Book picks similar to
Color Me Love by Tonya Kappes


southern-mystery
fiction
mysteries
southern-mysteries

Murder Is Homework: A Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mystery


Diane Weiner - 2017
    Her birth mother, Audrey Stirling, has been arrested for killing her husband! Richard Stirling had no shortage of enemies, all with viable motives, but the evidence points directly at Audrey. To make matters worse, the judge puts Audrey, whose relationship with Susan has been volatile, on house arrest while awaiting trial. She will be living 24/7 with Susan, making Susan extra motivated to find the real killer and send her mother back to Florida. Along the way, Susan backslides on her promise to her family by once again putting herself in danger. Surrounded by her detective daughter, her lawyer father who agrees to come out of retirement to represent Audrey, and her mysterious half-brother, Susan must do her homework to maintain family relationships while searching for Richard's killer.

Miss Sylvia's Stolen Bible


Harper Harris - 2018
    You’ll have a dog gone good time… and some delicious Southern treats! Kari Jacobs has driven cross country from San Francisco and is one hour away from starting a new life and job at a law firm in Appleton, North Carolina, when her car breaks down near the Red Rivers Plantation. She was only looking for a tow, but found a mystery. Ms. Sylvia, her sister-in-law Delilah and her butler Henry live at Red Rivers Plantation and they all seem to be stuck in the past. Kari can get their help, as long as she walks their two Great Danes and solves the mystery of the stolen Winters’ family bible. But theirs is a world of polite etiquette and stately manners, and Kari has a hard time getting them to talk so that she can figure out the answers they so desperately seek. But at least their cooking is scrumptious! Sylvia thinks the Bible was stolen by her bitter rival who owns the next plantation over, but she isn’t even sure when, and no one can explain why. Questions multiply and Kari can’t help but be drawn into a feud that reaches back into the last century. It's Kari's first introduction to the South, their customs are strange, and she has far more questions than answers. Such as, will she ever get her car fixed so she can get to Appleton, and will she be rewarded for her patience by being able to meet the Great Danes’ litter of puppies before leaving town? * INCLUDES MISS DELILAH’S SUCCULENT SOUTHERN PEACH PIE RECIPE! *

One Tequila


Tricia O'Malley - 2015
    The original cover edition is here.Tequila Key is just like any other small town and I'm just like any other small town psychic. Scratch that. Tequila Key is a world onto itself and some people might think that I am one crayon short of the box. And, if we're being totally honest, Tequila Key is just like any other small town – if that town boasts a voodoo priestess and a few white witches for flavor. Turquoise blue water and the best margaritas this side of Mexico make it hard to leave. I'm Althea Rose, co-owner of Luna Rose Potions & Tarot Shop, and I've just stumbled into a love triangle while trying to save my best friend from being accused of murder. See? Just like any other small town.

Sunshine Hunter


Maddie Cochere - 2012
    Often, she is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and things go downhill quickly. All of the books cross genres of chick lit, mystery, romance, humor, and action, bringing you a fast-paced, easy-breezy read.Working in a weight-loss center by day and a racquetball club by night, Susan Hunter enjoys her life, the sport, and her friends. ... Sunshine Hunter opens with Susan finding out her new boyfriend of three months is married. To escape the drama, she accepts an offer from her best friend to tag along for a week in Florida. Here the mystery begins, and Susan believes she and her friend are being stalked. She also learns of a murder back home in Ohio and soon finds out she's wanted for questioning. The story takes an adventurous turn when she ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. ... Humorous, sometimes ominous, Sunshine Hunter is quirky and fun! Approx. 52,000 words.

All Work and No Slay


Skye Sullivan - 2021
    Learning she has fire-magic? It's bound to go up in flames...It's a beautiful day in the small town of Devil's Orchard when Bobbi's grandmother informs her she's actually a witch. Not just any old witch, either.Bobbi is part of a long line of demon-slayers.Bobbi, who can't step on a cockroach without squealing, is a demon-slayer? Yeah right. She's tempted to write the whole thing off as a stress-induced hallucination. Especially when the dumpster-diving fox starts talking...But then she stumbles over a body that's unfortunately very real, and very dead, and life gets even more complicated. Because people in small towns love to talk. Like about how great a shot her grandmother is with her little .22 pistol. And how her dislike of the dead guy gives her motive. Or how she's just crazy enough to pull the trigger.They're not technically wrong, but Bobbi knows her grandmother's innocent, and she'll do whatever she can to prove it. Even if she has to find the killer herself.She'll have to use her newfound magic to do so, but a spell is just a recipe, and Bobbi's good at following those.This witch thing should be easy... Right?All Work and No Slay is a hilarious, full-length paranormal cozy mystery filled with plenty of sass, snark, sarcasm, spells, snooping, snacks, spirits and sleuthing. And one of Bobbi's prized recipes!

What's a Ghoul to Do?


