Discover Mysteries to Read
Adele Gossling seeks peace and small pleasures in Arrojo after the death of her father. Peace is exactly what she doesn’t get when she discovers her neighbor’s dead body in her gazebo. The police have a firm suspect but Adele is sure he’s innocent. But if he didn’t do it, who did? – “The story comes alive!”
Buy The Carnation Murder (Adele Gossling Mysteries: Book 1) Here
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Top 10 mystery reads by Kings River Life Magazine!
Mona Moon is not your typical young lady. She is a cartographer by trade, explorer by nature, and adventurer by heart. But there’s a problem. Miss Mona is broke. It’s during the Depression, and National Geographic has just turned down her application to join an expedition to the Amazon. What’s she to do? Perhaps get a job as a department store salesgirl. Anything to tide her over until a next assignment.
There’s a knock on the door. Who could this be in the middle of the night? Holding a revolver, Mona reluctantly opens her door to a man wearing a Homburg hat and holding a briefcase. “I bring glad tidings. Your Uncle Manfred Moon has died and left you as his heir to the Moon fortune. You are now one of the richest women in the country!” he says. Mona’s response is to point her revolver in his face. If the stranger is telling the truth, she will apologize. If he is a fraud, she will shoot him. That’s how Mona does things in 1933.
Buy Murder Under A Blue Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery Here
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CONTENDER FOR TOP MYSTERY 2022 BY KINGS RIVER LIFE MAGAZINE!
Mona Moon is planning her wedding to Robert Farley, Duke of Brynelleth, when preparations go haywire after one of the maids is found murdered. With just days before the blessed event, unwanted guests invade Moon Manor throwing a wrench into Mona’s plans and making it more difficult to seek the truth. Now Robert is a suspect in the maid’s murder. A missing gold brooch and twenty five-dollar bills are the only clues Mona has to find the murderer. She must clear Robert from suspicion or he will call off the wedding, saying he refuses to taint Mona’s good name. Can she discover the killer before the wedding, or will the murderer witness the breakup between Mona and Robert? Was that the intention all along?
Targeted Age Group:: 18+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
One thing Miss Abigail loves to do as an author is to write real people and events into her stories. “I am a student of history and love to insert historical information into my mysteries. My goal is to entertain my readers, but if they learn a little something along the way—well, then we are both happy."
[Read more…] about Murder Under A Bridal Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery by Abigail Keam
Royally Dispatched by P.C. James and Kathryn Mykel
A new series from best-selling authors P.C. James, and Kathryn Mykel–author of award-winning Sewing Suspicion.
A Duchess, her trusted butler and a nose-it-all furry sidekick. Can Lady Mary uncover the secret plan before she’s dispatched like her predecessor?
London, 1958. Lady Mary, Duchess of Snodsbury has received a royal dispatch to travel to London to prepare the last of the debutants for entrance into society. News of the demise of the previous trainer has Mary on high alert–as is her sharp nosed corgi, Barkley. Add in a gaggle of teenaged debutants, a protective butler, and a spirited cook and our heroine will be embroidered in a murder mystery of generations. Will the debutants prove helpful in uncovering secret plans or will she find out that the culprit is within her ranks?
Royally Dispatched is a fun first in series, cozy mystery with a historical nod. If you like crafty sleuths, animal sidekicks and a gang of amateur detectives, then you’ll love P.C. James and Kathryn Mykel’s Duchess of Snodsbury Series.
[Read more…] about Royally Dispatched by P.C. James and Kathryn Mykel
The Case at Barton Manor (Mrs. Lillywhite Investigates #1) by Emily Queen
1920’s London
If one more person gives Rosemary Lillywhite unwanted advice on when to stop mourning the loss of her beloved husband, she fears she will lose control of her sensibilities. All she wants is to be left alone to drown her misery in a glass of gin and tonic, but when Grace Barton knocks on the door of her dead husband’s investigative office, Rosemary faces a choice: come out of hiding or turn away someone in need of help.
As Grace recounts her tale of intrigue, Rosemary discovers a shared connection with the woman that has her accepting an invitation she can’t refuse. With bright young thing, Vera Blackburn, by her side Rosemary trades her widow weeds for a party dress and heads to a fancy do at Barton Manor where the drinks flow freely, but there’s an undercurrent of unease.
The night ends in a murder for which Rosemary’s brother is the prime suspect. What’s worse, the handsome chief inspector on the case is a man Rosemary knows well. He was her husband’s best mate, and he takes a dim view of lady detectives. Or maybe just of Rosemary becoming one.
What will it take for Rosemary to solve the crime before her brother hangs for a murder he didn’t commit?
Book one in The Mrs. Lillywhite Investigates series.
Are you ready to escape to the roaring twenties? For fans of Beth Byers, Leighann Dobbs, Lee Strauss, and cozy historical murder mysteries.
A light, cozy mystery with no swearing, graphic scenes, or cliffhangers.
[Read more…] about The Case at Barton Manor (Mrs. Lillywhite Investigates #1) by Emily Queen
Then There Were … Two Murders? by P.C. James
‘Then There Were … Two Murders?’ is the second book in the Miss Riddell Cozy Mystery series. It follows directly after ‘In the Beginning, There was a Murder’ where, at the end, Miss Riddell receives a letter asking for her help.
The letter is from an elderly widow living out in the English countryside. It’s winter 1953/54 and England is still suffering from the after-effects of WW2 and the costs of the ongoing Korean War. Miss Riddell goes to meet the woman, arrives at her house only to find her dead, suicide apparently.
