20 Cozy Mystery Books To Curl Up With This Weekend

Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series is chock-full of cozy mystery vibes. The Last Devil to Die is the fourth book in the series, and it follows the members of the Thursday Murder Club (Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron) when some shocking news reaches them. An old friend of the gang’s has been mysteriously killed, and a package he had been protecting has gone missing. As they seek to solve the mystery, the club finds themselves exploring the annals of the antiquing business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the antiques themselves—and they have no idea whom to trust. Under the pressure of a ticking clock, will the four comrades be able to solve the killing before it’s too late?

In the village of Shady Hollow, woodland creatures live in complete harmony; that is, until a toad turns up dead. Reporter Vera Vixen, a local fox, is relatively new to Shady Hollow, and is tasked with solving the case. When Vera catches wind that the death of the curmudgeonly toad might have been a murder, she is determined to get to the bottom of the case. As she stirs up more and more secrets in Shady Hollow, Vera discovers that the murder might not be the only mystery in the idyllic town. Between the unraveling mystery and the woodland setting, this is the perfect cozy mystery to curl up with.

Lila Macapagal has some very ambitious, slightly gossipy godmothers. April, Mae, and June (aka the Calendar Crew) are celebrating the opening of their latest business venture, a local laundromat. However, the celebration is cut short when a tragedy occurs: The building has been vandalized and the body of April’s niece has turned up next to a chilling message on the floor of the laundromat. As her godmothers are thrown into chaos, Lila wonders whether the threatening message was meant for the victim, or for the Calendar Crew themselves. When the police department proves unhelpful, it’s up to Lila and her network to find justice. And while she’s at it, she might just unearth some secrets about her aunties that she never expected to uncover.

Agnes Sharp and the other inhabitants of Sunset Hall, a home share for the unruly elderly nestled in the English countryside, have a dark secret. None of them are quite prepared for the arrival of a police officer on their front porch, telling them that in spite of their idyllic location, a body has been found in the house next door. While they each put on a long face for show, each member of Sunset Hall is secretly relieved that the body in question isn’t the other one—that is, the one they have hidden in the back shed. To solve their little problem, the gang is determined to solve the murder next door and blame their own digression on the killer. But will they be able to pull off solving a mystery while creating one of their own?

Daisy Ellery has a gift for baking deadly pies. She and her dog, Zoe, deliver pastries to all of the town’s women who have been wronged by abusive, horrible men with their mobile bakery van, Pies Before Guys. In doing so, Daisy gets to deliver sweet vengeance to the women of her city. However, Daisy learns that her killer dishes haven’t gone unnoticed when the diner owner, Frank, informs her that he’s seen a shadowy figure prowling around her van. When Daisy receives a letter threatening to expose her shady secret side business, she’s determined to figure out who whipped up this plot. With an upcoming statewide pie contest adding extra pressure to the situation, Daisy must discover who’s on her tail before her business crumbles.

Molly Gray isn’t like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. But since Gran passed away, 25-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all alone. Nevertheless, she throws herself into her work as a hotel maid and, even thought it can be difficult, does a fantastic job. But one day, Molly’s orderly life is turned upside down as she enters the suite of the wealthy and infamous Charles Black and finds him dead in his bed. Unfortunately, Molly’s unusual and quirky demeanor makes her the police’s lead suspect. She and her friends begin to search for clues to prove her innocence and clear her name, but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

One morning, Hayden McCall, a Seattle teacher and part-time blogger, wakes up in a stranger’s bed alone. Before she knows it, the police come knocking on the door looking for Latino dancer Camilo Rodriguez, suspecting foul play in his disappearance. What happened the night before? To find answers, Hayden seeks out two of Camilo’s close female friends to help, and learns that Camilo is a Dreamer whose parents had been deported years earlier. Convinced that the authorities won’t take a Brown boy’s disappearance seriously, the girls join Hayden’s hunt for Camilo. The trio begins to make connections between Camilo’s boss and ex-boyfriend, and end up discovering a twisted scheme that could potentially lead them to the truth about his disappearance and the fate of his family.

When courageous and clever Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry a young, handsome doctor named Ramu, she looks forward to living a quiet, reserved life. However, that plan quickly changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she spots an uninvited guest in the shadows of the garden. Within 30 minutes, the lively party turns into a murder scene, and a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime. Because Kaveri knows this wasn’t her doing, she launches a private investigation to find the real killer and discovers that hunting for a killer isn’t all too difficult when you have a talent for mathematics, a head for logic, and a doctor for a husband.

When an older gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, ship’s officer Timothy Birch is quick to declare it an unfortunately tragic accident. But a strong-minded Scotland Yard inspector by the name of James Temple is is positive that there’s more to this misfortune than meets the eye. Eventually, Birch agrees to investigate, and the trail quickly leads to the theft of a priceless painting—so priceless that its very existence is known only to its owner, and now the dead man. With only a few days until they reach New York, and even Temple’s purpose on board the Endeavour proving increasingly suspicious, Birch’s search for the culprit becomes quite dangerous.

Following the suspicious death of her father, the Earl of Morton, and the discovery that she and her much younger sister have been left without income or home, Lady Caroline takes a post as a lady’s companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton. Just as she is getting accustomed to her new position, her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites her and her employer to a house party in the countryside to celebrate her youngest daughter’s birthday. Mrs. Matilda Frogerton sees this as an opportunity to introduce her own rather wild daughter, Dorothy, and Caroline is eager to see her sister again. But all is not well at the Greenwood estate, as an elderly family member is found stabbed by a knitting needle. As Caroline and an unexpected ally—Mrs. Frogerton—attempt to solve the crime, they discover the culprit may be leaving bizarre clues as to who will be next.

