Cozy Mystery African

Romaine Wilder, big-city medical examiner with a small-town past, has been downsized and evicted. With few other options, she’s forced to return to her hometown of Roble in East Texas, leaving behind the man she’s dating and the life she’s worked hard to build. Suzanne Babet Derbinay, Romaine’s Auntie Zanne and proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home, has long since traded her French Creole upbringing for Big Texas attitude. She’s a member in a number of ladies’ auxiliaries and clubs, including being in charge of the Tri-County Annual Crawfish Boil and Music Festival. Hanging on to ...

How was Serena persuaded to be her ex-husband’s wedding planner? Because his soon-to-be wife gets everything she wants…or almost everything. When Serena Tate’s ex-husband and his new fiancée insist on holding their wedding at the exclusive Pearl Hotel, they turn to Serena for her connections to make it happen. But when the bride is found dead hours before the ceremony, the guest list turns into a suspect list—with everyone from the groom to the wedding planner harboring secrets. To make matters worse, Serena’s old nemesis, Detective Bill Mitchell, sets his sights on her as the ...

Weather Alert: 100% chance of love, a murdered grump, and a blizzard of epic proportions! Autumn Davis is trading weather reports for wedding speeches as maid of honor in her best friend’s big day. The snowy celebration is picture-perfect—until the grumpy hardware store owner drops dead at the reception. With the newlyweds off honeymooning and a blizzard barreling into town, Autumn finds herself in the middle of another mystery—this one chillier than most. Everyone loved to hate the victim, but someone clearly took that a step too far. Teaming up with Hilda, her favorite loose-cannon ...

When the organizing committee for her upcoming high school reunion needs a caterer, Halia agrees to help out. Soon she's serving up her signature macaroni and cheese and famous chicken wings to a host of appreciative ex-classmates. Some folks have blossomed since graduation. Others, like manipulative Raynell Rollins, currently married to a former football star, haven't changed nearly enough. When Raynell is found dead the morning after the reunion, the role call of possible suspects could fill the school gymnasium. Extramarital affairs, mega-church scandals and sports secrets...

It’s another murder in the little town of Roble. But not to worry, Romaine and Auntie Zanne are on it! It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—that’s because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a...

Mahalia's Sweet Tea boasts the most flavorful soul food in all of Prince George's County, Maryland. But as events at the beauty industry's leading trade show turn ugly, owner Halia Watkins needs to bite into an unsavory new item on the menu - murder!

A wedding and a murder...Star football player and NFL hopeful, Michael “Bumper” Hackett is getting married. Word’s going around that it’s a shotgun wedding, and there just might be some truth to it, seeing that the bride-to-be is showing a baby bump. But before the ceremony can even get started, the poor groom collapses from what appears to be an asthma attack. Unfortunately, things aren’t always what they seem. Romaine knew it was a bad idea to have a wedding at the funeral home, but newly elected justice of the peace and sole proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home & Crematorium, ...

The Mrs. Holmes mystery series distinguishes itself by offering stories that can be enjoyed in just a few minutes. It is the ideal series for fans of cozy mysteries, thrill-seekers, busy people, and those who prefer quick reads over lengthy 50,000-word novels. Opening this book quickly turns into a whirlwind of intrigue with “Slumber, Sneakers, and Stardust: Mrs. Holmes and the Mall Mystery.” On the busiest shopping day of the year, known as Black Friday, a mysterious man with a soldier-like vibe enters a mattress store and lies down. However, when he fails to wake up, the cozy ...

Kelly Klarkson, owner of Klarkson's Confections and Sugar Creek's resident amateur sleuth, has her sights set on winning the annual town bake-off. But her dreams of blue ribbons and sugar-coated glory go up in smoke when a suspicious fire erupts at the fairgrounds, destroying her booth and leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions. To make matters worse, her prize-winning apple pie – crafted from her grandmother’s secret recipe – has vanished. Determined to uncover the truth, Kelly, armed with her whisks, her wits, and her trusty feline sidekick, Bubbles, dives into a world of ...

With few other options, African American classical musician Gethsemane Brown accepts a less-than-ideal position turning a group of rowdy schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. Stranded without luggage or money in the Irish countryside, she figures any job is better than none. The perk? Housesitting a lovely cliffside cottage. The catch? The ghost of the cottage's murdered owner haunts the place.

