19 Cozy (-ish!) Mysteries Sure to Warm Your Chilly Autumn Nights

Take a fictional look at the personal mystery surrounding the queen of the cozy mystery!

In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car–strange for a frigid night. Her WWI veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away. The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted.
Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining what is real, and what is mystery. What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?
Agatha Christie’s masterful storytelling may never be matched, but her untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all.

Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady living above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown in this cozy mystery.

She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Until the morning Vera trudges downstairs to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, a flash drive grasped in his hand. After calling the cops like any good citizen would, she tucks the flash drive into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could. Nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. But Vera does not expect to form friendships with her customers and care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

Welcome to the cozy world of…
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes. They call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. A local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph next to the body, and the Thursday Murder Club suddenly finds themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

Well…not exactly a cozy mystery, but…

With 18 books in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, Louise Penny has a faithful following, many of whom have crowned her the queen of the cozy mystery, though she refuses to wear the title. I’ve read the first three books of the series (Still Life is the first), but most fans agree her storytelling really takes off with book four, which is next up for me.
Set in the small Canadian village of Three Pines with an intriguing cast of fallible but endearing characters, follow Inspector Gamache as he commands his forces — and this series — with integrity, quiet courage, and a growing affection for this tiny but beautiful hamlet in rural Canada.

what can be cozier than Queen Elizabeth II herself secretly SOLVING crimes in this delightfully clever series?

Early spring of 2016. Queen Elizabeth is preparing to celebrate her 90th birthday at Windsor Castle when one of the guests, a young Russian pianist, is found strangled to death in one of the Castle bedrooms. MI5 suspects foul play. Unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, Her Majesty has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes and discreetly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth won’t hesitate to use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

The streets of london may be mysterious, but they’re decidedly not cozy!

In London’s immediate post-war days, two unlikely partners have formed The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Miss Iris Sparks is a woman with a dangerous – and never discussed – past in British intelligence. Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge is a war widow with a young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Their new client, a happily married woman dying of cancer, has come to them to find a new wife for her husband. Shortly thereafter, she’s found dead in Epping Forest, under suspicious circumstances. At the same time, Bainbridge is attempting to regain legal control of her life from the conservator who has been managing her assets. When that conservator is found dead, Bainbridge herself is one of the prime suspects. Attempting to make sense of two deaths at once, to protect themselves and their clients, the redoubtable owners of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau are once again on the case.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER – “A delightful cocktail that mixes elements of the Bridgerton series, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries . . .” People (Book of the Week)

When a wealthy bachelor drops dead at a ball, a young lady takes on the decidedly improper role of detective in this action-packed comedy of manners and murder. Feisty Beatrice Steele is not a “true lady,” according to her small English township’s strict code of conduct, and her secret obsession with true crime cases would have her banished from respectable society forever. She vows to put her obsession behind her because eligible bachelor Edmund Croaksworth is attending the approaching autumnal ball. If she can’t win his heart, their disgusting cousin will inherit the family’s estate. The arrival of a disgraced yet alluring detective, followed by Croaksworth’s sudden death in the middle of a minuet, throws the evening – and Beatrice’s attempts at best behavior – into chaos. A frenzy of panic, fear, and betrayal erupts, and Beatrice must rise above decorum and decency to pursue justice before anyone else is murdered.

in this modern cozy mystery, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage–and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
When Jack happens upon a dead body while kayaking and quickly becomes a suspect, Lana pulls on her wig and sets out to find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.
As the three women uncover lies, family vendettas, and land disputes, their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory.

“A summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Jane Austen’s Mr. Wickham–one of literature’s most notorious villains–meets a sudden and suspicious end in this brilliantly imagined mystery…” –Alexander McCall Smith

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, but definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. Tempers flare and secrets are revealed, yet everyone is shocked when Wickham turns up murdered. Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party–before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

This is the first in Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series, and like Louise Penny’s novels, it has just enough grit to take it out of the cozy mystery category. Witty and completely entertaining, you’ll get your mystery fix without the gore.

Finlay Donovan’s life is in chaos: she’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors. When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

“Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire–it’s kill or be killed…” – Deanna Raybourn

When Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are sent on an all-expenses-paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. The Board, which can order the termination of field agents, marks the women for death. Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman–and a killer–of a certain age.