She tells the police why she was invited by the woman — the woman thought her friend had been murdered months before. However, the police and coroner rule this death to be suicide and dismiss the idea the earlier old woman’s death was anything but natural causes.
Miss Riddell sets out to prove them wrong with her friend Poppy and the old lady’s dog, Jem. Unfortunately, like the police, Miss Riddell can find no conclusive evidence and her supporters give up. Her only hope in the end is to put herself in harm’s way and hope the murderer takes the bait.
[Read more…] about Then There Were … Two Murders? by P.C. James
In the Beginning, There Was a Murder: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery by P.C. James
When her best friend is murdered, Pauline Riddell finds she must take the law into her own hands if she is to see justice done.
It’s northern England, 1953, rationing is still in place and the Cold War is heating up. Her fiancé is out in Korea, where thankfully that war is winding down, and she’s just setting out in adult life working at a local armament factory. She’s hard-up, everyone is, but Pauline can see better times ahead, a home, a family, a responsible job, and she’s preparing for that future. Then her friend, Marjorie, is stabbed to death.
At first, Pauline is only concerned with helping the police. She’s intelligent and resourceful but also inexperienced, just out of school and still believing the world runs in trustworthy ways.
Then she finds the police think they’ve caught her friend’s killer and they’re winding down the investigation. Pauline now realizes this is a world where you can’t always leave things to others, you have to get involved yourself. But, as she investigates and puts pressure on the police for more action, she finds the killer wants her out of the way and the police have come to suspect she killed her friend. Can she catch the killer before she either faces the same fate as Marjorie or is hanged for killing her?
The decade of the 1920s is now one hundred years ago. Flappers and speakeasies are hallmarks of that era. Family conflicts, adultery and even murder were prevalent during this period of decadence and free love. AN UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE is a mystery set in the stately home of an upper crust family bringing the 1920’s to life—amidst a parade of death!
It is January 1928, New York City. Megan Cary, a young and stylish librarian, lives with her moody but wealthy husband, Adam, on Central Park South. Just as Meg can no longer tolerate her husband’s philandering, Adam mysteriously dies during a weekend trip to his hometown of Albany. Meg finds a suicide note, and the police want to quickly close the case. So does Adam’s mother, Helen Cary, the stern matriarch of the brownstone house she shares with her sister and brother-in-law, as well as her daughter and son-in-law. Skeptical that Adam would kill himself, Meg hires a private detective, Sloane Shepard, whose investigation ultimately unravels family secrets as a series of surprising deaths occur over two cold and snowy weeks in Albany.
Dark Secrets of the Bayou by Kim Carter
“Could a concealed crime from the 1800s, or the family’s estate itself, harbor keys to unlocking the past?”
Catherine “Tink” Mabry, an up-and-coming attorney, is shocked by her recent inheritance from her estranged family on the bayou. After her mother died during childbirth, Tink’s father had quickly relocated them to the big city of Atlanta, Georgia.
With no memory of her mother, she is determined to learn more about her lineage and decides to visit the bayou town of Kane, Louisiana. Candace, Tink’s co-worker, and her best friend agrees to make the trip with her.
Before she has time to explore her family’s history or decide what to do with the declining property, local murders plague Tink’s homecoming. She quickly finds herself caught in the middle of a multiple murder investigation—and quite possibly, the prime suspect. When Candace retreats back to Atlanta, Tink finds support among an unlikely cast of characters and sets out to discover clues that have haunted and tormented her family for generations.
Could a concealed crime from the 1800s, or the family’s estate itself, harbor keys to unlocking the past? The more they learn, the more they question whether some secrets are best left buried.
Amazon Reader: “Dark Secrets of the Bayou is Kim’s best novel yet. Spellbinding! I didn’t want to put it down, but I didn’t want it to end!”
Originally published as a novella, this prequel to the Emma Berry Mystery series in now novel length as Emma felt, on reflection, there was more to tell about events at the time. Set in the 1870s on the Murray River when paddle steamers were as common as buses, the story features a not-so-perfect heroine, interesting supporting characters, and a murder mystery that will, hopefully, keep you guessing.
A terminally ill woman. A Murder. An old promise. Emma can understand, in the current situation, why Matty wants to honour the old promise they made but she isn’t ready for that commitment yet. If she ever will be. Now life has been complicated by the arrival of visitors, including one with an even older grudge against her. Tension between family members and guests is immediately apparent. When a body is found in the stable some want to mark it an accident. Emma is charged with finding out the truth, a task made more stressful because of who she saw that night. But it’s her inability to keep her thoughts to herself that puts her in the path of the murderer. Who has the most to lose – or gain? Are family more deadly than strangers? And can she call time on that old promise without breaking her word?
Targeted Age Group:: suitable for any age group from 15 up
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I grew up and went to school by the Murray River. My father's family were involved with the paddle steamer trade for around 100 years. My great grandfather William Bennett is listed as the Captain of the PS Sapphire in the 1897 register of the Mildura Customs office. The riverboats at that time hauled wool to market and delivered supplies and anything else the sheep stations needed, also carrying passengers. The family later had the PS Britannia, a hawking boat, and later still, my grandfather and two of his brothers were fishermen operating from riverboats. It seemed a natural choice to set this series during the heyday of the paddle steamers before railways took over the bulk of the river trade.
