With the days getting shorter, now is the perfect time to cosy up and make a dent in your TBR. But if you need help finding something to read that's cheerful and engrossing enough to make long nights pass quickly, try one of these delightful whodunnits! With quirky settings, loveable characters and none of the gore and grit you commonly find on the crime shelves, these cosy crime mysteries are a delightful companion for when you just want to curl up with a good book.
The Deadly Dispute
Amanda Hampson
The delightfully entertaining new novel in The Tea Ladies cosy crime series, with murder and mystery, nostalgia and history, and plenty of tea and biscuits.
1967: Hazel’s new job at the docks quickly turns perilous when she stumbles into the criminal underworld that lurks beneath the surface. A million in gold coins has vanished from a cargo ship and a dead body washed up. Suddenly, she’s in over her head.
Disillusioned with her life, Betty is led astray by a charismatic new friend and finds herself exposed in more ways than one – until a crisis drags her back to reality. Living in a high-class brothel, Irene gets wind of a threat that could destroy her livelihood. She takes on the Maltese mafia and becomes involved in a dangerously sticky situation.
When one of the tea ladies disappears, they face their greatest challenge yet, pushing their detective skills to the limit.
Marble Hall Murders
Anthony Horowitz
Susan Ryeland has had enough of murder.
She’s edited two novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, and both times she’s come close to being killed. Now she’s back in England and she’s been persuaded to work on a third.
The new ‘continuation’ novel is by Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace who was the biggest selling children’s author in the world until her death exactly twenty years ago.
Eliot believes that Miriam was deliberately poisoned. And when he tells Susan that he has hidden the identity of Miriam’s killer inside his book, Susan knows she’s in trouble once again.
Tea and Cake and Death
Gareth and Louise Ward
The Bookshop Detectives are back on the case!
In this rollicking new adventure, Garth and Eloise (and Stevie) must sniff out a prolific poisoner ahead of a vital fundraising event, the Battle of the Book Clubs. But time is running out and people are dropping like flies – and the attempted murders seem to be circling closer to the people and places they care about …
Could Pinter, the infamous serial killer from Eloise's past, somehow be involved? And when anyone could be a suspect, how can Garth and Eloise keep their customers, their small town and their beloved bookshop safe?
Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective
Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar
Two years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, Miss Caroline Bingley is staying at her brother's country estate close to Pemberley, wondering if there's more to life than cribbage and paying calls.
So when Georgiana Darcy's maid, Jayani, vanishes and Georgiana disappears in search of her, Caroline races after them to London, only to discover a shocking, cold-blooded murder.
Soon Caroline is careering through the grimy underbelly of the city, demanding answers of malevolent footmen, reluctant magistrates, Indian dockhands, and mysterious East India Company men.
As Caroline exercises her superior powers of investigation, she finds out exactly what an accomplished, independent woman with a sharp mind and a large fortune can achieve.
Curtain Call to Murder
Julian Clary
A murder on stage. A cast full of suspects. Can dresser to the stars and true crime obsessive Jayne unravel the mystery?
It is opening night at the London Palladium, and tensions are running high amongst the feuding cast of "Leopard Spots." Amongst them are an ageing lothario, a foul-mouthed national treasure, and a comedian-turned actor – all vying for the spotlight.
When an on-stage accident forces an unexpected intermission, it is clear to dresser to the stars Jayne that the backstage drama has turned deadly. Can she step out of the wings and identify the killer before it is too late? Or will murder make an encore …
The Benevolent Society Of Ill-Mannered Ladies
Alison Goodman
Welcome to the secret life of the Colebrook twins: unnoticed old maids to most, but unseen champions to those in need – society be damned.
Lady Augusta Colebrook, 'Gus', is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline. What follows is an adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.
Read it now before the next installment comes out at the end of April!
Murder in the Dressing Room
Holly Stars
Meet Misty Divine, drag queen turned amateur sleuth in a stand-out new murder mystery!
By day, shy accountant Joe hides behind their desk and plays by the rules. By night, Joe takes to the stage as Misty Divine, a star of the London drag scene. But when Misty's mentor, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room, Misty finds herself under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Because Lady Lady was murdered – and Misty and her fellow performers quickly become prime suspects. Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the biases of the police, Joe is determined to uncover the killer in their midst. But what can they, a mere accountant, possibly do? This is a case for Misty Divine …
The Death of Dora Black
Lainie Anderson
Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don't let that fool you. She's a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.
When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora's workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?
Death in the Arctic
Tom Hindle
When aspiring travel writer Chloe Campbell is invited aboard a luxury airship flying to the North Pole, she thinks she's bagged the opportunity of a lifetime.
But she hasn't had long to admire the dazzling icy views before a fellow passenger is found dead in their cabin.
Trapped at the top of the world, the group agrees a tragic accident has occurred. But as the hours tick by, fear turns to doubt.
It seems everyone's a suspect.
And it isn't long before the passengers begin to turn on each other …
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect
Benjamin Stevenson
The bestselling follow-up to the international hit Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone is now available in a compact paperback, with a bonus short story! If you haven't already read it, you must pick up this deliciously witty locked room mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.
When the Australian Mystery Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time – I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn't pan out.
The program is a who's who of crime-writing royalty – the debut writer (me!), the forensic science writer, the blockbuster writer, the legal thriller writer, the literary writer, the psychological suspense writer. But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives.
Together, we should know how to solve a crime. Or commit one.
How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?
