Cozy Crime Fiction

The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—afeeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking.

As the day of Grace's wedding approaches, it seems nothing can get in the way of the happy Cherringham event. But just days before, her father Len is suddenly arrested on suspicion of murder - a murder committed 30 years ago, and a thousand miles away. Could Len actually have committed the crime? And can Jack and Sarah unearth the truth in time for him to walk his daughter down the aisle? Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack.

Accidents happen to Charley Clutterbuck. Always just scraping by, living on his ramshackle boat, not above the dodgy deal here and there... So when his body is found floating down river, accidental drowning seems the logical conclusion. But Charley's pal Ray thinks it's murder. And when Jack and Sarah get involved... they find themselves facing an unexpected danger as they uncover the strange truth. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Please note this book was first published as Just Not Cricket under Faith Martin’s pen name Joyce Cato. Jenny Starling is doing the catering for the village cricket match. But she’s not expecting one of the players to turn up dead. Everyone from the village has turned out to watch the match, and with this being the club’s centenary, Jenny Starling has been hired specially to provide her stunning food for the event.

A friend in his cigar club asks Antoine Verlaque to visit Rene Rouquet, a retired postal worker who has found a rolled-up canvas in his apartment. As the apartment once belonged to Paul Cezanne, Rouquet is convinced he's discovered a treasure. But when Antoine arrives at the apartment, he finds Rene dead, the canvas missing, and a mysterious art history professor standing over the body. When the painting is finally recovered, the mystery only deepens.

Dense fog masks foul play in the streets of London, as Ann Granger brings us her seventh Victorian mystery featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross and his wife, Lizzie. It is March 1870. London is in the grip of fog and ice. But Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross has more than the weather to worry about when the body of a young woman is found in a dustbin at the back of a Piccadilly restaurant.

In the sleepy town of Lost Maidens Loch, people sometimes disappear.... Down a quiet lane in town sits a little shop full of oddities you’d probably miss if you weren’t looking for it. This is Love’s Curiosities Inc., and its owner, Temerity Love, is sought by experts all over the world for her rare and magical gift: The ability to find lost things and learn their stories. When Lost Maidens’ pretty local school teacher is found murdered by a poisoned cup of tea, a strange antique hand mirror is discovered nearby.

Derbyshire, dicembre 1924. È un freddo Natale ad Alconbury Hall, la residenza di campagna della nobile famiglia Lennox. Così freddo che nemmeno generose dosi di sherry riescono a riscaldare la mente e il cuore di Lady Millicent Carmichael, mentre detta le sue scandalose memorie alla nuova segretaria. Beatrice però ancora non riesce a cogliere il sottobosco di ten­sioni che attraversa quella conturbante atmosfera natalizia.

Jo Jones has always had a little trouble fitting in. As a neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor and divorced New Yorker transplanted into the English countryside, Jo doesn’t know what stands out more: her Americanisms or her autism. After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, she couldn’t be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the body of the moody town groundskeeper turns up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger—and she’s also a potential suspect.

Milton Arrowsmith is murdered by a poisoned box of chocolates on the morning of an art fundraiser, and a valuable painting is stolen from his apartment. His friends hire Al, both for their own security, and to find out what happened to Milton. Al investigates their social circle, and finds out everyone has secrets, some even connected to the case. It turns out the killer is much closer to home than anyone could have imagined....

Mi chiamo Atena Ferraris e mi sa che non sono come gli altri, inutile girarci intorno. Mia madre mi ha sempre detto che siamo tutti diversi, e quindi è come se fossimo tutti uguali. Non ne sono convinta, ma mi fido di lei. Ho trent'anni, vesto fuori moda e odio le sorprese. E ho ben ventisette sveglie ogni giorno per ricordarmi di lavorare, di mangiare, di andare a letto, di smettere di pensare. Soprattutto faccio troppe domande, dicono. Perché per me è essenziale che ogni cosa abbia una spiegazione.

