I’m currently recovering from a broken leg and ankle. I lost my grip on the playground and heard a steady crunch as I collapsed like whipped cream onto a sundae into the thick sand. Instead of sitting in the arena and slinging popcorn and chunks of salty pretzel at the hockey game we were on our way to, my fall at the park landed me a seat in the emergency room and an operation performed by a trauma surgeon three weeks later.
As part of my recovery, I am 100% non weight bearing for three months before my second surgery. Because of my limitations, my mom and aunt shuttle the kids to daytime activities and my husband morphs from Marine to house husband and care taker after work. I’m immensely fortunate for my team, but I still battle bouts of boredom and discomfort. As my bones heal, with the assistance of a plate and nine screws, I’m learning how important it is to work through that boredom and discomfort in a positive way. I’m doing it with books.
I stumbled upon my first cozy mystery nearly ten years ago at a library down the road from Joshua Tree National Park. It was a member of a coffeehouse mystery series set in Greenwich Village. Since then I’ve spent hours getting gleefully lost within the pages of the feel good, clean subgenre of crime fiction. If you haven’t yet picked up a cozy, you can expect wholesome pages, usually set in smaller communities with amateur sleuths.
While locations and plots vary, you’ll probably notice that all of my recommendations are culinary based. The pairing of food and amateur sleuthing, for me, is medicinal. Now, you don’t have to have a broken bone or be under the weather to fall into a good cozy, but for genre fans, cozy mysteries are a warm, snuggly blanket with a collective of familiar faces and places.
If I’ve somehow given you the itch to go sleuthing from your coziest nook, here’s a sampling of the fictional texts I’ve been sinking my fork into.
Darla’s Delectable Food Truck Cozy Mystery by Susan Harper
Main character Darla lives smack dab between Hilton Head Island and Savannah in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. She rents a home in the heart of town and peddles pastries and gourmet coffee from the window of her new food truck, Darla’s Delectables. I’ve so far read the first two in the series and because of their abbreviated length, I don’t have to wait long to uncover the culprit. When reading these I truly feel I’m just steps from the sand. The cool sea breeze sifts through my light sweater and the subtle taste of salt lingers on the tip of my tongue. Susan Harper’s writing gives me the image of a vacation I’d love to go on. If you too are a big fan of The Great Good Truck Road Race, this series will keep those food on wheels vibe going long after the television has turned off. This sleuthing series is only available digitally, but they’re currently available for free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
A Country Store Mystery series by Maddie Day
I was new to collecting vintage bakeware when I stumbled across this series on my electronic reader. I remember turning to my husband as I read and gleefully telling him about the vintage dishware and tools fictional Robbie Jordan collected and displayed in her cook front. Reading through Maddie Day’s writing makes me want nothing more than to travel to southern Indiana for some biscuits and sausage gravy. I smell crispy strips of sizzling bacon and a with everything omelet just thinking of the Country Store Mystery. Lovers of home cookin’ and country sleuthing will flip for this series.
Coming in Hot by Deany Ray
Piper Harris and Gran are trying to lay low at the Bitter End retirement community. Former members of a biker gang, the two had no choice but to trade their lives in Oregon for a life free of crime in Florida upon entrance of the Witness Protection Program. Gran’s new home looks like it hasn’t been updated in the decades. Some might simply call the homes within the community boxes with golf carts out front. The two are dreadfully bored until a body is discovered on their neighbor’s yard. Will Piper and Gran get involved and risk their true identities being revealed? You’ll have to read to find out. This retirement community cozy is a first in A Piper Harris Mystery series.
Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries by Tonya Kappes
Mae West’s husband is arrested for embezzlement and in a moment her designer life led in her 10,000 square foot mansion is nothing but a memory. With almost all of their assets distributed amongst the victims, Mae has no choice but to travel to Normal, Kentucky and assume ownership of an RV park she didn’t know she owned until the lawyer hands her the keys to a little, used camper. The RV park will need a complete overhaul if Mae expects to make it marketable to potential buyers. The town appears dusty, yet charming and it just might take a miracle before most of the residents receive her with welcome arms and pie. Written with a spirit of tenacity, this first installment is just one of 31 in A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery Series
The Moonshine Shack Murders by Diane Kelly
New business owner Hattie Hayes peddles fruity-flavored moonshine from a made to look rustic shack in Chattanooga. Surly bar owner and adversary, winds up dead on the shack’s porch and the murder weapon is none other than a shard of glass from a bottle of Hayes’ cherry moonshine. Intent on keeping her newly opened business operational, Hattie does some digging of her own. Set along the riverfront, with a slightly grouch of a cat and a character of a grandfather, this one’s for you if you feel the mountains calling out to you.
Do or Diner by Christine Wenger
In the first book in this Comfort Food Mystery series, Trixie Matkowski returns to her summer home of upstate New York, where she assumes ownership of her aunt’s lakefront diner. Before she can get settled into her stately Victorian, the county health inspector slumps into his plate of that evening’s special at her 24-hour diner. With a death at the counter, the new proprietor struggles to keep the restaurant’s neon lights buzzing as she loses her customers. Dead set on making good on her loan, Trixie sets out to find the murderer herself before the silver box closes forever. If quirky diners feel you with nostalgia, you’ll hear the sizzle on the grill and the ding of an, “order up!” as you flip through.
Pastrami Murder by Patti Benning
Soup and sandwich lovers, this one’s for you. Deli owner, Moira Darling, takes home more soup than she sells when she’s suspected of murdering a rival restauranteur. Taking place along the waters of Lake Michigan, I can almost feel the cool of the water rushing over me as I seek the warmth within this storefront for Moira’s soup of the day. The story is appropriately paced and you’ll get plenty of inspiration for your next meal at home or sandwich shop run. There are currently 33 books in this series and I have the second and third to read at home when I’m done with my current read.
