Halloween Themed Cozy Mysteries To Read This Season
Mischief Nights Are Murder by Libby Klein
I read this book recently (you can read my full review here) and I just loved it. The characters are so funny and I just adore the setting.
Poppy McAllister is a gluten free baker as well as a B&B owner. With Halloween approaching she and her Aunt Ginny figured there would trick or treaters and maybe a few pranks going on, but they did not expect for there to be a murder at their property.
See, their B&B gets roped into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour where guests from the local area visit a different property every evening to have a nice dinner and listen to a ghost story or two. Poppy doesn’t believe her B&B is haunted but she has been involved with solving a few murders in the past, so she somehow gets roped in.
On the night of their first dinner, everything goes wrong. Not only do they have fighting guests but a very unlikely guest turns up dead. Poppy must use her sleuthing skills to collect clues and backstories about every guest on their tours, so that she can figure out who did it… and why.
I loved this story because of the Cape May Setting (I recently visited Cape May myself! You can read about my vacation in this blog post). There are so many great hotels, inns, and B&Bs in the area that it was really easy to imagine Poppy & her Aunt Ginny at their house.
Poppy has a LOT to deal with in this book and she finds herself in a lot of goofy situations, thanks to Aunt Ginny and everyone else at the B&B. Not only was this a great mystery but it also made me laugh. 🙂
Gourd To Death by Kirsten Weiss
This is book #5 in the Pie Town series. Val, the owner of Pie Town, is invited to judge the pie making contest at the local pumpkin fest. But things get tricky when her boyfriend (who is also a local cop) decides to enter the contest with his family’s “special” pumpkin pie recipe. As if things couldn’t get worse, a contestant in the contest is found crushed by a giant pumpkin.
So much drama!
Chief Shaw from the police decides that Val’s boyfriend shouldn’t be involved with the case, and instead should be a suspect. It’s up to Val and her fellow pie maker Charlene to clear Gordon’s name and find out what really happened.
Personally, I love it when a cozy heroine has to save her significant other from trouble, so this sounds like a great read to me. Good thing I already have it on my shelves!
Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah
I’m currently in the middle of this one and I love it so far!
This is book #4 in the Beacon Bakeshop series. Lindsey has a very interesting life. Not only does she run the Beacon Bakeshop, but she also lives in a local lighthouse with the best roommate ever: her Newfoundland dog, Wellington (Pictured on the cover).
Everyone in town knows the lighthouse is haunted and she is always having to shoo people away who are lurking on her property, looking for a scoop. She’s not exactly thrilled about it, but she allows her best friend Kennedy to host a podcast at the lighthouse on Halloween night. With a professional crew around, they’re bound to find some sort of ghost. Right?
But things go wrong when Lindsey finds a clown costume hanging from a tree outside. But even worse, it’s not just the costume. It’s a body.
Lindsey must work with her friends, family, and neighbors to figure out who was killed in her yard. And why!
A Killer Maize by Paige Shelton
This is book #4 in the Farmer’s Market series. It’s county fair season, and our main character Becca Robbins is there to sell some of her handmade jam. But she has a run in with her ex husband, who is operating a shooting range at the event. When a body is found with a gunshot wound, the county fair is declared a crime scene and Becca can’t help but notice some sketchy behavior from her ex. She’s determined to figure out who the murderer is, before she becomes their next target.
A Waffle Lot of Murder by Lena Gregory
Gia Morelli, owner of the all day breakfast cafe, is looking to start some new Fall traditions. She lives in Florida now, but she’s originally from New York, and things are certainly a lot different. She gets involved with the Haunted Town Festival as a way to advertise her new pumpkin spice pancakes, but is in for more than she bargained for when she and her friend find a dead body at the event. The body belongs to the event organizer!
Rumors begin to fly and people around town believe that there might have been some ill will against the event organizer. Could it be a murder? It’s up to Gia and her friend Savannah to find out.
Death of a Neighborhood Witch by Laura Levine
This is book #11 in the Jaine Austen Mystery Series. Jaine is in trouble when her cat, Prozac, scares the neighbor’s parakeet. The bird belonged to the grouchiest of neighbors and so Jaine is concerned, but also doesn’t place to much weight on it. But when the neighbor is found dead, everyone is worried. Cryptessa wasn’t very nice and there could be any number of people who wanted her dead.
Jaine must work to investigate her fellow neighbors and figure out who murdered Cryptessa.
Fudge Bites by Nancy Coco
This book takes place during a Zombie Walk in Mackinac Island. Our main character Allie follows her cat to an alley, where there’s a dead body. Is it possible that somebody used the Zombie Walk as the perfect cover up for a murder? Allie must work with Rex, a member of the local police, to solve the murder.
A Catered Halloween by Isis Crawford
Bernadette and Libby are sisters who run a catering business together, called A Little Taste of Heaven. How awesome it that? I love it. Their latest event is a charity event at the Peabody school. But when a person is found dead in the haunted house, they wonder who could be the murderer among them.
Apparently Amethyst wasn’t a very likable person, so a lot of people had motive to kill her. This book sounds intriguing to me. I bought a used copy on thriftbooks last year, and I’m looking to read it soon. It also looks like you can get the eBook for $1.99 on Amazon.
Love Halloween books? You can see my list of Halloween cozies that are available to read on Kindle Unlimited here.
xo Marian