Make a wish for ... murder? When reporter Roland Bean turns the big three-oh, his wife throws him, and his fraternal twin sister Robyn, a huge birthday bash. The festive occasion is lively and fun until a fight between his sister and her boyfriend ends the night on a sour note. Beanie decides to console Robyn but almost hits a man staggering in the road as he drives to her townhouse. A man who turns out to be Robyn’s boyfriend and what’s worse, he’s been shot. The boyfriend’s dying words shake Beanie to his core: Robyn ... shot ... me. Refusing to believe his twin sister killed a ...

Blanche White is working as a temporary cook and housekeeper for a right-wing Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, Alistair Brindle, when someone tries to blackmail him. It's an ugly mess that Brindle's political team is eager to sweep under the carpet and that Blanche can't resist cleaning up herself...especially after a young black man is killed who knew too much about Brindle's dirty laundry. Her investigation raises dark secrets involving sex, environmental contamination, and political corruption, difficult stains that someone is trying to remove with murder.

When Kat Denham decided it was to time to become a licensed private investigator, in addition to her successful career as an author, she never expected her first case to take her to South Africa to investigate the murder of a member of the US Trade Commission. Talk about trial by fire! Not only does she have to navigate language and living condition barriers, but she also has to walk a very fine line not to upstage the investigation by the local Cape Town police officials. Ladies of the night, gamblers, old feuds, and jealousy make for a lot of suspects.

A vengeful female ringleader heads an expensive show horse kidnapping operation, selling to the black market. One couple loses a much treasured dressage mount. Will Cajun Magic make it back to his rightful owners? Can the Mob push back against the villain's dark ways?

When Blanche White moved north to Boston, she believed it would be a better place to raise her kids, especially after she got them into an elite private school. But now her children are becoming elitist and judgmental, acquiring more attitude than education. So when she and her kids are invited to Amber Cove, an exclusive resort in Maine for wealthy blacks, Blanche jumps at the chance to see how the other half lives and maybe stop her kids turning into people she doesn't want to know.

Sixteen-year-old Lena Johnson has always felt invisible—until a mysterious antique mirror reveals her destiny: she’s part of an ancient bloodline of witches. Now, confronted with cryptic visions and strange new powers, Lena must gather three other girls at her high school to form a coven and defend their town from a looming evil. But uniting Savannah, the stylish head cheerleader terrified of losing her social status; Raven, a guarded goth who trusts no one; and Taylor, a fiercely driven athlete unwilling to risk her future, is no easy task. As eerie symbols appear around Oakbridge and ...

Hired to cater a fitness event in the small town of Fall River, bakery owner Tia Bliss is surprised that the fitness gurus wanted a tasty treat. While she is busy supplying the event with her famous cupcakes, the affair however is suddenly rocked when at its conclusion the dead body of a young woman is found. Upon further investigation Tia realizes the woman Natalie Evans, is one of two women she overheard in a heated argument earlier. But that's only the beginning, this investigation of the vicious and heinous crime concludes in just 48 hours. Which is exactly how much time Tia has to put ...

Located in the history-rich Finger Lakes region in New York, Cadence is a small town with a big secret. When interracially married Marian Greene discovers a desecrated body in the library, she, husband Lester, and friend, Enoch Shenandoah, realize they are in peril and inextricably tied to the tragic, racially-charged secret as descendants of the town founders. They race to solve the murder and reveal the secret, with the occasional guidance of dreams, spirits, and animals, and, along the way, they suffer moments of dark introspection and crises of faith. The journey brings them to ...

Nan's day is not off to a good start. Her on-again, off-again relationship with Walter is off...again, and when she offers a fellow busker a place to stay for the night he ends up murdered on her kitchen floor. To make matters worse, the busker turns out to have been an undercover cop. And his former partner has taken an immediate and extreme dislike to Nan. When she finds that the dead man stashed a wad of cash in her apartment, cash that could go to help his blind girlfriend, Nan's desire to do the right thing lands her in trouble.

Being a P.I. with a new fiance and side-kick isn't easy. Greyson and Sarah’s wedding planning comes to a halt when they must find a missing girl. Will Greyson get a chance to start over with Sarah after all they’ve been through? Will their search for the missing girl foil their romance and pending wedding? Sarah Starting Over (Siletz Bay #1) ends with some unanswered questions for a P.I. and a widowed mom. Greyson Starting Over is (Siletz Bay # 2) takes place one year later in the sleepy seaside town of Siletz Bay.