I’m on sabbatical for the month of September, but I am setting up some posts in advance, including this one. I have noticed in the last couple years some mysteries that are on the “cozy” side, but that shake up the usual formula – and I love them. Here are some examples you can read about:
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies (♥♥♥♥♥) – First in a new Pies Before Guys Mystery series about a woman who “bakes vengeance into her pastries.”
Finlay Donovan series – A struggling novelist discussing the plot of her new book with her agent is mistaken for a contract killer and offered a job. Soon, she is tangled up in a real- life murder.
Double Twist – After accidentally marrying a drug kingpin, Mia is eager to get her life back on the straight and narrow. But then she and some new friends stumble across a body. Then, when a friend is suspected of murder, Mia decides to dust off the skills of her old life to clear their name.
Skeleton Key
Dial A for Aunties – Described as “What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family? You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!” There’s a sequel now, Four Aunties and a Wedding, but I haven’t gotten to read it yet.
Under Lock and Skeleton Key – Tempest heads home to lick her wounds, hoping she can find something else to do so she doesn’t have to join her father’s business – Secret Staircase Construction. (They build secret rooms and sliding bookcases into their clients’ homes.) But when her former stage double is found dead inside a wall that was supposed to be sealed for more than 100 years, Tempest has to wonder if she was the intended victim. This is less unusual in structure, like the previous books, and more unusual because of the clever premise with Tempest and the family business.
