Amateur Sleuth Cozy

The one rule bookshop owner and widow Penelope Thornton-McClure has given ghostly, hard-boiled PI Jack Shepard is to not haunt the customers. But when the hot, young author Angel Stark arrives at the store to promote her latest true-crime novel, Jack can hardly contain himself. Angel's book is an unsolved mystery about a debutante found strangled to death, and it's filled with juicy details that point a finger at a number of people in the deb's high-society circle. But when the author winds up dead, too - in precisely the same way - Pen is fast on the case...which means Jack is, too.

That’s the mantra for the members of the Monthly Murder Movie Club at The Northwoods Movie Theater. Every month, this eclectic group of northern Michigan residents gather to watch a murder mystery movie on the big screen. After stopping the projector in the middle of the movie, the members gather to discuss the crime and suspects, each making a whodunit pick before resuming the movie. The hair dresser with the scissors? The jilted lover with poison?

Café owner and amateur sleuth Everly Swan, like every Swan woman before her, is cursed in love. The only problem? She’s head over heels for Detective Grady Hays, who doesn’t believe in magic of any kind. Grady wants to build a life with Everly, but before she can say “I do,” she needs to take care of this curse once and for all. And luckily, the quirky inhabitants of Charm, North Carolina, are up to the task!

For her latest excursion, Miranda is thrilled to take a close-knit group of rock climbers, the Risky Business Adventurers, up the challenging Battleship Rock Trail to paint and sample moonshine. But the outing is cut short when they discover a skeleton near the trailhead. Even more startling, the bones belong to Howard Cable, Miranda's cousin...and a former classmate of the Risky Business group.

Everyone at Bless Your Art in Sweet River, Texas, is excited about the Yarn Goddess (yes, that's her real name) coming to town. Ainsley McGregor has set up a special event at the local community center, but when old Mrs. Whedon doesn't see eye-to-eye with the Goddess about using quality yarn, a fight breaks out. Who knew the octogenarian had ninja moves like that? It's all fun and games until George Clooney, Ainsley's Great Dane, finds Ms. Yarn's dead body in a booth at Bless Your Art.

Sophie Winston is busy handling the first ever convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens—restaurants that do delivery only—but she's taking a little time out for a lunch meeting organized by A Healthy Meal. The group is dedicated to providing meals for children in need, and as a bonus, it'll give Sophie the perfect opportunity to ogle the lavish Old Town home of socialite Geraldine Stansfield. Gerrie's dining room is impeccably furnished, the table laden with gleaming crystal and prized china. If it weren't for the dead man lying on the floor, everything would be perfect.

In a symbolic journey of reconciliation, the Monsoon Express is travelling between hostile neighbours India and Pakistan. The passenger list includes politicians, celebrities, former Mumbai policeman Inspector Chopra and his baby elephant ward, Ganesha. Then a senior diplomat is found murdered in his cabin. Accusations fly, tensions rise and an international incident seems certain. But is the murder political - or personal?

Food anthropologist Miriam Quiñones-Smith's move from New York to Coral Shores, Miami, puts her academic career on hold to stay at home with her young son. Adding to her funk is an opinionated mother-in-law and a husband rekindling a friendship with his ex. Gracias to her best friend, Alma, she gets a short-term job as a Caribbean cooking expert on a Spanish-language morning TV show. But when the newly minted star attends a Women's Club luncheon, a socialite sitting at her table suddenly falls face-first into the chicken salad, never to nibble again.

After her divorce, Athena has returned to coastal Michigan to work in her family's garden center and raise her son, while also caring for a mischievous wild raccoon and fending off her family's annoying talent for nagging. Working alone at the garden center one night, Athena is startled by a handsome stranger who claims to be the rightful owner of a valuable statue her grandfather purchased at a recent estate sale. But she has even bigger problems on her plate.

