Many of us have a lot more free time lately, which makes it the perfect time to get started on a fun mystery series. We’ve put together this list of cozy (or cozy-adjacent) titles that are perfect to curl up with while sipping your favorite tea (or coffee, or wine, or whatever you think you need right now). So check them all out below, and then click the links to access them right away in eBook and eAudiobook formats.
The Scottish Bookshop Mysteries by Paige Shelton
Kansas born and bred laid-off museum archivist Delaney Nichols answers an ad for a position with a rare and used book and manuscript shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her new life across the ocean is full of adventure, mystery, and a touch of romance with a pub owner who looks amazing in a kilt.
Description from PaigeShelton.com.
BOOK 1: THE CRACKED SPINE
In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland to start a job at The Cracked Spine. She doesn’t know much about what she’s gotten herself into, other than that the work sounds exciting, and that her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime. Edwin has promised that she’ll be working with “a desk that has seen the likes of kings and queens, paupers and princes,” and Delaney can’t wait to get started.
When she arrives, she meets her new Scottish family; also working at the Cracked Spine are Rosie, perpetually wrapped in scarves, and who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a nineteen-year-old thespian with a colored past and bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected. An unexpected bonus is Tom the bartender from across the street, with his piercing eyes, and a rolling brogue — and it doesn’t hurt that he looks awfully good in a kilt.
But before she can settle into her new life, a precious artifact — a previously undiscovered First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays — goes missing, and Edwin’s sister is murdered, seemingly in connection to the missing folio. Delaney decides to do some sleuthing of her own, to find out just what the real story is behind the priceless folio, and how it’s connected to the tragic death, all without getting harmed herself.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Dandy Gilver by Catriona McPherson
Set in post-World War I Scotland, these intricately plotted mysteries, rich with historical detail, feature spirited characters. The independent and wealthy Mrs. Gilver is an excellent sleuth who uses her wit and wry humor to investigate murders. These first person stories are engaging and use amusing dialogue to lighten the seriousness of each murder.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: AFTER THE ARMISTICE BALL
Dandy Gilver, her husband back from the War, her children off at school and her uniform growing musty in the attic, is bored to a whimper in the spring of 1923 and a little light snooping seems like harmless fun. And what could be better than to seek out the Duffy diamonds, stolen from the Esselmont’s country house, Croys, after the Armistice Ball? Before long, though, the puzzle of what really happened to the Duffy diamonds has been swept aside by the sudden, unexpected death of lovely young Cara Duffy in a lonely seaside cottage in Galloway. Society and the law seem ready to call it an accident but Dandy, along with Cara Duffy’s fiancé Alec, is sure that there is more going on than meets the eye. What is being hidden by members of the Duffy family: the watchful Lena, the cold and distant Clemence and old Gregory Duffy with his air of quiet sadness, not to mention Cara herself whose secret always seems just tantalizingly out of view? Dandy must learn to trust her instincts and swallow most of her scruples if she is to uncover the truth and earn the right to call herself a sleuth.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook
Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Mysteries by Deborah Crombie
Set in and around London, these intricately plotted police procedurals star Scotland Yard superintendent Duncan Kincaid and down-to-earth Detective Inspector Gemma James, who solve difficult murder cases using both skill and intuition. Complex, appealing central characters, authentic depictions of contemporary English life in various locales, and skillfully executed plots combine to give readers an immersive “classically British” mystery experience.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: A SHARE IN DEATH
A week’s holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid’s vacation before it’s begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid’s keen sense of duty won’t allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | eAudiobook
Penny Brannigan Mysteries by Elizabeth J. Duncan
Spa owner and habitual amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan lives in the little Welsh town of Llanelen, where the characters are quirky and lovable and there’s always a new mystery to solve. Elizabeth J. Duncan’s charming cozy mystery series begins with The Cold Light of Mourning.
Description from Macmillan.
BOOK 1: THE COLD LIGHT OF MOURNING
The picturesque North Wales market town of Llanelen is shocked when Meg Wynne Thompson, a self-made beauty who has turned out to be something of an unpopular bride, goes missing on her wedding day… and turns up dead. The last person believed to have seen her is manicurist Penny Brannigan, an expatriate Canadian who has lived in North Wales for almost twenty-five years. When Penny notices that something is not quite right at the funeral of her dearest friend, she becomes emotionally invested in the case, and sets out to investigate.
It seems that several people, including the bride’s drunken, abusive father, had reasons to wish Meg dead, but when the trail leads to her groom’s home, an explosive secret will shake the small town.
With its bucolic Welsh setting and vivid, colorful characters, this mystery is sure to delight the most discerning of traditional-mystery fans.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook
Granny Reid Mysteries by G.A. McKevett
G.A. McKevett writes the Granny Reid Mystery Series which started in October 2018 and is set in Georgia. It features Granny Reid, previously known as Stella Reid who used to run the Moonlight Magnolia Agency.
Description from Cozy Mysteries Unlimited.
