Book picks similar to
The Ennin Mysteries: Collected Series 1 - 9 by Ben Stevens
fiction
cozy-mystery
crime-fiction
historical
Death of a Serpent
Susan Russo Anderson - 2012
. . A dark secret . . . And one woman determined to uncover the truth. Sicily, October 1866. At a high-class house near Palermo, three women are knifed to death, their foreheads slashed with a strange mark, their bodies dumped on the madam's doorstep. Infuriated with the inept police inspector who does nothing to solve the crimes, the madam summons her friend, Serafina, and asks her to catch the killer. Serafina launches into the investigation, gathering evidence, following leads. An unexpected murder plunges her into despair, but not for long. In a defiant meeting with the local mafia capo, her arch enemy, she makes an important discovery. Now convinced of the murderer's identity, she enlists the help of her very pregnant daughter and together they conceive a daring plan to ensnare the killer, but not before Serafina uncovers shocking truths of her own.
Chocolate Centered Cozy Mysteries
Cindy Bell - 2017
Book 1: The Sweet Smell of Murder Ally Sweet is happy to be returning for a short break to the small town where she grew up. She is planning on using the time off to get over her messy divorce and she is looking forward to spending time with her much-loved grandmother and relaxing making chocolates and anything chocolaty. But then… the delivery driver for her grandmother’s chocolate shop is found murdered. The detectives investigating the crime have a prime suspect, Ally’s high school sweetheart, Brent. Ally believes that Brent would never murder anyone, so with the help of her trusted feline friend, Peaches, she tries to uncover the truth. The search for the killer leads Ally straight into the line of danger. Will she be able find the murderer before she becomes a victim herself? Triple Chocolate Muffin Recipe Included! Book 2: A Deadly Delicious Delivery Ally Sweet is settling into life in Blue River. She loves spending time with her grandmother and making delicious chocolate creations. But then someone is poisoned by the chocolates from ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ and all the evidence points to Ally and Charlotte. Detective Luke Elm is on the case, but with her grandmother’s business on the line and their freedom at stake Ally feels she has no choice but to try and find out the truth. Ally and Charlotte, with some help from Peaches and Arnold, do some digging to try and uncover the murderer. With the suspects piling up it is a race against the clock to discover who the murderer is so the chocolate shop doesn’t remain shut and Ally and Charlotte don’t land up behind bars. Will Ally and Charlotte be able to find the killer before they go to jail? Or worse get murdered themselves? Will hunky Detective Luke arrest Ally? Or will they develop a new romance? Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipe Included! Book 3: A Bitter Sweet Murder Ally Sweet is excited to be staying the night at a new luxury hotel for free because ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ is negotiating a lucrative deal for the hotel’s bed turndown service, where a chocolate will be placed on each guest’s pillow every night. But then Ally stumbles across a dead body. It looks like she is being framed and when hunky Detective Luke Elm is inadvertently implicated in the murder, Ally does everything she can to find the killer. With a little help from her grandmother, feline friend, pot-bellied pig and some chocolate creations, Ally sifts through the suspects to uncover the truth. Will Ally’s snooping make the shop lose the deal? Will Ally find the murderer and clear her and Luke’s names before there is another victim? Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Ganache Frosting Recipe Included! Book 4: A Treacherous Tasty Trail Ally and Charlotte Sweet are running a booth for ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ at a local farmer’s market. Their primary concerns are selling cookies and keeping their cat, Peaches, and pot-bellied pig, Arnold, under control at the market. But then the son of a prominent and influential farmer is found dead and an old acquaintance of Ally’s is suspected of the murder. Ally’s investigative nature takes over and she goes on a search to find the killer.
Seven Lives to Kill
K.M. Waller - 2020
But when her eccentric Aunt Ginger passes away, she leaves Loretta her prized cat sanctuary. Her aunt's dying wish is that the seven remaining felines are allowed to live out the rest of their days in comfort on the little farm.Recently widowed and ready for a change, Loretta relocates to the town of Saint Wales, Florida to honor her aunt's wishes thinking how hard can it be to look after a few cats.Only, the neighbors aren't exactly hospitable and several have been trying to shut down the sanctuary for years. Worse, someone is out to sabotage the farm by any possible means putting the cats and Loretta in danger. Not only that, a close friend of her aunt's doesn't believe Aunt Ginger died of natural causes.Can Loretta settle into her new role as cat mom and protector while fending off the cat haters and a possible murderer?