Miss Julia has promised her husband, Sam, to mind her own business. What a relief! She doesn't have to spring into action when a dead body is found in a toolshed six blocks from her house. Instead, she can concentrate on what's really important-like figuring out who's been passing bad checks in her name and, most important, preparing for Hazel Marie's impending due date. Then again, who else can figure out why that awful Thurlow Jones is trying to cast suspicion on someone Miss Julia feels certain is innocent? And, after all, what Sam doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

Pru and her husband, Christopher Pearse, are long overdue for a getaway. So when Pru is invited to redesign an Arts and Crafts garden in Cotswolds, she and Christopher jump at the chance. Unfortunately, their B&B is more ramshackle than charming, and the once thriving garden has fallen into neglect. With the garden's owner and designer, Batsford Bede, under the weather, Pru tackles the renovation alone. But just as she's starting to make headway, she stumbles upon Batsford's body in the garden - dead and pinned beneath one of his limestone statues.

It's a perfectly normal day for Kitt Hartley at her job at the University of the Vale of York library, until Detective Inspector Halloran arrives at her desk to tell her that her best friend, Evie Bowes, is under suspicion of murder. Evie's ex-boyfriend Owen has been found dead - with a fountain pen stabbed through his heart - and all the evidence points to her. Kitt knows there is no way Evie could murder anyone - let alone Owen, whom she adored.

Since her move to the country, Melissa Craig has become firmly established in village life. So, when one of the older residents fails to show up for a drinks party, Melissa goes to check on her. What she finds chills her to the bone: Her dear neighbor has been murdered, and the killer has painted a hideous smile onto her face. Melissa soon realizes that the death in her village bears the same trademark as a series of recent murders in the Cotswolds.

Beth Haldane is getting ready for a quiet Christmas with her son and their beloved grumpy cat when fellow single mother Nina begs her for help. Something fishy is going on with Mr. Potter, the solicitor she works for.... Business is slow, with the accounts empty. So why does his wife have such an impressive collection of designer dresses? Unable to resist a puzzle, Beth agrees to cover Nina’s job as a receptionist to get a closer look. But just as she finds a mysterious key hidden away in the office, Mrs. Potter arrives in floods of tears with terrible news for her husband.

No stranger to fear since meeting the unhuman Inspector Hobbes, Andy Caplet fears getting fired from his reporting job (again). His main concern, though, is a shady property developer who has designs on Sorenchester Common, and more annoyingly on his wife. Perhaps a trip to the mountains will help him relax, but this proves even more perilous with foul weather, inedible food, brigands, and a terrifying cruise. Fortunately, mountain leopards, Yetis and Flossy, the yak, take a shine to Andy.

Although he is a decorated officer of the Mounted Police, Madoc Rhys' tin ear has long been an embarrassment to his musically fixated family. But when his father's orchestra needs a policeman, the Mountie gets a chance to make daddy proud. It began as pranks among the brass instruments, but something is rotten inside the Wagstaffe Symphony, and is about to graduate to something criminal. Called in to look into the tensions within the group, Madoc arrives just in time to see the French horn player keel over.

When Evelyn Eldritch’s landlord Randolph is poisoned at his own James Bond-themed party, she needs to find the killer fast. Who killed him? The nephew and heir? The best friend? Or the faithful secretary? Evelyn wants to prove to Detective Inspector Taylor that she’s more than just a bumbling baker with a missing witness—that cat-turned-waitress spell is proving hard to explain! But how many clues did Evelyn miss while wrangling her diva cat? It’s clear Randolph drank a poisoned cocktail, but was the cyanide really meant for him?

À la suite d'un accident mortel survenu à la foire aux bestiaux de Bruncliffe, le commissaire-priseur Harry Furness engage Samson et Delilah pour mener l'enquête. Mais ce qui semblait n'être qu'une simple vérification de routine prend vite un tour plus sombre quand les détectives découvrent que cet accident a probablement été provoqué...