15 Spooky Halloween Cozy Mysteries to Read This Season

I love seasonal reading. I think that’s one reason why I love the cozy mystery genre so much. In today’s blog post, we’re going to be discussing Halloween cozy mysteries. Some contain haunted houses with strange noises, while others are host to Halloween festivals. There are so many fun Halloween cozy mysteries and they’re great to read as the spooky season approaches.

Books Mentioned in this Blog Post

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15 Halloween Cozy Mysteries to Read This Season

Mischief Nights are Murder by Libby Klein

Mischief Nights are Murder is the 8th book in the Poppy McAllister series by Libby Klein. I really enjoyed this installment and you can read my review here.

The story focuses on Poppy McAllister, a gluten free baker who runs a bed & breakfast with her Aunt Ginny. Halloween is soon approaching and she and Aunt Ginny figured there would be trick or treaters coming to the property. They even expected a few pranks. But what they did not expect was for there to be a murder.

Thanks to Aunt Ginny, their bed & breakfast gets roped into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour. It’s a fun event 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, but thanks to Aunt Ginny she gets roped into helping out with the tour.

On the night of their first dinner, everything goes wrong. They have to deal with squabbling guests, unexpected ghost hunters, and a prominent guest who turns up dead. It’s up to Poppy to use her sleuthing skills to collect clues and backstories about everyone on the tours. Because if anyone is going to figure who who did it (and why), it’s her.

This is a really fun series and I love that it’s set in the real beach town of Cape May, New Jersey. I have visited there a few times in the past couple of years and it’s always such a treat. I always think of Poppy and Aunt Ginny when I’m there.

Gourd to Death by Kirsten Weiss

Gourd to Death by Kirsten Weiss 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 to be read shelf for this spooky season!

Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah

Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah is book #4 in the Beacon Bakeshop series. Lindsey is a young woman who 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 by Paige Shelton. 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.

Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide by Liz Ireland

If you’re not familiar with the Mrs. Claus series by Liz Ireland, you’re in for a treat. It’s a really fun cozy mystery series that takes place in the North Pole, after April marries Nick and must move for his job. While most of the books have to do with Christmas, this second book is all about Halloween.

April convinces her husband Nick to bring Halloween to Santaland. And at first, it’s a hit! The elves are having so much fun carving pumpkins and dressing up for Halloween parties. But when one of the elves is found dead in the snow, April must start digging to find out who the killer is, before the Halloween season is ruined.

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.

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard by Ellen Byron

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard is book #6 in the Cajun Country Mystery series. It tells the story of Maggie Crozat, the proprietor of a historic Cajun Country B&B. She’s noticed a decrease in bookings ever since an app has made finding place to stay so easy. She decides to hold a a Halloween special along with some of the other B&bs in the area as a way to boost traffic and bring in more guests.

Guests are delighted by the regional crafts and Halloween activities. But visitors are rightfully scared when they start seeing the legendary rougarou, a cross between a werewolf and vampire, around town. When a murder occurs during the Resurrection of a Spirit play that Maggie helped organize, it’s up to her assist with the murder investigation. If she can’t figure out what’s going on, business might be hurt even further. And more lives may be lost.

The Spook in the Stacks by Eva Gates

The Spook in the Stacks is the 4th book in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series, which takes place in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Librarian Lucy Richardson is preparing for Halloween when she finds a dead body in the rare books section. Eek!

A wealthy businessman is planning to donate part of his historical collection to the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. But competition for the collection is fierce, which may be why he ends up dead in the rare books section. That’s enough to put Lucy in a weird frame of mind, but when spooky things start happening around the library without rhyme or reason, Lucy begins to question everything.

But with their methodical minds, it’s up to Lucy and her fellow librarians to solve the bone-chilling mystery of what happened to Jay Ruddle.

Catch Me If You Candy by Ellie Alexander

Catch Me If You Candy is book #17 in the beloved Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander. The series takes place in Ashland, Oregon and in this book, the community is preparing for a Halloween Festival on main street. It’s a giant Halloween Party in the streets, And bakery owner Jules Capshaw is ready!

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in town and there are people in costume everywhere. But when Jules finds a person in a dragon costume dead in front of her store, it’s up to the amateur sleuth to figure out what really happened. Can she figure out who the killer is before they strike again?

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.

Last Licks by Cynthia Baxter

Last Licks is book #3 in the Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe Mystery series. Ice Cream Shoppe owner Kate McKay is gearing up for a busy Fall season when she receives an interesting opportunity. A movie producer wants to film a scene in her ice cream shop and is willing to pay big bucks. She agrees, thinking it can’t be too much trouble. But when a famous actress drops dead in her store, she realizes the opportunity may be more than she bargained for. Especially when she starts digging into the actresses life and realized that there’s no one prime suspect… there’s many!

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 wealthy socialite Amethyst Applegate 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.

Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier

You really can’t talk about season cozy mysteries without mentioning the Lucy Stone series by Leslie Meier. This is book #22 in the longstanding series.

In the small town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, they are preparing for the Giant Pumpkin Fest. And Lucy Stone will be reporting on it for the Pennysaver. One of the big events at the Autumn Festival will be a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge. And it frustrates Lucy that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult.

But when Evan turns up dead on the day of the big contest, Bill is the prime suspect since he was the last one to see Evan before it happened. And the only way for his name to be cleared is for Lucy to use her reporting skills to investigate and find out the truth. This series is a favorite of many cozy mystery enthusiasts.

Be My Ghost by Carol J Perry

Be My Ghost is the first book in the Haunted Haven series by Carol J Perry. Main character Maureen Doherty is need of a life change after the company that she works fore files for bankruptcy. When she inherits an inn in Florida, she packs up her things and her golden retriever Finn and heads to Haven for a fresh start. It’s a big adjustment and she’s in for a big surprise when she finds a dead body on her property. Will the employees at the Inn or the ghosts lingering on the property be able to assist her in finding out what really happened?

P.S. You can read my review of books 3 and 4 here and here. I still need to catch up on the rest of the series but I just love Maureen, the haunted Haven crew, and their ghost stories.

In Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed today’s list of Halloween Cozy Mystery books that you can read this season. I love re-reading some of these books every season because they get me in the Halloween spirit. And this year, I’m hoping to read even more from the list. Fall is just my favorite time of year. If it’s yours too, I think you’ll enjoy some of the murder mysteries on this list.