Bennett Sisters Mysteries Volume 1 & 2
Lise McClendon - 2017
5 ★ "This is a charming series of the adventures of 5 sisters. Merle the middle sister is the predominant focus of the books and one falls in love with her! Then we meet the rest of the clan. It is impossible to put the books down (my kind of books)! Merle's adventures alone and with her sisters are simply wonderful. There is just enough intrigue to keep one interested and to move on to the next book. I hope you find the books to be as grand as I did." "Enjoyed getting to know the Bennet sisters and their relationships. It was nice reading about some women who have a variety of life experiences. These characters are beyond the age of 30. I think any woman would enjoy reading this but the narrator is in her 50's and I enjoyed her perspective." A sprawling, exuberant, generous-spirited cozy mystery series with a yummy side of international adventure. A little bit chick lit, a touch of cozy mystery, a whole lot of humor, romance, suspense—all in one box set! BLACKBIRD FLY – Book One A dead husband might be sadder except that once Harry dies, his widow, Merle Bennett realizes almost immediately it was no wonder she didn't know anything about him. They’d pretty much been leading separate lives—several of them, as it turns out. Still, the will’s quite a shock. And so is an intriguing surprise—Harry left her a family home in a tiny French village. Or maybe a family home. Because who was Harry’s family? Finding out is half the fun. Merle sets out to claim her inheritance, adolescent son in tow, and thus begins a sojourn reminiscent of A Year in Provence mixed up with something by Carolyn Hart, maybe, or M.C. Beaton. Because Malcouziac, Merle’s tiny Dordogne town, is the quintessential village—just perfect for a murder. And a rollicking good time. THE GIRL IN THE EMPTY DRESS – Book Two Law practice is in the Bennett sisters' blood—along with designer suits and stilettos. But they've decided to ditch the more predictable Caribbean cruise or spa weekend at a five star hotel to celebrate Merle Bennett's 50th birthday hiking the French countryside of Dordogne. There’s just one catch: Merle’s little sister Francie has decided to bring along a sixth wheel: a work colleague named Gillian Sargent, whose utter aloofness wouldn’t be so bad. Except she seems to be hiding something…
Warm Moonlight
Joseph Wurtenbaugh - 2012
It's a thrilling story of adventure and rescue, of escape and revenge, set in New England in the early days of Prohibition. Written in the great storytelling tradition, 'Warm Moonlight' has all the intensity of a got-to-hear-how-it-ends campfire yarn, but with a decidedly adult sophistication and sensibility. The ending is unique and satisfying, but leaves the audience, like one of the characters in the story, wondering - how much of it was true? How much invented? Can such things be? Maybe it's a ghost story or . . . . maybe it isn't.
For the Love of Old Bones: and Other Stories
Michael Jecks - 2012
THE CORONER’S TALE In the remote Devonshire town of Crediton, a young girl is found dead in an alleyway, raped and murdered. As the local Bailiff and a visiting knight investigate the crime, it comes to light that the bailiff holds an incriminating secret – one that has the potential to place this agent of the government on the wrong side of the law. FOR THE LOVE OF OLD BONES A group of monks journeying from Launceston Abbey across the wild wastelands of Dartmoor are waylaid by brigands. During the brawl, their abbot is put to death at the blade of a knife, but the murderer neglected to steal his money filled purse. When the local bailiff discovers that the group are conducting a holy relic overseas to France, he begins to suspect that there are murkier motivations at play. THE AMOROUS ARMOURER A blacksmith is found dead in his lodgings, the door locked from the inside. As the town’s meticulously minded bailiff goes about his investigation, a veritable rogue’s gallery of culprits drift in and out of focus - but the guilty party is the least suspect of all. A CLERICAL ERROR One of the king’s forresters lies dead in a gully on the moor, his head smashed in with a rock, and the only witness to the murder being the forrester’s loyal mastiff, who stands vigil over his master’s body. As the list of suspects increases with every local rivalry which comes to light, the outcome of the case will surprise all involved. DANCE OF DEATH 1348, the year of the Great Death. Refugees flood into the city of Exeter from the plague-ravaged countryside surrounding the city. A man and a young boy from the village of Rookford arrive separately, yet both share knowledge of a horrifying secret and come to the realisation that even in these times of turmoil, the past is inescapable. Praise for Michael Jecks: "An instant classic British spy novel - mature, thoughtful, and intelligent ... but also raw enough for our modern times. Highly recommended." Lee Child, author of the Reacher series "More magic by the master of the medieval” - Quintin Jardine "Michael Jecks is a national treasure" -
Scotland on Sunday
“A textbook example of how to blend action and detection in a historical” -
Publishers Weekly
Michael Jecks is the author of the bestselling Knights Templar series, comprising thirty-two novels starring Baldwin de Furnshill. Fields of Glory is the first novel in a new trilogy, set around the Hundred Years' War. A regular speaker at library and literary events, he is a past Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Exeter University. He was shortlisted for the Harrogate/Theakston’s Old Peculier prize for the best crime novel of the year 2007, the year Allan Guthrie won. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor. To find out more visit his website http://www.michaeljecks.com, follow him on twitter @michaeljecks, or find him on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Michael.Jecks... Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com.
