Book picks similar to
Poison Ivy by Misty Simon


cozy-mystery
mystery
romance
humor

Dead Is the New Black


Christine DeMaio-Rice - 2011
    He's fashion designer Jeremy St. James, and not only is he her boss, everyone knows he's gay.-When he's arrested for murder, secrets come to light and nothing is what it seems. If Laura can just solve this crime, keep the cops off her tail, break up a counterfeiting ring, and get the show on the runway by Friday, she might stop being Seventh Avenue's perpetual loser.-Edited by Lynn O'Dell of Red Adept.----------

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.

Breathless


Louise Marley - 2012
    Nothing ever happens in the seaside village of Port Rell, which is why Lainey Jennings is so keen to leave it. She’s only twenty-four, there’s so much more she wants to do with her life. Crazy and outlandish things; like ice diving in Alaska, explore the underwater caves in Mexico, maybe even search for the lost city of Atlantis. Stay in Port Rell forever? Talk about purgatory! Since the death of her father, she’s struggled to keep the family diving business from bankruptcy. There’s just one thing that keeps her going. Her dream that one day she’ll discover the lost wreck that her father was so obsessed with, the legendary Mary Eliza - responsible for destroying Port Rell almost four hundred years ago. When an old, unknown wreck is discovered in the bay, sleepy Port Rell is under siege once again. This time it’s from the media, including a team from the Wreck Raiders TV show, led by handsome archaeologist Zac Nelson. The villagers are quick to cash in on their unexpected popularity, but ancient wrecks aren’t the only things waiting to be discovered in Port Rell. Because someone in Port Rell has a secret. And it's deadly. Breathless is a romantic comedy with a murder mystery

Death by Chocolate


Sally Berneathy - 2011
    Suddenly Lindsay finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a dead man who doesn't seem very dead and a psycho stalker. Her best friend and co-worker, Paula, dyes her blond hair brown, hides from everybody and insists on always having an emergency exit from any room. Secrets from Paula's past have come back to put lives in jeopardy. Determined to help Paula and to save her own life, Lindsay enlists the reluctant aid of another neighbor, Fred, an OCD computer nerd. In spite of his mundane existence, Fred possesses tidbits of knowledge about such things as hidden microphones, guns and the inside of maximum security prisons. Lindsay needs more than a chocolate fix to survive all this chaos. Lindsay Powell's only secret is the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies, but she is surrounded by neighbors with deadly secrets. Suddenly Lindsay finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a dead man who doesn't seem very dead and a psycho stalker. Lindsay needs more than a chocolate fix to survive all this chaos.

Remix


Lexi Revellian - 2010
    When shabby but charismatic Joe and his dog turn up on her roof terrace, she is reluctantly drawn into investigating a rock star’s murder from three years before – an unsolved case the police have closed. Which, as her best friend James says, is rather like poking a furnace with a short stick…Oracle, AMAZON VINE VOICE REVIEWER, wrote: “This is a highly addictive novel, a good old-fashioned murder mystery with a dash of 21st century celebrity glamour. I struggled to put it down. Lexi Revellian is great at crafting a plot that moves at speed but her biggest talent is in creating characters that the reader can really care about, characters that seem like old friends as the novel draws to a close. Overall, Remix is great fun, extremely entertaining and - dare I say it - would make an excellent transition to the small or big screen.”Full length novel: 75,000 words, by the author of REPLICA.

Lost In Italy


Stacey Joy Netzel - 2011
    Her itinerary did not include being stranded by her siblings, kidnapped by a sexy American movie star, dodging bullets, or fleeing criminals in a car chase around Lake Como.And that's just in the first three hours....often go awry.Trent Tomlin put his movie career on hold to investigate his brother's murder-ruled-suicide at his Italian villa. He's closing in on the suspects when an American tourist unwittingly films the murder of the retired cop helping him. The killers will stop at nothing to get the evidence-including holding Halli's family as collateral.Life's a little different unscripted. Thrust into the role of real-life hero, Trent finds himself falling for the Plain Jane whose beauty blossoms with every challenge they face. But how can he keep the evidence from falling into the wrong hands and get justice for his brother and friend without betraying Halli and her family?

