For more Cozy authors, check the Genre Giants of the Culinary and Animal Mysteries.
The following web sites provide detailed information about Cozy Mystery books and authors.
These gentle reads are perfect for curling up with on a rainy day. Cozy Mysteries usually center around a small community - a rural village, a manor house, a small town - and generally shy away from gruesome details or harsh language. Instead, the focus is on character development and, of course, the mystery puzzle itself.
Most of the Classical Mysteries like Agatha Christie's are "Cozies," as are most of the Animal and Culinary Mysteries.
Lavender Lies by
Texas herbalist China Bayles must put her upcoming nuptials on the back burner when a murder investigation entangles her friends and neighbors.
Evan Blessed by
Evans' search for a hiker gone missing in the Welsh hills places his fiancé in the path of a killer in this tantalizing installment in this award-winning author's cozy series
Murder Boogies with Elvis by
The Southland's most mismatched set of siblings -- flamboyant Mary Alice and prim and proper Patricia Anne -- are back and ready to boogie in a King-sized story of hip-shaking mayhem and murder most tacky. At an age when most women are slowing down, oversized, over-the-top Mary Alice a.k.a. "Sister" -- is always on the lookout for the next good time...and the next husband. Now Sheriff Virgil Stuckey is in line to become Sister's Mister Number Four, which has practical Patricia Anne's level head filling to the brim with a million and one prewedding details. But first there is another important occasion the sisters are looking forward to attending: a gala benefit to raise money for restoring one of Birmingham's unnatural wonders, a towering metal monument to the god Vulcan lately fallen into disrepair. The grand finale is thirty sequined Elvis impersonators high kicking in unison. Enjoying the show from the front row, Patricia Anne and Mary Alice are in the line of fire when one of the dancing Kings keels over dead right into the bandstand. It seems this Elvis clone, one Griffin Mooncloth, has not only left the building ... he's left this life! At first the sisters figure that the cause of death was a massive heart attack induced by one too many pelvic gyrations. But the unfortunate Mooncloth's very dramatic demise is soon discovered to be the result of a switchblade knife plunged into his back. The plot thickens when the murder weapon is discovered in Patricia Anne's very sensible purse. The perennially law-abiding "Mouse" is understandably all shook up -- and mortified to find herself the prime suspect in this bizarre case of Elvis elimination. And with Mary Alice's well-coiffed head in a sunflower-yellow-and-magenta cloud over her impending nuptials, Patricia Anne's the one who will have to get herself out of very hot water indeed.
Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist by
Working with her retired CIA friend John Farrell, Mrs. Pollifax must smuggle a manuscript out of Jordan, a document that encodes the shocking truth of Saddam Hussein's reign.
Hardly are the two airborne when the coils of Middle Eastern intrigue begin to unwind. Mrs. Pollifax's seatmate is not the affable Arab businessman he pretends to be. It is not imagination that persuades Mrs. P. that wherever they go, she and Farrell are followed. To elude their pursuers in such a politically volatile country isn't easy. In fact, it can be downright deadly.
The Charming Quirks of Others by
ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 7 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective.nbsp; Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction's most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life's questions, large and small. Isabel has been asked for her help in a rather tricky situation: A successor is being sought for the headmaster at a local boys' school. The board has three final candidates but has received an anonymous letter alleging that one of them has a very serious skeleton in the closet. Could Isabel discreetly look into it? And so she does. What she discovers about all the candidates is surprising, but what she discovers about herself and about Jamie, the father of her young son, turns out to be equally revealing. nbsp; Isabel's investigation will have her exploring issues of ambition, as well as of charity, forgiveness, and humility, as she moves nearer and nearer to some of the most hidden precincts of the heart. nbsp; Here is Isabel Dalhousie at her beguiling best: intelligent, insightful, and with a unique understanding of the quirks of human nature.
The Merry Wives of Maggody by
Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755) is perceived of as a two-bit hick town, filled with one-bit hicks. But Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanan seeks to change that perception with her latest scheme--a charity golf tournament. This presents a bit of a challenge, since no one in Maggody plays golf and there is no course. But when the prize for the first hole-in-one is announced--a top of the line bass boat--nearly everyone in town develops a new-found interest in the sport. The town goes golf crazy, trying to learn the sport in time to win the bass boat, with limited success and maximum domestic disorder. Sheriff Arly Hanks, who has better things to worry about, just wishes it would all go away.When a small-town golf instructor wins the bass boat on the first day of the tournament, it looks like all the excitement is over. But the next morning, when he's found dead, sitting in the parking lot in the front seat of the bass boat, the prize is once again up for grabs and nearly everyone in town is a murder suspect.
Foyle's War. The White Feather
The arrest of a young girl on a sabotage charge brings Foyle into contact with a group of English Nazi sympathizers.