BOOK 1: MURDER IN HER STOCKING
As the Moonlight Magnolia Agency revisits old memories on Christmas Eve, Granny Reid takes the reins back thirty years to the 1980s–back when she went by Stella, everyone’s hair was bigger, and sweaters were colorful disasters. But murder never went out of style…
Christmas has arrived in sleepy McGill, Georgia, but holiday cheer can’t keep temperamental Stella Reid from swinging a rolling pin at anyone who crosses her bad side–and this season, there are plenty. First an anonymous grinch vandalizes a celebrated nativity display. Far worse, the scandalous Prissy Carr is found dead in an alley behind a tavern. With police puzzled over the murder, Stella decides to stir the local gossip pot for clues on the culprit’s identity…
Turns out Prissy held a prominent spot on the naughty list, and suspects pile up like presents on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the more progress Stella makes, the more fears she must confront. With a neighbor in peril and the futures of her beloved grandchildren at risk, Stella must somehow set everything straight and bring a cunning criminal to justice before December 25th…
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Exham on Sea Mysteries by Frances Evesham
Frances Evesham writes the Exham on Sea Mystery Series which is set in England. It features Libby Forest who arrives on the coast after years in a disastrous marriage, determined to build a new life making cakes and chocolates in Exham on Sea.
Description from Cozy Mysteries Unlimited.
BOOK 1: MURDER AT THE LIGHTHOUSE
The body on the beach throws Libby Forest’s new life into turmoil. Everyone in town knows the dead woman under the lighthouse, but no one seems to care how or why she died. Only Libby believes someone murdered the ageing rock-star.
A woman talks to Libby. Then she, too, dies…
Discover how Exham on Sea’s first female sleuth, helped by an enormous dog called Bear and an aloof marmalade cat, unpicks the clues to solve the mystery.
Amateur female sleuth Libby Forest arrives in the small town after years in a disastrous marriage, determined to build a new life making cakes and chocolates in Exham on Sea. She joins forces with the attractive but secretive Max Ramshore and risks the wrath of the townspeople as she pieces together the jigsaw to solve the mystery of Susie Bennett’s death.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Murder on Location by Sara Rosett
Sara Rosett writes the Murder on Location Mystery series which started in 2014 and is set in England. It features location scout and Jane Austen aficionado, Kate Sharp. In the first 2 books Kate is sent to the quaint village of Nether Woodsmoor with its lush gardens, budding hedgerows, and mellow stone cottages to work on a Jane Austen production.
Description from Cozy Mysteries Unlimited.
BOOK 1: DEATH IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE
Location scout and Jane Austen aficionado, Kate Sharp, is thrilled when the company she works for lands the job of finding locations for a new film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but then her boss, Kevin, fails to return from a scouting trip to England. Afraid that Kevin has slipped back into some destructive personal habits he struggles with, Kate travels to England to salvage Kevin’s and the company’s reputation before word gets out that he is missing.
Things go from bad to worse when Kate arrives in Nether Woodsmoor, a quaint village of golden stone cottages and rolling green hills, only to find no trace of Kevin except his abandoned luggage. Even the rumpled, easygoing local scout they consulted, Alex, doesn’t know where Kevin might be.
Increasingly worried about Kevin and with an antsy director waiting for updates about the preproduction details, Kate embarks on a search that includes a pub-crawl and cozy cottages as well as stately country manors. But Kevin remains missing, and she begins to suspect that the picturesque village and beautiful countryside may not be as idyllic as they seem.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
Hoopla eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Miss Silver Mysteries by Patricia Wentworth
Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and teacher who becomes a professional private detective, in London, England.
Description from Goodreads.
BOOK 1: GREY MASK
Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.
Never one for the heroic, Charles’s first instinct is to let the police settle it. But then he hears her voice. Margaret, his long lost love, is part of the gang. To unravel their diabolical plot, he contacts Miss Maud Silver, a onetime governess who applies reason to solve crimes and face the dangers of London’s underworld.
Description from Amazon.
Available Formats:
Hoopla eBook
Book Collector Mysteries by Victoria Abbott
BOOK 1: THE CHRISTIE CURSE
In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared—making headlines across the world—only to show up eleven days later at a spa under an assumed name. During those eleven days, did she have time to write a play?
Jordan Bingham needs a new job and a new place to live. She’s back in Harrison Falls, New York, living with her not so law-abiding uncles, in debt thanks to a credit card–stealing ex and pending grad school loans.
Enter the perfect job, a research position that includes room and board, which will allow her to spend her days hunting down rare mysteries for an avid book collector. There’s just one problem: her employer, Vera Van Alst—the most hated citizen of Harrison Falls.
Jordan’s first assignment is to track down a rumored Agatha Christie play. It seems easy enough, but Jordan soon finds out that her predecessor was killed while looking for it, and there is still someone out there willing to murder to keep the play out of Vera’s hands. Jordan’s new job is good… but is it worth her life?
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippman
Reporter-turned-private investigator Tess Monaghan stars in these fast-paced murder mysteries set in Baltimore. The suspenseful series is intricately plotted, keeping readers as interested in Tess’s personal life as in her labyrinthine murder investigations. Each compelling novel features a large cast of interesting secondary characters and plenty of menace.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: BALTIMORE BLUES
In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz’s death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer’s notoriety—and his taste for illicit midday trysts—makes the front-page news in every local paper except the Star, which crashed and burned before Abramowitz did.
