I’d always been a bookworm, but once I settled into a not-so-exciting career, I became a voracious reader of romance and mystery to escape the monotony of my day job. I’d frequent the library during my lunch breaks and devour the titles by my favorite authors. While this was entertainment, it was also educational. My love for writing became rekindled, and I started studying cozies and romantic mysteries with the goal to write what I most loved to read: fun, lighthearted mystery. I especially enjoy writing and reading humorous whodunits that are populated by quirky, loveable characters as reflected by my list. I hope you enjoy them too!
Sunshine Vicram is the kind of protagonist I absolutely love. She’s smart, funny, and perfectly (or imperfectly) capable of taking care of herself while coming to terms with the situation she’s found herself in: Sunshine’s the newly elected sheriff in town–quite an interesting development considering that she never ran for the position. It’s her parents’ doing to lure her back home.
Sure, Sun recognizes this as the complete manipulation it is, but the position affords her the opportunity to solve a mystery from her past. And so this book begins with this great set-up. I knew from page one that I’d love it. The writing is clever and snappy, and the story is laced with wonderfully snarky humor. I was so entertained that I immediately ordered books two and three in the series!
Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, strong cups of coffee - and, now, a nationwide manhunt?
Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff, expecting nothing more than a quiet ride. But now a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of this is reminding Sunshine why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that the trouble at her daughter's new school, plus a kidnapped rooster named Puff Daddy, and, well, the…
Years ago, a fellow writer recommended the Stephanie Plum series to me as a must-read because the writing was so laugh-out-loud funny. She wasn’t kidding. Not only did I find this incredibly entertaining, I laughed all the way through the book and became a huge fan of the series.
Hanging out in the Jersey “burg” with Stephanie and her family, for me, is just plain fun. Is it improbable that an unemployed lingerie buyer could become a successful bail-bond recovery agent and apprehend a savvy cop on the run? Especially when she has some personal history with the guy? You bet, but thanks to Janet Evanovich’s deft comic touch with all the characters populating Stephanie’s world, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and funny page-turner.
Stephanie Plum is down on her luck. She's lost her job, her car's on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free.
Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company. If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000. But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn't easy . . .
And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what it's like to be pursued. Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to…
An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction.
Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to…
I’ve been a fan of Jennifer Crusie’s writing for a long time. She’s a master at populating her stories with quirky, relatable characters. Add Bob Mayer’s talent for providing Crusie’s protagonist with a worthy and possibly dangerous ally, sprinkle in a dead body (or two!), and a fun romantic mystery to kick off their Liz Danger series is born.
I’m a sucker for stories with small-town charm and family complications, and this book has that in spades, along with a couple of mysteries to solve. As a bonus, the developing relationship between Liz and Vince is sizzling good fun with top-notch banter. Loved it!
From the NY Times Bestselling duo that wrote Agnes and the Hitman, the first book in a new series.
Liz Danger has come home after fifteen years to deliver a giant teddy bear for her mother’s birthday (color: Guilt Red) when a cop with a great ass picks her up for speeding, fixes the missing lug nuts in her back wheel, pulls her out of a ditch, doesn’t give her a ticket, and helps her avoid her family. This is a man with real potential.
Vince Cooper picks up Liz for speeding and his life gets a lot more interesting.…
I found this book to be an excellent, well-crafted mystery, but what put it on my best books list was Chet, the four-legged narrator. He’s not an entirely reliable narrator, but the reader can count on his doggy behaviors to be consistently reliable as he serves as his owner’s faithful sleuthing sidekick.
Just as Chet has a nose for sniffing out trouble, he also has a nose for Slim Jims, burgers, and the other dogs (his tribe members) in the neighborhood, and can be easily distracted. This keeps the story light and delightfully entertaining. I was charmed from page one.
The first book of the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series, an “enchanting one-of-a-kind novel” (Stephen King) that is “nothing short of masterful” (Los Angeles Times).
Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, and Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, are quick to take a new case involving a frantic mother searching for her teenage daughter. This well-behaved and gifted student may or may not have been kidnapped, but she has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. With Chet’s highly trained nose leading the way, their hunt for clues takes them…
It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over, and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s…
A CIA assassin who is forced to go undercover as a girly girl in the tiny bayou town of Sinful, Louisiana? From that premise alone, I knew this would be a fun read, and wow, does Jana DeLeon ever deliver in book one of her Miss Fortune Mystery series.
It’s a fabulous fish-out-of-water story filled with quirky characters of all ages, secrets that refuse to stay buried, and wrongs to be made right. There’s a splash of romance and plenty of laughs in this well-paced, sassy whodunit. My favorite kind of lighthearted mystery!
CIA assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever-in Sinful, Louisiana. With a leak at the CIA and a price placed on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off-grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out…
Human lie detector Charmaine Digby is psyched to put her ability to the test as the County Coroner's new investigative assistant. But she sure never expected she’d need it to solve a murder! Not until she got her first assignment. Interview the hunky doctor reporting the suspicious death of Trudy, a family friend, and one of several elderly patients at the hospital whose heart mysteriously stopped.
Determined to unravel this mystery, Char’s on the case, much to the irritation of her cop buddy, who doesn't want her to stick her nose in his investigation. But she had better keep her eyes open, or the next body on the way to the morgue could be hers!
Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.
Enter a captivating world where science fiction and thrilling suspense converge. After plummeting from the roof of Helix Unbound, Amanda awakens to a life devoid of memories. Desperately longing to fit in, yet sensing she harbors an extraordinary secret beneath her seemingly ordinary facade, she explores the unfamiliar world in…
