes missing, rain muddies her fields, the town denies her business permits, and her family’s Colonial-era farm sucks up the remains of her savings.Just when she thinks she’s reached the bottom of the rain barrel, Megan and the town’s hunky veterinarian discover the local zoning commissioner’s battered body in her barn. Now Megan is thrust into the middle of a murder investigation—and she’s the chief suspect. Can Megan dig through small-town secrets, local politics, and old grievances in time to find a killer before that killer strikes again?
Lady Rample Steps Out
Shéa MacLeod - 2017
Lady Rample finds herself at odds after the death of her husband until her best friend drags her to a hot new jazz club in the heart of London. As if being wooed by two handsome men isn’t enough, Lady R finds herself embroiled in the murder of one of the club’s owners. Bored with her aristocratic life and irked that the police have arrested the wrong suspect, Lady R decides to turn lady detective. With her eccentric Aunt Butty in tow, Lady R scours London for clues. If she’s lucky she’ll find the killer before the killer finds her. From the author of the Viola Roberts Cozy Mysteries comes the first book in the Lady Rample Mysteries set in jazz-era London.
The Eleventh Hour
Anina Collins - 2016
But now one of the town's most important citizens has been found murdered, and everyone's life is suspect. What begins as a friendly wager with her old friend Officer Derek Hampton soon becomes far more for Poppy, and she turns to Alex Montero for help, but the enigmatic former Baltimore cop's quiet way hides as many secrets as each suspect they encounter. Everyone in Sunset Ridge has something to hide, but Poppy and Alex are determined to uncover the identity of the murderer. They just have to watch that they don't become the next victims. Look for the rest of the Poppy McGuire series too! After Hours (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #2) Top of the Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #3) The Darkest Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #4) Happy Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #5)
The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club: Book One
Ann Warner - 2016
But when Brookside turns out to be a setting for art theft, dodgy dealings, and naked poker it becomes vastly more interesting. Josephine investigates the unusual goings on with friend and handwriting expert, Lill Fitzel. And the two befriend a young woman Josephine tries to prevent from making the same mistakes she has made.
How to Fake an Irish Wake
Eliza Watson - 2020
First she learns that her dad isn’t her biological father, a secret her mother took to her grave three years earlier. Then her beloved Irish grandmother passes away at Christmas while Mags is visiting her from the States. Now Mags must host her grandmother’s wake and sell her cottage. A cottage filled with cherished memories. A cottage Mags inherited but her odd jobs won’t enable her to keep.Shortly after the funeral, a young man, Finn O’Brien, arrives at the cottage with an old photograph. Finn believes the boys in the photo are a clue to his father’s identity. Mags can sympathize with him, and because she often helped her genealogist grandmother uncover skeletons in people’s closets, including herself, she agrees to assist Finn.But searching for Finn’s father stirs up trouble. Finn is in a near-fatal car crash that wasn’t an accident. So Mags and her childhood friend Biddy McCarthy investigate why someone wants to prevent Finn from finding his father. Questioning the quirky locals proves a wee bit difficult as several of the suspects were victims of Mags and Biddy’s childhood shenanigans.It might take a fake Irish wake to reveal Finn’s father and the would-be murderer.But what if the two turn out to be the same person?
Plantation Shudders
Ellen Byron - 2015
The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival--elderly honeymooners, the Cajun Cuties, a mysterious stranger from Texas, a couple of hipster lovebirds, and a trio of Georgia frat boys. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other--one from very unnatural causes-- Maggie and the others suddenly become suspects in a murder.With the help of Bo Durand, the town's handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all of the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives? Decades-old secrets and stunning revelations abound in Ellen Byron's charming cozy debut, Plantation Shudders.
State of the Onion
Julie Hyzy - 2008
Includes recipes for a complete presidential menu! Never let them see you sweat-that's White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras's motto, which is pretty hard to honor in the most important kitchen in the world. She's hell-bent on earning her dream job, Executive Chef. There's just one thing: her nemesis is vying for it, too. Well, that and the fact that an elusive assassin wants to see her fry.
A Lime to Kill
Summer Prescott - 2015
Bad becomes worse when the shop owner's daughter is suspected.
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.
Dying for Dinner Rolls
Lois Lavrisa - 2013
How is that for a first day on the job as an amateur sleuth? Along with her friend Annie Mae, Cat investigates the brick-paved, oak-lined streets of Savannah to find their friend's murderer.
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?
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?