A former Star reporter who knows every inch of this town—from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill—now-unemployed journalist Tess Monaghan also knows the primary suspect: cuckolded fiancé Darryl “Rock” Paxton. The time is ripe for a career move, so when rowing buddy Rock wants to hire her to do some unorthodox snooping to help clear his name, Tess agrees. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the Charm City shadows. And Tess’s own name could end up on the ever-expanding list of Baltimore dead.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Inspector Thanet by Dorothy Simpson
Set in Sturrenden, an imaginary town in Kent, the Inspector Thanet series takes us into the lives of Inspector Thanet and his sergeant, Mike Lineham, as they solve crimes, mostly by delving into the life and relationships of the murder victim, sometimes with the help of their own family members.
Description from howtoread.me.
BOOK 1: THE NIGHT SHE DIED
Luke Thanet is a British police inspector with a soft heart, bad back, and bloodhound’s nose for murder. When a young woman is found stabbed through the heart with a kitchen knife, Thanet and his partner, the brusque young Mike Lineham, rush to the scene. Julie Holmes lies dead in her front hall, wrapped in her overcoat, her handbag missing. The perpetrator could have been a burglar, a jealous husband, or a spurned lover. But Detective Inspector Thanet never leaps to conclusions, and always takes his time; it seems the key to finding this killer lurks twenty years in the past.
When Julie was a child, she witnessed a murder—a traumatic event so scarring she repressed it entirely. Thanet believes that before she died, Julie’s memory came back—and so did the killer…
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
Hoopla eBook
Chief Inspector Gamache by Louise Penny
Though these procedural mysteries feature a police homicide squad based in Montreal, Quebec, they also provide leisurely and thoughtful depictions of Quebec life and often feature the well-drawn, quirky residents of the obscure village of Three Pines. The lead detective, Armand Gamache, has a poet’s soul and brilliant coaching and teaching skills, guiding his team to solve baffling murder cases.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: STILL LIFE
As the early morning mist clears on Thanksgiving Sunday, the homes of Three Pines come to life – all except one…
To locals, the village is a safe haven. So they are bewildered when a well-loved member of the community is found lying dead in the maple woods. Surely it was an accident – a hunter’s arrow gone astray. Who could want Jane Neal dead?
In a long and distinguished career with the Sûreté du Quebec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has learned to look for snakes in Eden. Gamache knows something dark is lurking behind the white picket fences, and if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will begin to give up its secrets…
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | eAudiobook
Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell
This long-running series of engaging Victorian mysteries features a large cast of characters, first and foremost the Scotland Yard inspector Gerald Witherspoon and his loyal housekeeper Mrs. Hepzibah Jefferies. Although Inspector Witherspoon is known by his colleagues as as a brilliant investigator, it’s really Mrs. Jefferies, a policeman’s widow, who solves crimes on behalf of her dim (but kind) employer.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: THE INSPECTOR AND MRS. JEFFRIES
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon… and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’s polished detection skills are up to the task… proving that behind every great man there’s a great woman—and that a crime-solver’s work is never done.
When a doctor is discovered dead in his own office, Mrs Jeffries is on the look-out for a prescription for murder, determined to discover the culprit, despite how her employer feels about interviewing suspects…
He hated questioning people. He could never tell whether or not someone was actually lying to him, and he knew, shocking as it was, that there were some people who lied to the police on a regular basis.
Description from Goodreads & Amazon.
Available Formats:
eBook | eAudiobook
Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley
These charming mysteries set in a post-World War II English village star a precocious, nosy pre-teen whose impoverished, delightfully eccentric family lives in their ancestral mansion. Flavia identifies murderers by using her wits and her knowledge of village life; the bleak concern of her mother’s disappearance when Flavia was a baby slightly darkens her lighthearted first-person narration of convoluted puzzles.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE
It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.
For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | eAudiobook
Shetland Island by Ann Cleeves
Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series is set in the most northerly community in the UK. The islands are closer to Norway than to Edinburgh and in their bleak beauty they have much in common with Scandinavia. Her books feature Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez, who grew up in remote Fair Isle, and the mysteries are quiet, intense and give an insight into the domestic and working lives of Shetland Islanders.
Description from Macmillan.
BOOK 1: RAVEN BLACK
It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter’s eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance…
The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man – loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine’s neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
Before they were infamous, the Mitford Sisters were like any other well-off English girls – in need of a chaperone. This series puts clever Londoner Louisa Cannon into this role, where she quickly takes to her charges. But when “accidental” deaths begin to strike their social circles, Louisa will need all of her wits to protect herself and the girls from blame.
Description from Novelist.
BOOK 1: THE MITFORD MURDERS
It’s 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle.
Louisa’s salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy – an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.
But when a nurse – Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake – is killed on a train in broad daylight, Nancy and amateur sleuth Louisa find that in postwar England, everyone has something to hide…
Description from Goodreads.