10 books like Murder with Peacocks

By Donna Andrews,

Here are 10 books that authors have personally recommended if you like Murder with Peacocks. Shepherd is a community of 7,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world.

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The Quiche of Death

By M. C. Beaton,

Book cover of The Quiche of Death

It takes guts to write a protagonist who’s hard to like. Agatha Raisin, a tough businesswoman who retires to the tiny village of Carsley, is so beautifully flawed she’s impossible to ignore. She’s somewhat of a bully, prone to conniving, and deeply competitive, which is why she buys her quiche at a shop and enters it as her own creation. Of course, someone drops dead after eating it. This crusty woman of a certain age just bulldozes her way through the investigation and her flaws are so funny and refreshing that you wind up rooting for her. She’s a breath of fresh air in the cozy mystery world.

The Quiche of Death

By M. C. Beaton,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Quiche of Death as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy' ASHLEY JENSEN

'No wonder she's been crowned Queen of Cosy Crime' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'A Beaton novel is like The Archers on speed' DAILY MAIL

The first Agatha Raisin mystery from bestselling author M. C. Beaton

__________________________

Revenge is a dish best served warm...

High-flying public relations supremo Agatha Raisin has decided to take early retirement. She's off to make a new life in a picture-perfect Cotswold village. To make friends, she enters the local quiche-making competition - and to make quite sure of first prize she secretly pays a visit…


Homicide in Hardcover

By Kate Carlisle,

Book cover of Homicide in Hardcover

I love the adventures of bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright. There are 15 books in the series and each one features a well-known book as a backdrop that is integral to the plot. The plots are clever with a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Most of all I enjoy the interaction of the characters – Brooklyn was brought up in a commune and was named after the bridge beneath which she was conceived … which says it all really!

Homicide in Hardcover

By Kate Carlisle,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Homicide in Hardcover as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book expert Brooklyn Wainwright discovers that murder is always a bestseller in the first novel in the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series.

Brooklyn Wainwright is a skilled surgeon. Sure, her patients might smell like mold and have spines made of leather, but no ailing book is going to die on her watch. The same can’t be said of Abraham Karastovsky, Brooklyn’s friend and former employer. 
 
On the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration, Brooklyn finds her mentor lying in a pool of his own blood. With his final breath Abraham leaves Brooklyn with a cryptic…


Her Royal Spyness

By Rhys Bowen,

Book cover of Her Royal Spyness

This gloriously comic 1920s mystery series is a favorite because the endearing protagonist is in the ludicrous position of really poor little rich girl. Despite royal blood, Lady Georgiana Rannoch has no money. Being 34th in line to the throne means she is not allowed to get a job. With the only option of marrying a dreadful prince, she struggles in abject poverty in an unheated London mansion. A most unlikely person transforms her fate, the Queen of England. She engages Georgie to spy on her difficult son and heir. Meanwhile Georgie’s half-brother Binky might lose the family castle to a scam. Muddles multiply until the discovery of the family nemesis dead in the family bath. With Binky arrested only Georgie is rash and brave enough to save the day.

Her Royal Spyness

By Rhys Bowen,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Her Royal Spyness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE FIRST ROYAL SPYNESS MYSTERY!

The New York Times bestselling author of the Molly Murphy and Constable Evan Evans mysteries turns her attentions to "a feisty new heroine to delight a legion of Anglophile readers."*

London, 1932. Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the English throne, is flat broke. She's bolted Scotland, her greedy brother, and her fish-faced betrothed. London is a place where she'll experience freedom, learn life lessons aplenty, do a bit of spying for HRH-oh, and find a dead Frenchman in her tub. Now her new job is to clear her long family name...


Cloche and Dagger

By Jenn McKinlay,

Book cover of Cloche and Dagger

Full disclosure: I love all Jenn McKinlay’s books, but the Hat Shop Mysteries are my favorite – probably because I know the area of London she writes about. I also love the Cupcake Mysteries, the Library Lover’s Mysteries as well as her stand alones. Her sense of humor is laugh-out-loud funny and the plots, twisty and fun. 

Cloche and Dagger

By Jenn McKinlay,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cloche and Dagger as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An all-new series from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay

Not only is Scarlett Parker’s love life in the loo—as her British cousin Vivian Tremont would say—it’s also gone viral with an embarrassing video. So when Viv suggests Scarlett leave Florida to lay low in London, she hops on the next plane across the pond. Viv is the proprietor of Mims’s Whims, a ladies’ hat shop on Portobello Road bequeathed to both cousins by their beloved grandmother, and she wants Scarlett to finally join her in the millinery business.

But a few surprises await Scarlett in London. First, she…


Louisiana Longshot

By Jana DeLeon,

Book cover of Louisiana Longshot

This series, A Miss Fortune Mystery, begs to be devoured but like anything that is this enjoyable savoring prolongs the enjoyment. I so much love vising the small town of Sinful LA. Fortune, a CIA operative who needs a place to hide meets up with 2 kindred souls, Ida Belle and Gertie, who just happen to have mad skills after serving in the military as young women, over 50 years ago. Talk about strong women, men who adore them and all wrapped up with a cozy mystery. I must pace myself. Ms. DeLeon needs to write faster. 

