Southern Humor Mystery

When a holiday outing at Leiper’s Fork Distillery turns deadly, PI Hattie Leiper finds herself trading bourbon tastings for a chilling mystery steeped in secrets and sealed in Tennessee oak. The shock begins when Moose, her grumpy Chow Chow with impeccable instincts, digs up a buried satchel. Guided by Moose and feisty Yorkie, Mini Pearl, Hattie uncovers a long-forgotten barrel in the rickhouse—proof the missing employee never walked away. With her crime-magnet British Shorthair, Cecil, bestie at her side, and the steady support of Detective Bo Beckett, Hattie is pulled into a tangled ...

Agatha O’Malley has become a recluse in the home that should be holding warm and wonderful memories. Up until her husband’s death, she led a happy and social life as the wife of a wealthy physician in the small town of Park Place, South Carolina. But now that he’s dead, she’s not only grieving for him, she’s furious with him over the mysterious disappearance of the stocks, bonds and money he told her he’d put aside for their retirement. What is she to do when there’s barely enough money in their joint checking account to survive, and how will she pay property taxes and keep up...

Sam and Valerie Owens, owners of the Banty Hen Antique Shop, find themselves entangled in a murder investigation after being the last ones to see the victim alive. Valerie’s new venture, the Sweet Tea Quilting Bee is comprised of an eclectic mix of women and their weekly meetings help keep Valerie’s mind off the murder, but it’s hard to keep concealed from the ladies that the victim was killed over, of all things, an antique quilt! The murder suspect has been described as tall and thin, a vague description, but Police Chief Jess Hamilton and his new detective, a self-described Columbo...

Readers will flock to NYT bestselling author Donna Andrews' latest installment in the award-winning Meg Langslow series. Two of Meg’s cousins, members of Mother’s vast Hollingsworth clan, are getting married, and both have chosen Caerphilly for their Christmas destination wedding . . on the...

Most Sinful residents are unaware of Carter’s crisis and are going about their daily lives as they always have, including local prankster Gage Babin. Except this time, Gage’s attempt to elicit laughs leaves him on a slab in the medical examiner’s office. Everyone knows how unhealthy he was, but Fortune thinks there’s more to his death than a poorly timed prank that caused his bad heart to give out.

Anthony Award-winning author Charlaine Harris has earned a devoted fan base with her USA Today and New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse mystery series. All Together Dead features more dark but frequently hilarious adventures of buxom, blonde, beautiful, and telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie, who prefers the company of vampires to that of the living.

Three sassy retirees. One dead developer. Zero patience for nonsense. Welcome to Conch Key, where the sun is hot, the gossip is hotter, and the local beach just coughed up a corpse in Gucci loafers. Daisy Picklesworth wanted nothing more than a quiet morning, a strong cup of tea, and to finish her mystery novel on the porch of The Barnacle. What she got instead was a bloated real estate mogul dead in the surf, a jellyfish charm that doesn’t belong, and the strong suspicion that someone in their sleepy seaside town just committed the most stylish murder Florida’s ever seen. With her ...

Series is finished! Your favorite bartender is jetting off to Louisiana for the holidays! This time the mysterious shenanigans don’t involve high heels and handsome hunks. Try a gator, a grouchy granny, and a fortune in GOLD! Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Vicki Bohanan is more than ready for whatever mysteries await. Between her confusing dating life and a never-ending home remodel, even a family vacation at the De’Laruse historic antebellum promises a better night’s sleep. Fat chance in the land of Fat Tuesday when family secrets come to light. Gold was captured during ...

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 ...

In this entry from Anthony Award winner Charlaine Harris' New York Times best-selling series, the gorgeous and feisty telepath hits the road to find her missing boyfriend, who may have run off with his former lover - a notorious vamp.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and Savannah was breezy But there's trouble afoot - and it's heading toward Weezie. Seems BeBe's been holding a big secret back that would make Santa's reindeer stop dead in their tracks. Can these two best friends wriggle out of these twists? Will they do it...

High school wasn’t a grand time for everyone, but when a group of friends decide to meet up at a B and B ahead of their 10-year reunion, old grudges resurface, and one of them ends up dead. Now the owners, a kindly older couple, are on the hook for the accidental death due to anaphylaxis, but they insist no mistakes were made on their part. Fortune is asked to look into the situation before the inept local sheriff railroads the couple or simply allows gossip to run them out of business, which will cost them their home. Swamp Team 3 heads to Voodoo Island to find a way to clear the couple.