The Visitor
Mark Lawrence - 2018
The only thing you need to know is that Wild Cards is set in our world, and an alien virus has been infecting people in rare outbreaks. It kills 90% of victims, makes ugly monsters of 9% (Jokers) and gives 1% random superpowers (Aces).A very personal short story that I'm proud of and want to find a wider audience for.There is a sequel story free on the Tor website, The Visitor: Kill or Cure.
Guilty Drive
Hayley Ford - 2021
Sometimes they never get over it, destined to be alone for the rest of their lives. And no matter how hard they try, they can’t be happy, because the guilt is enough to kill them too.When my husband dies in a freak boating accident, I’m barely able to function, let alone pick up the pieces of my shattered life. Yes, we had our problems, but I never wanted him to die. My friends tell me it’s time for me to move on and when I finally try to put the past behind me, it comes back to me, shattering everything I thought I knew about my past, my husband and my future.Somebody is lying and will do anything to stop me from finding the truth. But I have to know. Did my husband really die in the waters of Broken Sound?
Magical Cures Mystery Box Set Books 1-3
Tonya Kappes - 2013
Bubble...June Heal has nothing to lose when she relocates her homeopathic cure shop, A Dose of Darla, from the flea market booth in her home town, to a quaint shop in the cozy but unusual little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Or so it seems.Cures and trouble...Whispering Falls has a lot of secrets. From talking snow globes to whispering animals not to mention a few sprinkles of fairy dust, June realizes Whispering Falls is more magical than she thought. . .literally.Magic stirs...June discovers she was born into a family of psychics, and her homeopathic cures truly are magical. Unfortunately, they are not magical enough to save her from being the number one murder suspect when a member of the community that she had just had a disagreement with shows up face down in the lake with June’s lucky charm in the victim’s grasp.And troubles double...Add to that an attraction to her high school best friend, Sheriff Oscar Park and Mr. Prince Charming, her cat, is stealing charms from Belle’s Baubles, June is forced to clear her name in more ways than murder. After all, they don’t have cauldrons in jail.A CHARMING CURE:Bubble. . .Bubble. . .Psychic June Heal's homeopathic cure shop, A Charming Cure, is the most popular shop in the unusual little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Cures and Trouble. . .June is about to learn she has more than psychic abilities when she attends Hidden Hall A Spiritualist University, leaving her shop in the hands of handsome sheriff Oscar Park.Hidden Hall has an internal war between the Good-Siders and the Dark-Siders, putting June in the middle.Magic Stirs. . .Hidden Hall is riddled with every type of spiritualist. Magic is lurking around every corner, even black-magic.Unfortunately, the Ultimate Spell gets into the wrong hands. But it is only discovered after a few spiritualist go missing or end up poisoned to death.And Trouble Doubles. . .Madam Torres, June's crystal ball, reveals that A Charming Cure is in shambles along with the rest of Whistpering Falls.Will June figure out who has the Ultimate Spell and stop them before they destroy the entire spiritualist community?A CHARMING WISH:Bubble, Bubble. . .It seems shop owner and newly appointed Whispering Falls Village President June Heal has it all: Beauty, wits, bewitching powers...Sheriff Oscar Park. Life is good. Because life in Whispering Falls is magical.Cures and Trouble. . .But when a member of the community is found dead on the steps of A Charming Cure, June's homeopathic cure shop, and her fingerprints show up at the scenes of local robberies, she is kicked off the village council and her powers fall under scrutiny. Until it's uncovered who is wreaking havoc on the town...June's magic is suspended.Magic Stirs. . .With the help of a rather obnoxious genie and Mr. Prince Charming, June's Fairy-God cat, June is determined to figure out who is framing her. Time is of the essence when it becomes clear that the true villain is trying to get rid of her...
