Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Cozy Mysteries

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's topic is Cozy Reads, so I thought I'd share some of my recent favorite cozy mysteries. I only have eight today, but that's because I'm just sharing one per series. Four of these books are part of a series that I read three or more of this year. 

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Cold Drip (Barks & Beans Cafe Mystery #6) by Heather Day Gilbert

About the Book

Welcome to the Barks & Beans Cafe, a quaint place where folks pet shelter dogs while enjoying a cup of java...and where murder sometimes pays a visit.

Thanksgiving is on the way, and Macy's thrilled when her boyfriend Titan says he's coming to town for a week-long visit. She plans to take him to some of her favorite haunts, including the sprawling caverns nearby.

But when the lights go out during their underground tour and a local society darling plunges to her death, Macy can't shake the feeling that the cave's slippery floors weren't entirely to blame. She taps into the admittedly limited skills of her upscale barista, Milo, to do a little snooping in the moneyed circles he moves in. When he unearths a sinkhole of lies, Macy slides straight toward a killer who's not about to stop until every leak is sealed...permanently.

Join siblings Macy and Bo Hatfield as they sniff out crimes in their hometown...with plenty of dogs along for the ride! The Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series features a small town, an amateur sleuth, and no swearing or graphic scenes.

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It Came upon a Midnight Shear (A Riverbank Knitting Mystery #3) by Allie Pleiter

About the Book

A murder in her yarn shop’s backyard puts Libby Beckett’s holiday plans on thin ice.…

The holiday season looks merry and bright for Libby and her friends at Y.A.R.N. The store is expanding for a holiday boom, and she’s gathered Collinstown’s businesses to decorate a community Christmas tree. Dashing “Gallant Herdsman” Vincenzo Marani arrives to showcase the rare vicuña, whose coat produces the world’s most luxurious yarn. It’s a perfect yuletide—until Libby’s ex-husband, Sterling, turns up in town…and then turns up dead.

The murder unravels Libby’s life faster than a hand-knit Christmas stocking. The luxe yarn goes missing, Sterling’s domineering family comes to town, and the vicuña attempt an escape. If Libby can’t stitch up a solution to the case, she may be trading in her knitting needles for a set of handcuffs.

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Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind by Marissa Shrock

About the Book

Bobbi Sue Baxter longs for the summer of 1988 to be over so she can leave her boring hometown of Wildcat Springs behind forever. Start using her journalism degree on stories with some excitement. She has no idea more excitement than she’s ever wanted is about to come after her.

On her way home from a movie, Bobbi Sue stops to help an injured dog and spots what looks like an alien. A blinding light flashes, and when Bobbi Sue can see again, the creature is gone. Did she really see . . .? No! Impossible. She says nothing to anyone, especially not to her conspiracy-obsessed father.

But when Bobbi Sue slips and tells her friend, Hemingway “Hemi” Miller, he shows her a story from Close Encounters in the USA. It’s about a man who reported an experience nearly identical to hers. And when well-known townsman, Ross Garland is found shot dead close to where she saw the “alien,” Bobbi Sue knows she can’t stay quiet.

The only problem is, the person behind the murder is intent on her doing exactly that, no matter what it takes.

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Shady Hollow by Juneau Black

About the Book

The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony--until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case.

Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy.

Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera's cunning and quickness to crack the case.

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Burden of Poof (Bonnie & Clyde Mysteries #1) by Julie Anne Lindsey

About the Book

An amateur sleuth named Bonnie and her kitty companion Clyde, with names like those, what could possibly go wrong?

Life hasn't sparkled too brightly for Bonnie Balfour over the past few years, but a heart-breaking divorce has brought her back to her small rural hometown of Bliss, Georgia, and things are starting to shape up.

The proud new owner of Bless Her Heart—a second chance dress shop and boutique on the town square—Bonnie thinks thirty-eight might not be too late for a fresh start in life after all.

Until a grouchy old widow turns up dead in a pile of donations meant for Bonnie’s shop, and the town’s new detective pins her to the top of his suspect list!

To save her shop, dream and reputation, Bonnie must coordinate clues and stitch together the truth about her innocence, but the unreasonably handsome detective and prying eyes of the local gossip mill are fast fraying her nerves.

When a series of anonymous attacks begin to hem her in, Bonnie fears the real killer is fixing to make her his next victim. Can this amateur sleuth measure up?

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Bound by Murder (Beach Bound Books and Beans Mysteries Book 1) by Christy Barritt

About the Book

When widow Talitha Robinson buys an old store on the boardwalk in Lantern Beach, North Carolina, she’s in for a surprise . . . or several. She plans to renovate the space and open Beach Bound Books and Beans, but never expects to find a decades-old skeleton hidden inside one of the walls.

As word of the discovery spreads across the island, strange occurrences begin to occur around her. It soon becomes clear someone still knows something about the dead person—something they don’t want discovered.

Thankfully, former police chief and current mayor Mac MacArthur seems just as eager to unravel the mystery behind the skeletal remains as Tali. But as the two bind together to solve the case, a devastating secret is revealed.

Will their newfound friendship come unglued before they find the answers to the past? Or will their blooming relationship die like the man hidden in the wall?

Bound by Murder is book 1 in a four book series of novellas. Though the main mystery is resolved, there are threads that will continue throughout the entire series.

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Dog Days of Summer (Gone to the Dogs #2) by Kathleen Y'Barbo

About the Book

Mishaps Abound as Second Chance Ranch Struggles to Get Its Start

Grab a lap dog to cuddle and relax into a fun small-town mystery as a new dog rescue project turns into a three-ring circus of calamities in book 2 of the Gone to the Dogs series.

Trina Potter, Nashville country music star, buys a ranch near her hometown in Brenham, Texas, to help her niece open a rescue facility for dogs. Her presence in town stirs up some old high school rivalries—and romance. Finding property to buy is a challenge, convincing her mother to move there with her is daunting, and navigating a string of strange accidents is perplexing. Sometimes Trina feels like she’s purchased her own three ring circus instead of a beautiful piece of land. But her first priority will be figuring out who wants Second Chance Ranch shut down before they even have the grand opening.

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Crime Strikes a Chord (The School of Hard Rocks Mysteries #2) by Christy Barritt

About the Book

With Christmas fast approaching and Grand Isle Music Conservatory’s big show to oversee, Camryn Paine has plenty to keep her occupied. Add a request to locate a stolen—and possibly cursed—Stradivari violin into the mix, and she fears it’s more than she can handle. After some pressure from her boss, Camryn agrees to investigate.

Things take an alarming turn when a suspect is found dead. Then someone from Camryn’s past appears with a secret that turns her world upside down. Suddenly, her busy Christmas seems perilous as well.

The more clues Camryn uncovers, the deeper she sinks into danger. With the holidays upon her, and both her past and future feeling uncertain, Camryn knows she can’t rest until she has answers. But the cost may be more than she’s willing to pay.

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Do you like cozy mysteries? If so, what are some of your favorites?