As you may have noticed in part 1 and part 2 of our cozy mystery round-ups, we have a soft spot for these comfortingly fluffy books… and their groan-worthy, pun-filled titles. And, amazingly, those authors just keep coming up with ever-weirder themes. So here’s another round of the best/worst mystery novel titles, featuring everything from snow globe shops to haunted home remodels.
Bushel Full of Murder
Author: Paige Shelton
Farmers’ markets are notorious murder zones, as proved by the fact that this is #6 in a series. Becca Robins is planning to sell her homemade jams and preserves this summer, but change is coming to the market: a bunch of food trucks have set up for an extended stay, selling cupcakes, tacos, hot wings, and other snacks. Even Becca’s cousin Peyton has gotten in on the act with a fancy hot dog truck. Squabbles over food permits break out, and tensions rise between the food trucks and the market stalls — until the town’s business manager is murdered. Peyton, already accused of stealing money and secret recipes from a previous restaurant job, is the main suspect. Can Becca clear her cousin and find out the killer’s identity?
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Death: A Comfort Food Mystery
Author: Christine Wenger
As if cozy mysteries aren’t literary comfort food to begin with, here’s a series that is actually set in a homicidal diner. When Trixie Matkowski isn’t cooking up hearty food at the Silver Bullet Diner, she’s helping her friend Antoinette start up a drive-in movie theater in the empty lot next to the diner. But when Antoinette’s biker boyfriend Nick’s body is discovered during construction — and the murder weapon is traced back to her — Antoinette falls under suspicion. Trixie must nab the real killer before her friend goes to jail and her diner suffers from the bad publicity. Naturally, rib-sticking recipes are included.
If You’ve Got It, Haunt It 
Author: Rose Pressey
In tiny Sugar Creek, Georgia, Cookie Channel (THESE NAMES) runs a vintage clothing boutique called “It’s Vintage, Y’all.” When she goes to the estate sale of the late socialite Charlotte Meadows, Cookie is just thinking about nabbing some bargains for her shop. Much to her surprise, Charlotte’s ghost makes an appearance, offering unsolicited fashion tips and begging Cookie to find her killer. With “help” from the clotheshorse ghost and a maybe-psychic cat, Cookie takes the case. I sure hope she’s got a vintage deerstalker somewhere in her store!
Inspector Specter
Author: E.J. Copperman
Detective Lieutenant Anita McElone is a firm skeptic whe
n it comes to ghosts. So it’s sheer desperation that drives her to Alison Kerby’s haunted guesthouse to seek supernatural help in finding out who murdered her former partner. But when Alison consults her resident ghosts, Paul and Maxie, for help with the case, Paul’s ghostly sleuthing turns up some disturbing information about the late detective. Before Alison can share this information, Detective McElone has also vanished. Can Alison and her helpful spirits find the detective and solve the mystery of her partner’s death?
Snow Way Out
Author: Christine Husom
There’s snow escape from the puns! In this brand-new (January 2015) series debut, curio shop manager Camryn Brooks is crazy about snow globes — not only does she sell them, she also hosts snow-globe-making classes with her friend, coffee shop owner Alice Nelson. After her students have left, Camryn discovers a strange new globe in her shop, depicting a man apparently sleeping on a park bench. On her way home, she is shocked to see the same tableau in real life — except the man has been stabbed to death. The police clearly think Camryn is a little nuts, but she’s determined to get to the bottom of this wintry mystery. Snow-globe lovers will be delighted to learn that project ideas and how-tos are included.
Spell Booked
Authors: Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene
This is literally a mystery about retired witches. Molly, Elsie, and Olivia used to run a magical curio shop called Smuggler’s Arcane… until their powers faded with the passing years, and they were forced to retire. First, though, they have to find a trio of suitable new witches and pass on their precious spellbook to the new recruits. But no sooner have they begun the witchy interview process than Olivia turns up dead — and their spellbook has been stolen. Molly and Elsie have to get their groove (and spellbook) back by battling a powerful and dangerous young witch before they can escape with their lives.
Stuck on Murder
Author: Lucy Lawrence
City girl Brenna Miller moves to a small New England town, hoping to escape her checkered past and get a fresh start. The decoupage thing comes in when she takes a job at Vintage Papers, a fancy paper shop owned by an old college roommate. But, of course, the quiet rural life isn’t so quiet, and she inevitably discovers the town’s mayor, murdered and stuffed into a trunk. Meanwhile, she gets involved with Dom, a smoking-hot guy who may have mob connections, and the beginnings of a love triangle with her cute landlord Nate start to develop. Can Brenna nab the killer and make a go of it in her new small-town life? Or will her past catch up with her?
This Old Homicide: A Fixer-Upper Mystery
Author: Kate Carlisle
OK, I think we can call it — there’s never, ever going to be a cozy mystery title that tops This Old Homicide. Contractor and amateur detective Shannon Hammer (!) specializes in the quaint old Victorians of her coastal California town. When Shannon’s elderly neighbor Jesse Hennessey fails to show up at the diner where he’s a regular, she stops by his house to check on him, and finds Jesse dead (apparently of a heart attack) and the house burglarized. Rumor has it that the thief was after a priceless necklace that Jesse claimed he’d recovered from a sunken ship, but he was infamous for his tall tales, and Shannon’s not buying it. But when his death is ruled a homicide — and quickly followed by another murder — Shannon has a new project on her hands: nabbing the culprit.
Romeow and Juliet
Author: Kathi Daley
How about that? There’s even a Washington-themed series for my fellow Seattleite mystery lovers. On fictional Madrona Island, fourth-generation islander Caitlin Hart lives in a cabin with her aunt and helps to run the Harthaven Cat Sanctuary. She also helps out at her friend Tara’s coffeehouse/bookstore/cat cafe, appropriately called Coffee Cat Books. Cait and her dog find a member of the island council dead in the back room of the old fish cannery (now abandoned, as the island struggles to reinvent itself as a quaint tourist destination). Meanwhile, Romeo — a stray cat that has followed Cait home — is causing trouble with his romantic attentions toward Juliet, the grouchy neighbor’s very expensive show cat. Does Romeo have some feline intuition about the case? And can Cait catch the killer before the negative media coverage sinks the island’s tourism prospects?
- Spring 2020 Book Preview - May 15, 2020
- Winter 2020 Book Preview - January 1, 2020
- Fall 2019 Book Preview - September 26, 2019
Leave A Comment