Amateur Sleuth Cozy

Paramedic and Deputy Coroner Zoe Chambers responds to a shooting and discovers her longtime friend Horace Pavelka has gunned down a man who'd bullied him mercilessly for decades. Ruled self-defense, no charges are filed. When another of his tormentors turns up dead in Horace's kitchen, Police Chief Pete Adams questions the man's innocence in both cases...especially after Horace and his girlfriend go into hiding.

Shannon Hammer is about to embark on one of the biggest projects of her career. Her best friend Jane Hennessey has purchased one wing of the Gables, formerly the old state insane asylum, located on a bucolic hillside two miles northeast of Lighthouse Cove. Jane plans to turn her section into a small luxury hotel. Shannon is raring to get started on the enormous project and is shocked when a group of unruly protesters shows up at the groundbreaking ceremony and wreaks havoc. She’s even more freaked out when someone pushes her into a pit of bricks in a closed-off room of the asylum.

Castillac appears calm, even serene. But a dark corruption is spreading underneath the surface. Unbeknownst to anyone but those involved, the village has been infiltrated. And Molly Sutton, the best detective in town, has her eye off the ball as she juggles her gîte business along with planning her best friend’s wedding. A shocking murder shatters the illusion of peace, and Molly and Ben jump into action. This time around, the more they investigate, the longer the list of suspects grows. Will Sutton/Dufort Investigations find the killer before he or she finds them?

When horse trainer Annie Carson rescues a beautiful thoroughbred from a roadside rollover, she knows the horse is lucky to be alive…unlike the driver. After rehabilitating the injured animal at her Carson Stables ranch, Annie delivers the horse to Hilda Colbert—the thoroughbred's neurotic and controlling owner—only to find she's been permanently put out to pasture. Two deaths in three days is unheard of in the small Olympic Peninsula county, and Annie decides to start sniffing around. She's confident she can track down a killer…but she may not know how ruthless this killer really is.

It's the Christmas season and veterinarian Kate Turner is not feeling very jolly. She's overworked, unappreciated, and dealing with two dissatisfied clients. Throw in a very complicated personal life and Kate's definitely got a case of the holiday blues. To make matters worse, Kate's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, is mugged and robbed after they have a heated argument in the hospital parking lot. Then, two of her dissatisfied clients turn up dead (which really gets Kate's tinsel in a tangle). All of these events seem like coincidences, but they add up to something much more venomous.

A trio of sweet-toothed Halloween cozy mystery tales by nationally bestselling authors: Halloween Cupcake Murder by Carlene O'Connor, Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper by Liz Ireland, and A Triple Layer Halloween Murder by Carol J. Perry.

As December sweeps through South Lick, Indiana, Robbie's life seems merry and bright like the string lights glistening around town. But strange happenings signal a bumpy ride into the holidays. First a man raises eyebrows at Pans 'N Pancakes when he claiming to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie's assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic. Helplessly intrigued, all Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare.

This collection includes books 4-6 of Lucy Burdette's cozy Key West Food Critic Mystery series: Book 4: Murder With Ganache, Book 5: Death With All the Trimmings, and Book 6: Fatal Reservations, featuring sleuthing food critic Hayley Snow.

Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, cruise around lovely Chilson, Michigan, delivering good reads in their bookmobile. But the feisty librarian is worried that the bookmobile's future could be uncertain when a new library board chair arrives and doesn't seem too friendly to her pet project. Still, she has to put her personal worries aside when she and Eddie are out on their regular route and one of their favorite customers doesn't turn up to collect her books. Minnie, at Eddie's prodding, checks on the woman and finds her lying dead in her snow-covered driveway.

Only Murders in Gotham, the smash hit streaming show, is famous for filming in authentic New York City locations and using real New Yorkers as extras. For their latest episode, they've chosen to spotlight the century-old Village Blend and its quirky crew of baristas. But when the film crew's week of shooting delivers an actual shooting, coffeehouse manager and master roaster Clare Cosi and her staff find themselves at the scene of a true crime.

When Sophie Winston's neighbor - a reclusive professor - dies, his final wish is for the Domestic Diva to throw a dinner party in his honor, and he's planned everything down to the letter. But what no one planned for is the corpse of a student that Sophie finds in his house...or the mysterious will that shows up asking the question: Did the professor cover up a huge crime?

Pamela Paterson and Bettina Fraser call their crafting group Knit and Nibble, in honor of its two main activities. But on a stormy Halloween night, their peaceful chat over spiced cider and cookies is interrupted by homicide . . . With the houses of Arborville, New Jersey, decked out in festively frightening decorations, it's easy to mistake a real dead body for a fake. But Pamela and Bettina are alerted by the screams of teenage trick-or-treaters to the corpse next door. Their neighbor Adrienne's sister, visiting from New York City, is slumped on the porch, fatally stabbed.

The Tarzana Hookers' Yarn University has been a big success, and the classes have drawn in a slew of new crochet devotees. A less welcome arrival is the boxy monstrosity in the yard behind Molly's house. She hasn't met her new neighbors, but when she sees a couple struggling on the balcony and later spies what looks like someone lying on the ground, Molly wastes no time calling in her ex, homicide detective Barry Greenberg.

It’s been two months since Piper and her Gran relocated to Bitter End, Florida, as part of the witness protection program, and things are only slightly looking up. That is, if you don’t count another murder. Piper has taken a bartending job at a dive bar that’s shadier than a palm tree at night. Dealing with questionable characters comes with the territory, but she’s used to that. After she threatens one of the patrons with a knife, she stumbles upon his dead body in the alley later that night. She is not used to that.

As Addie slips into her white dress her thoughts are focused on a bright future with Dr. Simon Emerson. But a discovery in her attic leads her to startling revelations about the past. As the owner of Beyond the Page Books and Curios and a lifelong bibliophile, Addie is delighted to find a rare collection of classic children's books gathering dust in a secret room beneath the rafters, including a first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. To her surprise, a handwritten inscription on the title page provides a clue to unraveling a complex mystery in Addie's family.

Just as Jen gets to work on her next book, the owner of the town’s rival bookstore is found murdered and suspicions turn to Jen. Time is ticking for Jen to both clear her name and write her new book before the store closes forever. But what will strike Jen first? Inspiration…or the killer?

She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes - but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries's polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there's a woman - and that a crimesolver's work is never done.

Train enthusiast Francis Humphreys took his last breath while relatives and neighbors visited downstairs. But if everyone was downstairs, who could have stolen into Uncle Francis's study, killed him, and escaped? Mrs. Jeffries will have to lend her downstairs common sense to this upstairs murder mystery.

Thanksgiving is Bailey King's busiest holiday weekend. This year promises to be even more hectic, since Bailey's candy shop is providing desserts for Harvest, Ohio's first village-wide Thanksgiving celebration. Yet the event's organizer, Margot Rawlings, is unfazed . . . until she discovers her mother, former judge Zara Bevan, will be in attendance. Zara's reputation as a harsh critic is matched only by her infamy as a judge. No one is prepared when she arrives with much younger boyfriend Blaze Smith. Then Blaze suffers an allergic reaction to something he's eaten and dies on the spot.

Crime-writer-turned-amateur-sleuth Jen has taken over the running of the local bookstore in her hometown of Riddleton. But balancing the books at Ravenous Readers is nothing compared to meeting the deadline for her new novel. Dodging phone calls from her editor takes a back seat, however, when the local police chief is poisoned. To solve the murder, Jen must dust off her detective hat once more. With everyone in town seemingly a suspect, and evidence planted to incriminate local police officer and close friend Eric, Jen is working against the clock.