Louisiana Longshot

By Jana DeLeon,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Louisiana Longshot as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It was a hell of a long shot....


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…


Strangled Prose

By Joan Hess,

Book cover of Strangled Prose

As owner of a dusty bookshop and mother of a teen daughter, widow Claire Malloy is hesitant to host a book party for a smutty romance author. But the two women are friends, so she does, and this being a cozy mystery, murder results. Claire’s droll wit, the funny situations, and the sparring between Claire and the handsome detective keep the pages turning in this well-plotted mystery. Strangled Prose is the first book in the Claire Malloy series.

Strangled Prose

By Joan Hess,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Strangled Prose as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Claire Malloy's friend has written a trashy novel. Claire agrees to host a book party but at the end of the evening her friend is found strangled. She had admittedly offended many people but who could have hated her with such passion?


Bimbos of the Death Sun

By Sharyn McCrumb,

Book cover of Bimbos of the Death Sun

Travel back in time, reader, to the dark ages of the 1980s and a sci-fi convention full of eccentric gamers, puffed-up speakers, and fans unleashing their alter egos. And of course… murder. The hero, a professor with a surprise hit sci-fi book on his hands, is a charming fish out of water determined to do the right thing. Though the technology described in the book is dated, the quirky characters can still be found at any con today.

Bimbos of the Death Sun

By Sharyn McCrumb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bimbos of the Death Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A sci-fi convention gets a dose of true crime in this Edgar Award-winning mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of the Ballad novels.

When Virginia Tech professor James Owen Mega wrote a fictional account of his real-life research, he hardly expected it to get published. But when a publisher changed the title of his novel to Bimbos of the Death Sun, James—under the pen name Jay Omega—becomes an overnight sci-fi star. Invited to the annual fan convention Rubicon, James is both a fish out of water and a Guest of Honor among the Trekkies and sword-wielding cosplayers. But…


Merit Badge Murder

By Leslie Langtry,

Book cover of Merit Badge Murder

The murder and the laughs in this mystery begin on page one—which is no mean feat. Retired CIA agent Merry Wrath is now leading an Iowa girl scout troop. A murdered Al Qaeda operative tangled in the ropes course puts her back on the case again… and with her old and very attractive handler. Add in a handsome detective, and the sparks and laughs are flying in this good-natured and well-plotted romp.

Merit Badge Murder

By Leslie Langtry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Merit Badge Murder as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From USA Today bestselling author, Leslie Langtry comes a mystery series of laugh-out-loud proportions...

When CIA agent Merry Wrath is "accidentally" outted, she's forced her into early retirement, changes her appearance, and moves where no one will ever find her—Iowa. Instead of black bag drops in Bangkok, she now spends her time leading a young Girl Scout troop. But Merry's new simple life turns not-so-simple when an enemy agent shows up dead at scout camp. Suddenly Merry is forced to deal with her former life in order to preserve her future one.

It doesn't help matters that the CIA sends…


Wish You Were Here

By Rita Mae Brown, Sneaky Pie Brown,

Book cover of Wish You Were Here

Not only is the Mrs. Murphy cozy mystery series written from the point of view of a sleuthing cat, it’s actually (allegedly!) written by a cat—the feline in question being Sneaky Pie Brown, author Rita Mae Brown’s real-life tabby companion, who supposedly makes use of Ms. Brown’s typewriter on the sly. Wish You Were Here is the first in a delightfully long series of cozy mysteries set in the fictional small town of Crozet, Virginia—where murders seem to happen with startling regularity, and where postmistress Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen’s beloved cat, Mrs. Murphy, always seems to be one step ahead of the official investigators. I fell hard for the acerbic, no-nonsense Mrs. Murphy and for this series, which was a direct inspiration for my own “Homer Whodunit” mystery series. 

Wish You Were Here

By Rita Mae Brown, Sneaky Pie Brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wish You Were Here as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy--and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen.  Small towns are like families:  Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets.  Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town-until its secrets explode into murder.  Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her.  When Crozet's citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message "Wish you…


Isle of Dogs

By Patricia Cornwell,

Book cover of Isle of Dogs

If you like reading fast action and involved mysteries, you’ll enjoy Patricia Cromwell’s novel, Isle of Dogs. This action-packed story delves into the historical plots surrounding a small island off the coast of Virginia, where it is said ancestors of long-ago pirates reside, and to this day a sunken treasure remains at the bottom of the sea off their shores. The Governor of Virginia decides to build speed bumps on the small island where the preferred mode of transportation is golf carts. Disarrays begin, so State Trooper Andy Brazel is assigned to investigate and discovers a gang’s intentions to raid the island in search of the treasure.

Isle of Dogs

By Patricia Cornwell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Isle of Dogs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Isle of Dogs is the final book in the Andy Brazil series, following the success of Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross, from bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.

Chaos breaks loose when the Governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be installed on all streets and highways, and warns that motorists will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric inhabitants of Tangier, fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay, respond by threatening to secede and set up an independent state, claiming that their independence lies in the history of America's first settlers, those who set…


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