Cozy Mystery Humor

Unsure if she is looking for Mr. Right, or Mr. Every Other Saturday Night, divorced mother of two, Laurel McKay reluctantly joins THE LOVE CLUB, a popular local dating service. Dressed to kill, she meets bachelor number one at a trendy restaurant. But the date is a bust, literally, when the guy decides Laurel is dessert, and she breaks his nose with her cell phone. It gets even worse when the man is found murdered the next morning, and Laurel has his blood on her clothes.

This mystery novel lampoons the foolish pretentions of individuals caught up in the investigation of whether Sunny was murdered and, if so, where was her body. Two lonely people meet at the Happy Place Bar, where a swimsuit model, who isn’t one, seduces the anti-hero - a PI - who isn’t one, with hints of sex to assist her in finding murdered Sunny’s body.

Baylee Scott has the gift of touch. Except it’s not a gift. Seeing other people's memories doesn't make her very popular in Reed Hollow. It was one of the reasons she left the small town as soon as she was able. But after losing her ghost-hunting husband, Baylee returns home to help her brother run the family business: a defunct antique shop and tea house. It’s a dull existence that leaves her dreaming of adventures elsewhere.

Murder has come yet again to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of Detective Simon Grave, his “almost invisible” partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and his new assistant, Charlize, a simdroid (an android lookalike of a famous person) who fancies herself a match for Sherlock Holmes, in the simulated body of Charlize Theron. When a body is discovered on a deserted beach, alongside a deactivated Betty White simdroid, the game is afoot.

Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark, and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, doesn't think so. The 34-year old half-Latina, half-WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve. For Lee, this has become personal. From San Francisco's famous Embarcadero to quaint Princeton-by-the-Sea, she is out to find the killer. And for the killer, this has become personal, too.

The body of a woman who insulted everyone she met on her short trip to Moonstone Lake is found floating in the lake. Is it a murder or an accident? Arizona Summers and her psychic dog Nutmeg love to solve crimes. The new chief Keith Wesley makes it clear he doesn’t want her help. Once he realizes Arizona is the go-to person with whom the townspeople share their deepest and darkest secrets. The handsome new chief tries to get back in Arizona’s good graces but she doesn’t make it easy.

On Paradiso Island, the wedding of the century is set to begin. It's going to be the perfect wedding, except for one small problem...a staff member at the club has inconveniently gone and gotten herself murdered mere days before the event. Now it's up to Detective Sam to solve the murder before anyone else can get hurt. Between shifty social media influencers, disgruntled staff, and one annoyingly handsome translator, they will have their work cut out for them.

When snarky food critic, Josie Tucker, heads to Austin, Texas, to wax philosophical about the local barbecue joints, she stumbles on to a decades' old missing person case. With the help of a local reporter, a Goth ghost hunter, and a bunco-playing transvestite, she tries to unravel the heart-tugging, hidden history before the whole place goes up in smoke.

Bad news comes in . . . fours? For romance author and former pool shark Jessie Hewitt it does. She hasn't written a decent sex scene in months, she hasn't shot a decent game of eight ball all year, and don't even ask about her supposed love life. And just when Jessie thinks things can't get any worse, a body lands on her car. Uber-hunky and altogether infuriating cop Wilson Rye suggests she concentrate on solving her other problems and leave the murder investigation to the experts. But does Jessie agree? Take a guess.

Welcome to the Lost Souls ParaAgency, where agents work together to ensure the safety of humans and prevent exposure of the paranormal community. The assignment - stop a spooky spirit from terrorizing a reality television ghost hunter. Lex wants nothing more than to hang up his agent status and take Amira to a deserted island for a romantic getaway, but his manipulative grandfather has other plans. Once again coerced into taking an assignment he doesn’t want, Lex’s top priority is Amira’s safety - whether she appreciates his overly cautious behavior or not.

Essie Cobb hates the pandemic. She misses her friends Opal, Margery, and Fay. But now she’s restricted to her room, and she can’t go anywhere or do anything. Or can she? Essie is not one to take adversity lying down - or rather, shuffling along behind her walker. She decides to try her hand at Zooming - that is, chatting online with her friends and acquaintances. Little does she know that this adventure is just beginning, and before long, Essie and her pals will be solving a crime that the police haven’t been able to solve for years!