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new friends alike. But Mr. Wickham is most definitely not invited, as his latest financial scheme has resulted in quite the array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got what he deserved. But when they all discover someone has actually murdered him, shock runs through the air. With everyone at the party being a suspect, it’s up to the two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is falsely convicted.

In 1923 London, Saffron Everleigh is in a race against time to free her wrongly accused professor before he’s put in jail forever. While at a dinner party for the university staff as a new research assistant, Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin. Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, due to having had a massive argument with Dr. Henry just a few days prior. As evidence mounts against Dr. Maxwell, Saffron realizes if she wants her mentor’s name cleared, she’ll have to do it herself. Joined by enigmatic Alexander Ashton, a fellow researcher, she uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons to uncover the truth of the investigation.

When psychic travel agent Leda Foley is approached by a man searching for his sister, she immediately agrees to help. The missing woman disappeared with a vintage orange car, a fat sack of her employer’s cash, and a grudge against her philandering husband—a man who didn’t even bother to report her as missing. In the meantime, detective Grady Merritt has misplaced his dog, and while he’s passing out bright pink “Lost” flyers, the wayward his pet appears with a human leg in his mouth. Grady learns that the leg has something to do with Leda’s new client, and soon the two cases become completely intertwined. Even though leads and evidence are low, Leda has a few ideas that might just be crazy enough to work. They’ll need one yellow dog, a fair share of teamwork, and perhaps a bit of Klairvoyant Karaoke to piece together the clues they need.

When she’s not tending the store, Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, she’s likes to hunt cryptids—creatures whose existence is rumored, but are never actually proven to be real. Even though it’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, she refuses to give up on it. So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, the authorities turn to Morgan for help. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the Death’s Door strait to hunt for the killer monster in the lake—but if they’re not careful, they could very well be it’s next victims.

Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is gorgeous in the fall. Bronwyn Crewse, owner of Crewse Creamery, knows just how to welcome the new season. At the annual Harvest Time Festival, residents will get a chance to enjoy hot-air balloons and hayrides, crown a new Harvest Time Festival Queen, eat delicious ice cream from Bronwyn’s truck. But Bronwyn ends up getting into some trouble when a festivalgoer is poisoned. Although the victim was a former Harvest Time Festival Queen, she was not a widely liked individual, which left no shortage of suspects at the festival. To clear her name before the chill of winter sets in, Bronwyn will have to investigate and hope that her detective skills won’t dessert her.

When Lana Lee’s best friend Megan asks her to help host a speed dating contest, she doesn’t see the harm in lending a hand. The night goes better than expected, and both Lana and Megan are thrilled with the results. But before they can celebrate, Rina Su, fellow Asia Village shop owner and speed dating participant, calls to inform Lana that the date she’s just matched with has been murdered. Under suspicion of foul play, Rina enlists Lana’s help in finding out what really happened that night. Without hesitation, Lana begins to dig into the man in question, quickly finding that Rina’s date has an unsavory past, leading to a long line of slighted women, angry neighbors, and perturbed co-workers—all of whom seem to have a motive.

When Lady Abigail Worthing discovers a dead body on her property, she quickly realizes it is her neighbor Stapleton Henderson’s wife. Although Abigail has very little connection to the deceased woman, she expects to be under immediate suspicion due to the color of her skin and her mother’s notorious past combined with her proximity to the crime. Because she can’t admit that she was attending a secret pro-abolition meeting at the time of the murder, Henderson surprisingly offers her an alibi in an effort to discover who really committed the murder. Together, him and Abigail investigate to find the killer, even with all of the odds stacked against them.

When Hannah gets asked to help bake pastries at her town’s local inn for a big fishing competition filled with big prizes and even bigger celebrities, the fun of it all comes to an abrupt halt when she spots a runaway boat on carrying the lifeless body of the event’s A-list spokesperson, TV show host Sonny Bowman. Right off the bat, it’s widely suspected that his overworked sidekick, Joey, had a hand in the case, as no one knew and had more bitterness towards Sunny than he did. So, did Joey finally take revenge on his pompous boss? Or, did a jealous contestant act in a fit of rage and knew Joey would be the easy target to blame?Determined to make sense of what she saw, Hannah joins forces with her sister, Andrea, to pinpoint the culprit before an innocent person is found guilty.

Rose Donovan looks for the good in everyone, but her sister-in-law, Peg, can make that a bit difficult for her at times. Even a former nun like Rose has her limits, and Peg definitely knows how to push them. But after forty years of bickering, they’re attempting to start over, and decide to join the local bridge club together o find some common ground. But Peg and Rose barely have a chance to celebrate their first win before one of the club’s most accomplished players is killed in his home. As the newest members, they fall under an instant spotlight of suspicion, so they decide to start some digging of their own to keep their names clear. Bridge is typically seen as a wholesome pastime, yet this group of senior citizens hold a ton of unexpected vices that make anyone a plausible suspect.

‘Our deal is over.’ That’s what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind. His new play is about to open in London’s Vaudeville theatre, and on opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play an awful review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next morning, she is found dead, and the dagger used to kill her has Anthony’s finger prints all over it. Once he’s found guilty of the murder and thrown into prison, Anthony soon realizes there’s only one person who can help him.