Three Days in Seattle


Debra Burroughs - 2012
    Romance. Murder.A gorgeous Blonde, a kidnapped Sister, a handsome Stranger, and a vengeful Killer.The desperate race is on to find the sister before both women wind up dead.A Romantic Suspense novel that will curl your toes

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?

Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love


Lora Lindy - 2012
    Little does she know she would meet that one special love, an unexpected love. That one true love is Mike Ramsey and he's a U.S. Marshal. As their love grows, so do their troubles. Someone is stalking Lana. Mike has to figure out who it is before the stalker gets Lana. Not only does he have to protect her, he must find the connection between Lana and the killer before it's too late. They soon find out this stalker also wants Mike dead, and he'll go through any lengths for that to happen. Mike's team find out how desperate this man is when he starts murdering.

Calamity Jayne


Kathleen Bacus - 2006
    Crowned "Calamity Jayne" by Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer Rick Townsend, Tressa's out to gain a little hometown respect --or die trying. Unfortunately for Tressa, that may be the case. She's just been handed the perfect opportunity to get "Ranger Rick," the doubting Don Juan of the DNR, and a skeptical citizenry to finally take her seriously. How? By solving a murder no one else believes happened...No one, that is, except the killer.Yup, Calamity Jayne is in it up to her hot pink snakeskin cowgirl boots and matching rhinestone belt. Tressa would tell you her momma never raised no dummies, but the jury's still out on that one.

Smart Blondes


Sonia Koso - 2014
    Stunned, Carrie drives all night to her quirky hometown and collapses in a near-catatonic state. A crew of ladies spanning three generations realize it’s up to them to help Carrie get her life out of the ditch. Known as the “Presbyterian Mafia,” these are not sweet old gals. They have a book club that never reads, a garden club that doesn’t garden, and a bible study class that gossips about the Methodists. They’re known around town for antics including catfights, car chases and Voodoo rituals. The women enlist Carrie’s former childhood best friend Portia (now a lawyer) and her flamboyant cousin Eric (recently returned from New York) in their effort. While dealing with the after-effects of her imprudent gunplay and managing a hair color disaster, Carrie meets Rhett Richards. He’s an attractive oil field worker who can make women think un-Christian thoughts by the mere act of wearing a pair of tight wranglers. Carrie soon learns that hometowns can be the perfect places to bury old scandals and create new ones.

52 Steps To Murder


Steve Demaree - 2006
    An elderly woman is found poisoned in the upstairs bedroom of her home whose front door stands 52 steps above the street in an old-fashioned whodunit that blends clues, red herrings, suspects, and humor.

30 Days


K. Larsen - 2013
    Dealing with the loss of her only sister. A suicide attempt that doesn’t end in death and a husband who wants her inheritance. Elle’s life is a catastrophe. But she has a list and thirty things she’s determined to accomplish. Love isn't on that list but it comes crashing unexpectedly into her life. Boxing coach and personal trainer at the gym he co-owns, Colin’s content with his life. Until a chance meeting with a woman eating alone at a restaurant sets his heart in motion. As secrets unveil themselves his only goal becomes holding on to what he’s found.

It's Just a Little Crush


Caroline Fardig - 2013
    Residents are stunned when the body of a young woman is found strangled, and reporters at the Liberty Chronicle are thrilled, rather disturbingly, over the biggest news story to hit town this century. Lizzie Hart has even bigger problems. Lately, she can’t seem to concentrate on her job as copy editor at the Chronicle with the new hunky investigative reporter, Blake Morgan, swaggering around the office. How can a girl work when she’s using all of her energy combating Blake-induced hot flashes and struggling to repress the giggly inner schoolgirl that’s constantly rearing her dorky head? It’s a good thing that Blake barely knows Lizzie exists. After an odd string of events, however, Lizzie begins to wonder if Blake is really as fabulous as she has fantasized. When Lizzie and Blake find a co-worker dead, Blake’s personality changes completely—and not in a good way. Even though the police rule the death as an accident, Lizzie immediately suspects foul play and senses a connection to the recent murder. She is determined to bring the killer to justice, but is having some trouble getting her Nancy Drew on thanks to the pesky stalker she’s picked up—Blake Morgan. Wait, didn’t she want him to follow her around and pay attention to her? Not like this. Blake has turned from cool and smooth to cold and downright scary, making Lizzie wonder if he should be next on her suspect list.