When Pegasus Quincy, sheriff’s deputy, steps into the leaky rowboat to investigate a murder at a mysterious artists’ colony, her troubles have just begun. A new detective blames Peg when she gets snake bit. A friend gets caught in a drug raid and asks Peg’s assistance. Her new roomie monopolizes the kitchen, until Peg’s coonhound Reckless eats too many French macarons. And then there is the cat lady who accuses Peg of stealing a valuable painting. Surely Peg wouldn’t do that, would she? Join Pegasus Quincy as she delves into the nefarious underworld of art auctions, mid-century ...

A body in the lake. A castle on the ridge. And a town where the new police chief showed up in the mayor’s backyard… with amnesia… riding a stolen horse. Welcome to Camelot, West Virginia—a town where the legends are old, the secrets run deep, and nothing ever goes quite the way it should. Mayor Dreama Avalon just wants to save her hometown. Once a coal-fueled jewel of the Appalachian hills, Camelot is now clinging to its crumbling castle, a run-down main street, and a tourist plan that’s mostly fairy dust and desperation. Dreama’s ready to rebuild. But when a former beauty queen...

It’s John Wayne Orkney’s first week as a cop. There’s already one dead body, two old flames, a half-feral foster brother, and a murder suspect who once slept with him… and recently ran over the police chief with a mobility scooter. Welcome back to Camelot, West Virginia—a down-but-not-out Appalachian town full of ghosts, grudges, and folks trying to claw their way back. Some with magic. Some with moonshine. John Wayne never wanted a badge. He’s already juggling EMT runs, trying to launch a business, and keeping tabs on his three wild brothers. Then there’s Gallagher Lance—...

Ten years ago, Ryan Comeaux was convicted of killing his girlfriend and was sentenced to life in prison. Now a witness has come forward who claims she was with Ryan the entire night and it’s not possible that he was the killer. But the local police assume she’s mistaken and aren’t interested in reopening what they view as an open-and-shut case. The witness, Kelsey Spalding, has her own reasons for wanting Ryan’s conviction overturned and hires Swamp Team 3 to prove him innocent.

In Cry Me A River, T.R. Pearson writes of murder and its consequences in a small southern town. By book's end we of course know who done it and why, but the greatest pleasure lies in Pearson's own investigations into carnal relations, sexual jealousy, men and women, the mean, the low-down, and the dead. That he manages to do so with such winsome humor and unflagging originality is a tribute to his craft. Cry Me A River is T.R. Pearson at his finest.

When Emma Clark agrees to host Savannah’s most exclusive post-wedding event at her beloved cat café, Purrs & Puzzles, she expects scones and selfies—not sirens and scandal. But when the groom collapses mid-toast, Emma finds herself serving up suspects instead of coffee. With the health inspector sniffing around, a furious mother-of-the-bride threatening lawsuits, and social media exploding with hashtags like #SavannahScandal, Emma must rely on her sharp instincts—and her sharper-tongued cat, Purrlock Holmes—to clear her name and solve the case. Between rival bridesmaids, suspicious...

She’s settling into a new life. But when a fishing trip totally capsizes, can she get a friend off the hook for murder? Elizabeth Trout still feels awkward living back home. Discovering a BFF from her raucous high-school days has become the perfect mom is as weird as staying with her mother while awaiting construction of her new home. But she’s shaken to her core when her newlywed husband and beloved dog are nearly blown out of the water in a dockside explosion which leaves another woman dead … and her bestie is arrested for the crime. To clear her friend, Elizabeth and her spouse set...

Sinister secrets hidden by the tranquil waters of an Ozarks lake. Can married amateur sleuths bait and capture a killer before the truth slips away? Kirkus Reviews—“A fine whodunit featuring a delightful cast whom readers will love—or love to hate.” After newlyweds Elizabeth and Jonas Trout arrive to settle her grandmother's estate, they quickly find themselves embroiled in a treacherous mystery when Elizabeth is implicated in the murder of the property manager. With mounting evidence and the Southern small-town sheriff convinced of her guilt, Elizabeth and Jonas must fish for clues...