Victoria Laurie - 2007
    Steven Sable, are at his family's lodge, where his grandfather allegedly jumped to his death from the roof-although Sable says it was foul play. But the patriarch's isn't the only ghost around. The place is lousy with souls, all with something to get off their ghoulish chests. Now M.J. will have to to quell the clamor-and listen for a voice with the answers...

Witch Slapped


Dakota Cassidy - 2016
    With twists, turns, and suspects aplenty, this one will keep you guessing from start to finish.USA Today bestselling cozy mystery author Dakota Cassidy serves up mayhem and murder in Witch Slapped, Book 1 of her series, Witchless In Seattle Mysteries."Oh, good. Not a problem. I'll invoke the Gods of Pilates. I'm sure they'd be happy to help. Hang on just one sec while I dial them up. Oh, wait. I can't. Know why I can't? Because my hands are tied behind my back with zip ties, Win!"A rib-tickling cozy mystery complete with an ex-witch, a dead British spy, a cotton ball bat, and a cast of suspects that will keep you guessing right up to the end! Join the hunt for a murderer with Stevie, Winterbottom, and Belfry, in a race against time as the local police prepare an eight by ten cell for our intrepid ex-witch.What's a girl to do when she's a broke, shunned ex-witch with a very tiny, very hungry bat familiar named Belfry to feed?Hello. My name is Stevie Cartwright, and I've been witchless for thirty days.If only there was a support group for down-on-their-luck ex-witches who've had their powers slapped right out of them (literally). Just as I was licking my wounds after returning to my hometown of Ebenezer Falls, WA, and navigating my suddenly non-magical existence with the help of my familiar, the only friend I have left in the world—things got sticky.Enter an ex-spy and newly departed spirit named Winterbottom, who's infiltrated my life with his sexy British accent and a couple of requests...Thanks to Belfry's successful attempt to use me as a human antenna to the afterlife, I can somehow hear Win. I should be ecstatic; helping departed souls used to be my witch specialty. It's like I got the teensiest piece of my old life back. Except Win's dropped me right at a dead woman's feet.Madam Zoltar, the town's beloved fake medium, has been murdered, and Win wants me to catch the killer.My old life won't be worth much if it gets me whacked before my new life has barely begun--and that seems to be exactly what the killer has planned!This cozy mystery has a complete cast of oddball characters from witches to ghosts and bats to psychics. Witchless In Seattle Mysteries is a spin-off of Dakota Cassidy's bestselling paranormal romance series, A Paris, Texas Romance.

A Partridge in a Poison Pear Tart


Leighann Dobbs - 2015
    Christmas in June? Why not!Who poisoned Amelia Partridge and why?Was it a greedy relative? Someone with a decades old grudge? Or was she part of a lucrative Bingo scam?Join Nans, Lexy and the gang as they investigate the suspicious holiday death of a notorious member of the Brook Ridge Retirement community.Available for free to author's newsletter subscribers.

Calm and Bright in Dog Town


Sandy Rideout - 2018
    A frantic search for the perfect, furry gift. Will a Dog Town Christmas miracle be enough to heal the rift?Flynn doesn’t want a new dog. When her beloved shepherd, Majesty, passed away she vowed never again. Maj was the dog of Flynn’s heart and the muse to her art. Six months later, she’s still shaken and her cartooning career is floundering.Husband Denver longs for a new canine companion, especially since Majesty only had eyes for Flynn. More than anything, however, he wants to see his grieving wife happy again.A Christmas Eve spat sends Flynn on an urgent mission to surprise Denver with a new dog. How hard could it be to find a cuddly four-legged gift in just a few hours? It is Dog Town, after all.Friends old and new join Flynn’s frantic and funny search for Denver’s ideal dog. Can the magic of Christmas deliver a minor miracle? Is there a tiny space left in Flynn’s heart for just the right pooch?

Glad One: Crazy is a Relative Term


Margaret Lashley - 2017
    Two gin and tonics. Three derelict beach-bum friends. Will Val’s fourth stab at starting over add up to a big fat zero?St. Pete Beach attracts weirdos like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. But when thrice-divorced native Val Fremden feels the tug to fly back to her old stomping grounds, she finds everyone and everything she knew squashed under the heels of change. Reluctantly cast into the weirdo world of down-and-outer beach bums, Val’s got nothing to go on but her own dry sense of humor and the life coach advice of a beer-guzzling old lady she meets at the beach. When an old hoarder passes away and leaves an uncertain heir to the throne, Val and her pals stir up a hornet’s nest trying to uncover the truth. Who’ll get stung and who’ll be named queen to the throne? It’s anybody's guess.If you like wacky, deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you’ll love Glad One! It’s the first book in Margaret Lashley’s hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series.