When the four wealthy widows who make up the venerable Rosalie Bridge Club never get up from their card table, this quiet Mississippi town has its first quadruple homicide. Who put cyanide in their sugar bowl? An aspiring member and kibitzer with the exclusive club, Wendy takes a personal interest in finding justice for the ladies. She also has a professional motivation. A frustrated society columnist for the Rosalie Citizen, she's ready to deal herself a better hand as an investigative reporter. This could be her big break.

Starting your life over at age 38 isn't easy, but that's what Sarah Winston finds herself facing when her husband CJ runs off with a 19-year-old temptress named Tiffany. Sarah's self-prescribed therapy happily involves hitting all the garage and tag sales in and around her small town in Massachusetts. But after returning from a particularly successful day searching for yard-sale treasures, Sarah finds a grisly surprise in one of her bags: a freshly bloodied shirt...that undoubtedly belongs to her ex, CJ, who now happens to be Ellington's chief of police. And Tiffany has gone missing.

After Plum Lockhart's job as a travel magazine editor is eliminated in corporate cuts, she decides she's sick of cold winters in NYC and fruitless swiping on dating apps. On a whim, she accepts a job as a villa broker and moves to a beautiful Caribbean island. However, paradise isn't as perfect as it seems: The slow pace of island life, the language barrier, and a cutthroat office rival make Plum question leaving her old life behind. But when a client is found dead in the jacuzzi of Casa Mango - a property Plum manages - she knows she's really in a jam.

As Sugar Springs gears up for its all-class high-school reunion, Mississippi bookstore owner Arlo Stanley prepares to launch her largest event: a book signing with the town's legendary alum and best-selling author Wally Harrison. That's when Wally is discovered dead outside of Arlo's front door, and her best friend is questioned for the crime. When the elderly ladies of Arlo's Friday Night Book Club start to investigate, Arlo has no choice but to follow behind to keep them out of trouble.

To the tourists and summer residents, Kentwater County is a picturesque community of small-town charm, fruitful farmland, and gorgeous freshwater beaches. To middle-aged widow Isabel Puddles, it's where she preserves pickles, bakes pies, works the counter at her cousin's hardware shop, and occasionally helps "fix up" the hair of corpses at the local funeral parlor. When Isabel discovers a two-inch nail embedded in the skull of Earl Jonasson, it seems the octogenarian may not have died of a stroke.

In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.

After returning from her father-in-law’s funeral in Florida, Lucy can almost hear the death knell of her part-time reporter job the instant she meets new hire Rob Callahan. He’s young, ambitious, and positioning himself to become the Pennysaver’s next star reporter. Adding insult to injury, Lucy only gets assigned the local St. Patrick’s Day parade once Rob passes on the story. But before beer flows and bagpipes sound, Rob becomes suspected of destroying more than other people’s careers.

It's Valentine's Day in Tinker's Cove, and while the cupcakes Lucy's baking for her children will have pink frosting and candy hearts, her thoughts aren't centered on sugary sentiments. She's barely arrived at her first board meeting of the newly renovated library when Bitsy Howell, the new librarian, is found dead in the basement, shot only minutes before story hour was to start. The agitated board members assume that Bitsy was killed by an outsider until Detective Lt. Horowitz arrives on the scene and announces that the killer is among them.

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peters and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive 19-year-old novice. Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname the Devil's Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

When Mac Sullivan - famous thriller writer and Shannon's new beau - first moved to Lighthouse Cove, California, he bought the historic lighthouse mansion that the town is named after. Mac needs help cleaning up the place, and Shannon is more than happy to get her handywoman hands on the run-down Victorian. But during demolition, a grisly discovery is made among the debris - the bones of a teenage girl who went missing 15 years ago.

Cletus Byron Winston wishes to marry Jennifer Anne Donner-Sylvester (aka The Banana Cake Queen) posthaste! He’s spent the last year wanting nothing more than for the celebrations to be brief, libations flowing, and BYOB (bring your own blueberries). His future mother-in-law has other plans - plans his intended has been willing to indulge, much to Cletus’s chagrin. Therefore, so must he. To a point. But truth be told, he wouldn’t mind if the meddlesome matriarch disappeared, at least until the nuptials are over.