In this charming series, Mma Ramotswe–with help from her loyal associate, Grace Makutsi–navigates her cases and her personal life with wisdom, good humor, and the occasional cup of tea.

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.

In this culinary cozy series with a fresh edge and a delightful small-town setting, we meet Maddy Montgomery.

Inheriting her great-aunt’s bakery – and a 200-pound English Mastiff named Baby – she’s a social media expert who’s #StartingOver in small-town Michigan after her groom is a no-show to their livestream wedding. Maddy doesn’t bake, and her Louboutins aren’t made for walking giant dogs around Lake Michigan, but the locals are friendly and the scenery is beautiful. With help from her aunt’s loyal friends, aka the Baker Street Irregulars, Maddy feels ready to tackle any challenge, including Octavia’s award-winning cake recipes. That is, until New Bison’s mayor is fatally stabbed, and Maddy’s fingerprints are found on the knife . . . Something strange is going on in New Bison. It seems Aunt Octavia had her suspicions, too. But Maddy’s going to need a whole lot more than a trending hashtag to save her reputation–and her life.

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A triumphant celebration of Christie’s legacy and essential reading for crime lovers, Marple is a timely reminder OF why Jane Marple remains one of the most famous detectives of all time.

One doesn’t stop at one murder…
Jane Marple is an elderly lady from St Mary Mead who possesses an uncanny knack for solving even the most perplexing puzzles. Now, for the first time in 45 years, Agatha Christie’s beloved character returns to the page for a globe-trotting tour of crime and detection. Join Marple as she travels through her sleepy English village and around the world. In St Mary Mead, a Christmas dinner is interrupted by unexpected guests; the Broadway stage in New York City is set for a dangerous improvisation; bad omens surround an untimely death aboard a cruise ship to Hong Kong; and a bestselling writer on holiday in Italy is caught in a nefarious plot. These and other crimes committed in the name of love, jealousy, blackmail, and revenge are ones that only the indomitable Jane Marple can solve.
Bringing a fresh twist to the hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie mystery, these twelve esteemed writers have captured the sharp wit, unique voice, and droll ingenuity of the deceptively demure detective.

from housemaid to cambridge to the front, maisie dobbs now brings her brains and battle-hardened edge to her new role as a private investigator.

Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. With the help of her employer who recognized her intuitive gifts and bright mind, Maisie eventually gained admittance to Cambridge. But the outbreak of war changed everything and Maisie, trained as a nurse, left for France to serve at the Front, where she found–and lost–an important part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very different. In the aftermath of the Great War, a former officer has founded a working farm known as The Retreat, which acts as a convalescent refuge for ex-soldiers too shattered to resume normal life. When Fate brings Maisie a second case involving The Retreat, she must finally confront the ghost that has haunted her for over a decade.

Judith (our favorite skinny-dipping, whiskey-sipping, crossword puzzle author), along with Becks, the vicar’s wife, and Susie the dogwalker, find themselves in a head-scratching, utterly clever, country house locked-room murder mystery.

Holiday festivities are now January doldrums when Judith gets a call — Sir Peter Bailey, a prominent Marlovian, is inviting notable citizens to his house the day before his wedding to celebrate. Judith decides to go — after all, it’s a few houses up the Thames and free champagne. During the party, a loud crash inside stops the festivities. The groom-to-be has been crushed to death in his study, the door locked from the inside. Suicide, obviously.
Friends, Sir Peter cannot be left for dead like that…the Marlow Murder Club is on the case!

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde really is good at many things…

She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries, and she is a genius scholar and researcher writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party, and she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk or spending time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk while completely muddling Emily’s research.
But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want?

As the red herrings pile up, Flavia must sort through clues fishy and foul to untangle dark deeds and dangerous secrets.

In the hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey, the insidiously clever and unflappable eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce had asked a Gypsy woman to tell her fortune–never expecting to later stumble across the poor soul, bludgeoned almost to death in the wee hours in her own caravan. Was this an act of retribution by those convinced that the soothsayer abducted a local child years ago? Certainly Flavia understands the bliss of settling scores; revenge is a delightful pastime when one has two odious older sisters. But how could this crime be connected to the missing baby?