A Veiled Deception


Annette Blair - 2009
    At the engagement party, the ‘Jezebel’ trying to steal Sherry’s fiancé is found strangled with a bridal veil, making Sherry the prime suspect. Besides seeking the real killer, Maddie alters Sherry’s vintage wedding gown, worn by generations of the groom’s family, and something odd happens. The gown gives Maddie visions, clues to the past . . . and the murder? Maddie learns she’s psychometric, a psychic gift she inherited from her late mother, who was a broom-carrying witch, it turns out. What other gifts did she inherit? When not sleuthing, Maddie acquires the old Underhill Funeral Chapel Carriage House, including Dante Underhill, a chatty debonair ghost in tux and top hat, who can’t seem to leave the building. Watch out Mystic, Connecticut! Here comes Vintage Magic, a shop for vintage couture and designer originals, featuring a psychic sleuth, a hunk of a ghost, with a sprinkle of magic thrown in for ‘charm.’

Skeletons in the Closet


Jennifer L. Hart - 2008
    As the wife of retired Navy SEAL, and the adoptive mother of two little hellions, Maggie is constantly looking for ways to improve her family’s financial situation. She accepts a cleaning position for her new neighbors (who redefine the term ‘eccentric’), never imagining she will end up as the sole alibi for a man with a fascination for medieval torture devices when he is brought up on murder charges.While Maggie struggles to prove the man’s innocence, her deadbeat brother arrives, determined to sell Maggie and Neil on his next great scheme and to mooch with a vengeance. If that isn’t bad enough, her in-laws, (the cut-throat corporate attorneys) descend on the house, armed with disapproval and condemnation, for the family’s annual Thanksgiving celebration.As the police investigation intensifies, Maggie searches for the killer among the upper echelon of Hudson, Massachusetts in the only way she can— by scrubbing their thrones.Of the porcelain variety, that is…

Killer Cleavers & Cupcakes


Mel McCoy - 2020
    One luxury cruise ship heading to the Bahamas. And an elusive killer running amok with a penchant for cleavers.After overstuffing her husband with a button-bursting amount of cookies and cakes, Ruth Shores—charmed mother, grandmother, wife, and retired pastry chef—decides to take a dream job in the kitchen of the brand-new, luxury cruise ship, Splendor of the Seas. Luggage rolling behind her, she sets out on her first day, and it's everything she imagined. That is, until she runs into the rudest, most inconsiderate person she’s ever crossed paths with: Loretta Moran.That’s okay—Ruth refuses to allow a stranger to ruin her idyllic new life. But when a body is found in the kitchen, both women become prime suspects in a murder investigation. Compelled to prove their innocence, Ruth and Loretta must work together, all while desperately covering up a mouse running loose in the dining room. Can they set their differences aside to unveil the real killer before they both lose their jobs—or worse, their lives?Pranks. Scandals. Cover-ups. All wrapped up in this fun and quirky cozy mystery!Killer Cleavers and Cupcakes is the first book in this nutty, lighthearted Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery Series. So, get nestled in a cozy chair, pour your favorite beverage, and get ready for an exciting Bahamas escapade aboard the Splendor of the Seas!

Dead Man Talking


Jana Deleon - 2017
     Meteorologist Zoe Parker put Everlasting in her rearview mirror as soon as she had her college degree in hand. But when Sapphire, her eccentric great-aunt, takes a tumble down the stairs in her lighthouse home, Zoe returns to the tiny fishing hamlet to look after her. Zoe has barely crossed the county line when strange things start happening with the weather, and she discovers Sapphire’s fall was no accident. Someone is searching the lighthouse but Sapphire has no idea what they’re looking for. Determined to ensure her aunt’s ongoing safety, Zoe promises to expose the intruders, even though it means staying in Everlasting and confronting the past she thought she’d put behind her. Dane Stanton never expected to see Zoe standing in the middle of her aunt’s living room, and was even more unprepared for the flood of emotion he experiences when coming face to face with his old flame. Zoe is just as independent and determined as he remembered, and Dane knows she won’t rest until Sapphire can return to the lighthouse in peace, so he offers to help her sort things out. Armed with old legends, Sapphire’s ten cats, and a talking ghost, Zoe has to reconcile her feelings for Dane and embrace her destiny before it’s too late.

Murder is a Family Business


Heather Haven - 2011
    But the 34-year old Latina, WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve. Set in the present, Murder is a Family Business is the first in a series of humorous mysteries revolving around Lee Alvarez, and rest of the Alvarez Family, detectives all. Seemingly light and frothy on the surface, the novel nevertheless explores familial love, the good, the bad and the annoying.Completing the family is Lee's Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day aristocratic mother, Lila; computer genius brother, Richard; beloved uncle "Tio;" and her energetic orange and white cat, Tugger. When this group is not solving murders, they run Discretionary Inquiries, a successful Silicon Valley agency that normally deals with the theft of computer software. The love, humor and camaraderie shared within this family are what set this series apart from others.