Cozy Domestic Thrillers

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! The first thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series from Karin Slaughter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent Series. Welcome to North Falls—a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think. Until...

Nothing heats up Old Town quite like the annual Pie Festival, and this year is no exception, especially since Sophie's professional rival, Natasha Smith, is barred from participating. Sophie, meanwhile, has been asked to oversee the pie eating contest. But the drama really rolls out when celebrity judge, Patsy Lee Presley, host of television's most popular cooking show, bites the crust during the competition, and Sophie's friends are suspected of the crime. As the folks of Old Town dish, the tough truth about Patsy's meteoric rise to domestic stardom begins to leak.

"This delicious murder mystery is a must-read for any library lover!”—New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt Murder disrupts four quirky librarians' lives when they try to hide among books to keep their secrets. A LIBRARY READS PICK! Sometimes a workplace isn’t just a workplace...

How to Plan the Perfect Murder! Modern cozy mysteries are popular with readers, but how do you go about writing one? You need to know the genre conventions (or tropes) – all the things a reader expects to find in this kind of story. In this book you’ll learn how to create a modern amateur sleuth; how to combine the investigation of a murder mystery with character relationships, all in a ‘cozy’ world with no excessive violence, bad language, or gratuitous sex scenes. You'll also see how this genre combines elements from the traditional whodunit, private eye stories, thrillers, and ...

Stylish brunches are all the rage this autumn in Old Town Alexandria, and everyone's posting their parties on social media. But while Domestic Diva Sophie Winston juggles her event-filled calendar, she's approached by local designer Mitzi Lawson—who is afraid someone is following her. The very next day Mitzi loses her best friend and business partner, Denise. The two were renovating a generations-old house where Denise died unexpectedly, and Mitzi fears that it wasn't a medical condition to blame, but murder.

Domestic diva Sophie Winston can whip up an elaborate event in her sleep, but as the hippest hostess, she rarely gets to enjoy the full guest treatment. Which is why her best friend Nina Reid Norwood loops her in to the latest culinary craze: a pop-up gourmet dinner party. The celebrity chef, the epicurean menu, and the high-profile attendees are all a surprise, turning the decadent dining experience into the hottest ticket in Old Town.

In Old Town Alexandria's unlikeliest match, Natasha Smith's free-spirited mother, Wanda, is engaged to notoriously pompous antiques dealer, Orson Chatsworth—leaving Natasha to plan the entire wedding, beginning with an elaborate engagement party. For the extravagant affair, Natasha splurges on trendy food boards created by rising social media star, Stella St. James. The sumptuous boards go way beyond basic cheese and crackers, as Stella dazzles guests. Just as Natasha planned, the food is to die for—until someone actually does.

Sophie Winston is busy handling the first ever convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens—restaurants that do delivery only—but she's taking a little time out for a lunch meeting organized by A Healthy Meal. The group is dedicated to providing meals for children in need, and as a bonus, it'll give Sophie the perfect opportunity to ogle the lavish Old Town home of socialite Geraldine Stansfield. Gerrie's dining room is impeccably furnished, the table laden with gleaming crystal and prized china. If it weren't for the dead man lying on the floor, everything would be perfect.

Domestic diva Sophie Winston is getting into the Halloween spirit; her decorations for a community haunted house are so good, it's scary. Not to be outdone, rival domestic diva Natasha is throwing a spooktacular Halloween party at her house. But when Sophie arrives, she discovers one of Natasha's guests dead in a Halloween display and a pale, fanged partygoer fleeing the scene.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author and Queen of Suspense launched her career with this “indescribably suspenseful” (San Francisco Chronicle) classic thriller following a woman whose past holds a terrible secret. Nancy Harmon long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage, the...

She was supposed to be the perfect mother—until the night everything went wrong. When Peyton Hayes survives a horrifying car crash with her six-year-old son, she awakens to a living nightmare: a year of her memories erased, a nagging suspicion that she wasn’t alone in the car, and cryptic warnings scrawled on slips of paper. Everyone insists her life is flawless—her ex-husband suddenly wants back in, her best friend is eerily devoted, and her son flinches whenever she asks about that fateful night. But Peyton’s half-glimpsed flashbacks scream that something far darker lurks beneath ...

With Old Town's DIY Home Decorating Festival in full swing, Sophie's swamped. Still, when her best friend, Nina, suddenly needs a ride from the airport, Sophie is happy to help...until she sees Nina disembarking in a state of disarray. It's obvious the trip to Portugal soured somewhere along the way. But after one of Nina's traveling companions turns up murdered the following day, Sophie knows something is truly rotten. Though the crime scene is staged to look like an accident, Sophie isn't fooled and peels off to conduct her own investigation.

Sophie Winston and her BFF, Nina Reid Norwood, share a sweet spot for animals. So Sophie is delighted to help when Nina cooks up Cupcakes and Pupcakes, a fundraising event for animal shelters. All the local bakeries will be selling treats, with the profits going to pups and kitties in need. But Old Town is in for a whole batch of trouble when a cupcake war erupts between two bakeries....

Old Town's midsummer festivities are getting a tasty addition this year. To coincide with a public performance of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Bobbie Sue Bodoin, the Queen of Cheesecake, has hired Sophie to organize a dinner with a dessert buffet on the waterfront. Bobbie Sue has only one menu demand: no cheesecake! But her specialty isn't the only thing missing from the evening—Tate, Bobbie Sue's husband, is too, much to her annoyance. Next morning, however, Tate's dead body is discovered.

When Sophie Winston's neighbor - a reclusive professor - dies, his final wish is for the Domestic Diva to throw a dinner party in his honor, and he's planned everything down to the letter. But what no one planned for is the corpse of a student that Sophie finds in his house...or the mysterious will that shows up asking the question: Did the professor cover up a huge crime?

Sophie Winston's sister, Hannah, is getting married - again! And if you ask Sophie, her future brother-in-law is no prince. But is he a killer? That's the question on everyone's mind when his ex-wife is found hanging from a pergola. This is one event Sophie and her sister hadn't planned on.

The holidays are domestic diva Sophie Winston's favorite time of year. But this season, there seem to be more mishaps than mistletoe. First, Horace Scroggins tumbles from a balcony during his office Christmas party. Then, Sophie's neighbor takes a fall from his ladder while decorating his roof with lights. But it's the cookie swap that really starts to make her wonder who's naughty or nice.

The legacy of the “Queen of Suspense” continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark’s iconic novel Where Are The Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults. Of the fifty-six bestsellers the “Queen of Suspense” Mary...

Sophie never considered ghostwriting as a side gig, until former actress and aspiring lifestyle guru, Tilly Stratford, trophy wife of Wesley Winthrope, needs someone to write her celebrity cookbook. Sophie agrees, hoping she'll earn enough bread on this assignment to finish her bathroom renovations. But as it turns out, Sophie isn't the first foodie to get a taste for recipe ghostwriting, and if the marginalia are any indication, this project could be a killer....

Few can compete with the Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but her childhood rival, Sophie Winston, certainly tries. While Natasha is known for her intricate centerpieces and painstakingly prepared gourmet meals, Sophie likes to keep things simple...real simple.