The John Connolly Collection #2: The White Road, The Black Angel, and The Unquiet
John Connolly - 2012
It's a case that nobody wants to touch, deeply rooted in old evil—and old evil is Charlie Parker's specialty. He's about to enter a living nightmare, a dreamscape of sorrow haunted by the murderous specter of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the sinister complicity of both friends and enemies in Larousse's brutal death. Soon, all will face a final reckoning in an unearthly realm where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road. THE BLACK ANGELWhen a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel—considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins. THE UNQUIETDaniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing. His daughter insists that he killed himself after allegations surfaced surrounding the harm done to patients in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge—and private investigator Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay’s disappearance to be revealed, and those who will go to any length—no matter the cost—to keep a deep, dark secret about a local town hidden.
Powder Island: the Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mysteries, Book 26
Charles Veley - 2021
A wounded ally. And the rise of a new and powerful enemy . . . When an unforeseen blast destroys part of England’s largest gunpowder factory, Inspector Gregson, a former ally of Sherlock Holmes, is put on the case. Holmes waits for a call to help Gregson investigate, but the call never comes. Soon Gregson will be demoted to a lowly beat patrolman, walking the streets of Whitechapel. Nine months later, the factory owner comes to Holmes for help. He has rebuilt the demolished structure and needs to resume operations. But he's received an anonymous note threatening another explosion.All known suspects have iron-clad alibis, and there are no other leads. If the culprit is not caught, the factory may never reopen, and the livelihoods of four hundred workers and their families will vanish permanently.Then Gregson is brutally stabbed in a Whitechapel alley. More mysterious circumstances unfold. Holmes realizes the Baker Street team is up against a powerful and complex enemy who will stop at nothing to avoid being caught. Can the team unmask the malefactor before more damage is done? Or will all their efforts go up in smoke?A thrilling and fast-paced take on a classic Sherlock who-done-it, complete with unexpected twists and turns, clever sleuthing, and diabolical villainy. Powder Island stays faithful to the spirit of the beloved original series, while adding fresh new mysteries and dynamic new characters. Get it today!
The Insurmountable Edge
Thomas H. GoodfellowThomas H. Goodfellow - 2020
Top employees of a U.S. defense contractor dying at an alarming rate. A cryptic message sent by a strange, secretive source warns the contractor’s products have been corrupted and could be used against the U.S. Armed Forces.They all seem to be connected. But how?Only two men on earth are capable of putting it all together and those men are Jack Wilder and Jeff Bradshaw, two of the greatest special operations forces soldiers who have ever lived.There's a problem though. Jack and Jeff are off-duty at Jack’s ranch while Jeff tries to recover from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Jack's seventeen-year-old ward, a hellcat named Adelaide, is also on the ranch. Nothing seems more impossible than getting the three of them to leave their safe commune. But then, a mysterious blue Maybach shows up at the ranch. The Maybach's visit sends Adelaide, Jack and Jeff off on a dangerous trail of murder and intrigue as they confront the insurmountable edge.“Thomas H. Goodfellow’s timely political thriller The Insurmountable Edge imagines a world in which the US and China move close to open warfare.” - Benjamin Welton, ForewordReviews.com
Mitzy Moon Mysteries Books 1-3
Trixie Silvertale - 2020
Desperate to prove her innocence, she’s forced to accept help from her granny’s entitled cat and a spirit from beyond the grave.Three full-length novels of sleuthing fun!The Mitzy Moon Mysteries : Books 1-3 includes the first three books in the hilarious paranormal cozy mystery series, PLUS a never-before-released map of Pin Cherry.Book 1 – Fries and Alibis: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA gift that’s too good to be true. A murder she didn’t commit. A barista in a latte trouble…Book 2 – Tattoos and Clues: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA beachside stroll. A deadly discovery. Will this psychic sleuth swim or sink?Book 3 – Wings and Broken Things: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA crime with no eyewitness. A determined psychic sleuth. Will her search for clues take her where angels fear to tread?