Eli’s asked to perform his magic act at a swanky charity gala, the Zombie Ball - a former zombie pub crawl which has grown into an annual high-class social event. What begins as a typical stage show for Eli turns deadly when two of the evening’s sponsors are found murdered under truly unusual circumstances. Compounding this drama is the presence of Eli’s ex-wife and her new husband, Homicide Detective Fred Hutton. Under pressure to solve the crime before the 800 guests depart, Eli and his detective nemesis go head-to-head.

In all his travels across the state, there is one place that Hubie hasn’t been able to access: Trinity Site at the White Sands Missile Range, where the first atomic bomb was detonated. Deep within the range are ruins once occupied by the Tompiro people, whose distinctive pottery is incredibly rare and valuable. When an old associate claims to have a buyer interested in spending big money on a Tompiro pot, Hubie resolves to finally find a way into the heavily guarded military installation.

Before making a somewhat notorious name for himself as a salvager of antiquated pottery and other desert artifacts, Hubie Schuze was an eager student at the University of New Mexico - right up until they booted him out. Now, he’s back at UNM as a pottery teacher. It should be a breeze, but campus life has changed dramatically in the past 25 years. From cell phones to trigger warnings to sensitivity workshops, Hubie has to get up to speed fast or risk losing control of his class.

When Essie finds an over-the-top, flowery valentine from an unknown individual in her mailbox, she goes into detective mode. Who could this person be? Why would they send her such a card? Essie is determined to find out, even if she has to ask for help from her three friends - Opal, Marjorie, and Fay. When Essie’s snooping takes a dangerous turn, she finds herself thrust into the middle of a police investigation. Will Essie help the police solve this Valentine’s Day mystery, or will she strike out on her own against an unknown foe who has anything but romance in mind?

Jolene’s back in Kickapoo for her mother’s annual birthday bash at the DQ, which is trouble enough, but when her checkered high school past comes back to haunt her, the problems turn decidedly deadly. Thanks to her old sweetheart, Sheriff Jerry Don Parker, high school wasn’t that bad for Jolene, but with bodies turning up faster than beer cans in the river, they’re a darned sight worse now.

On the edge of the Navajo Nation, rookie paralegal Naomi Manymules pauses on a lakeside clifftop to enjoy a moonlit moment. She hears someone swimming in the darkness far below her, and a boat drifts out of the shadows. When she glimpses something that might be a naked butt shining in the moonlight, she decides to head for home. What she saw was the bare behind of a murdered local sleaze. His passing upsets exactly no one, but his wife can offer only a coyote for an alibi.

It's the day of Bubba and Willodean's wedding. The sun is shining. There isn't a cloud in the sky. The pergola is decorated in high style with baby's breath and ribbons streaming galore, and the preacher is ready. So what can possibly go wrong? Just about everything can go wrong. While 22 types of canapes are being served along with gallons of mimosas, Bubba finds the one thing that he well and truly did not want to find. There's a dead body in his house. Then the dead body disappears while Bubba goes for help. Then the body reappears.

Lexi Carmichael: helping geeks everywhere get some. Okay, so it's not exactly as it seems, but that's what's happening on the dating reality show called Geeks Get Some that I, geek extraordinaire Lexi Carmichael, have been called to work on. Not that I'm a fan of reality shows (I can barely deal with my own reality). Still, I've been sent to Hollywood to find a hacker who's screwing with the results of the show's online voting system.

Things aren't going well for private investigator and mom Margie Peterson. Her husband, Blake, is claiming his taste for drag queens is "just a phase." Her first-grade daughter isn't fitting in at her new posh elementary school, Holy Oaks Catholic School. And her hippie mother has swept into town and replaced the family's store of processed foods with seaweed snacks. To top it all off, a late-night phone call from her boss, Peaches Barlowe, has pulled Margie into a very strange murder case, one that involves the Holy Oaks headmaster, George Cavendish.