Spring is here, the daffodils are out, and there’s nothing better than settling in with a fresh cup of tea and a brand new mystery. This month’s cozy releases are an absolute treat — from glamorous 1920s whodunnits to Victorian scandals and sun-soaked honeymoon mysteries, there really is something for everyone. And if there’s a new cozy you’re loving that I’ve missed, do share your recommendations in the comments below.
A sharp tongue. An even sharper mind. A Victorian sleuth criminals overlook at their peril.
1862. A new home in a prospectors’ town, a new life, and two steadfast admirers: Alyssa Chalmers’ future is secure among her friends.
But when Captain Moore sends a message, begging for her help, she can’t say no.
With the doctor and the First Officer by her side, she travels to Portland, Oregon. She finds a situation worse than she feared. Two of the captain’s crew have gone missing and the local marshal is adamant they simply jumped ship. Even the discovery of a body is unable to change his mind.
Captain Moore knows better. He is convinced that something sinister is going on, and he needs sharp-witted Alyssa and her sleuthing partners to figure it out.
But dark secrets and vices are lurking everywhere. Alyssa needs all her wits to figure out who to trust – and how to save the missing men before there’s another murder.
Series: An Alyssa Chalmers Historical Mystery — Book 3
A mysterious summons. A fatal hot chocolate. And a duchess who never expected mourning to be this dreadfully dull.
Hampshire, 1891. Six months into widowhood, Alice, Duchess of Stortford, is restless. Black gowns and seclusion in the country have their limits, so when Clarissa, Dowager Countess of Romley, sends a personal summons asking for her discreet assistance with a troubling matter at Lawrence House, Alice seizes the excuse for a change of scene.
But what begins as a family gathering to welcome home the Dowager’s once-disgraced son ends in shock. Clarissa is discovered dead, her passing swiftly dismissed as a heart attack. Alice knows better. The Dowager had been afraid — and had trusted her to uncover the truth. Someone silenced her, but why? Was it to do with the announcement she made over dinner, or something even more dangerous?
Now everyone in the house is a suspect: the resentful heir, the returning prodigal, the mysterious guest with a too-familiar face. With her sharp-witted maid Maud, steadfast footman George, and her reluctant ally Lord Rushton at her side, Alice must act quickly. If the Dowager was murdered to keep her secrets buried, the killer will not hesitate to strike again.
The Dowager is dead. The clock is ticking. And the duchess is about to discover that country house parties can be murder.
Series: The Duchess of Stortford Mysteries — Book 3
An audacious heroine will break every rule to save a princess from scandal… even if it means trusting the Crown’s fixer
London, 1868: Etty Redgrave has never been very good at behaving. While other young ladies pursue advantageous marriages, she prefers art studios, sharp debate, and calculated acts of rebellion.
So when her closest friend, Princess Louise, begs her to recover a scandalous sketch before it can be used for blackmail, Etty does the only sensible thing. She agrees to help.
Unfortunately, the Queen has already sent her own solution.
Enter Tristan Bankes-Fernsby, Duke of Rockingham, better known as the Crown’s most reliable fixer. Entirely unimpressed by aristocratic troublemakers, he intends to contain the scandal quietly, efficiently, and alone.
To his horror, Etty refuses to step aside.
Forced into an uneasy partnership, Etty and Tristan follow the trail from London’s drawing rooms into art studios, notorious cafes, and the city’s hidden corners, breaking rules and crossing lines to track down the man at the centre of the scandal. It soon becomes clear the missing sketch is only the beginning of their problems.
Deception and danger are not the only risks they face. Their constant clashes evolve into a grudging admiration that neither of them wants to admit.
Can this pair of opposites save the Crown from a royal scandal without losing everything, including their hearts, in the process?
Series: The Etty and Tris Victorian Mysteries — Book 1
All aboard for a 1920s voyage where murder strikes at sea…
Lady Ellen is bound for Cairo, determined to enjoy a well-earned rest after a turbulent year. With her ward, Lottie Penny, and her loyal dog, Prince, she boards the SS Molvina, expecting nothing more taxing than deck games, evening gowns, and the promise of sunshine at the end of the journey.
Once aboard, she is surprised to find several familiar faces amongst the first-class passengers. Though their presence hints at potential complications, Ellen is resolved to arrive in Egypt refreshed and ready to begin a new chapter alongside Captain Ernest Hamilton.
Yet January seas are rarely gentle.
When a passenger is found shot on the open deck, the illusion of safety shatters. Whispers ripple through the corridors, alibis shift like the tide, and suspicion tightens within the ship’s polished lounges and moonlit promenade. With danger confined within steel walls and no one able to escape, Ellen finds herself drawn once more into the hunt for a cold-blooded killer.
Series: Lady Ellen Investigates —Book 8
A fatal shooting. A mysterious locket. A dangerous truth.
London, 1889: When a young labourer working on the construction of Tower Bridge is found fatally injured by Traitor’s Gate, Scotland Yard turns to amateur detectives Emma Langley and Penny Green for help. Archie Mitchell survives long enough to reach hospital, but takes his secrets to the grave.
As Emma and Penny investigate, they uncover a web of suspicious characters: the barmaid who discovered Archie’s body, a fellow worker bearing a grudge from a bridge accident, and a local ruffian whose girlfriend recently drowned in the Thames. But when they discover Archie possessed a valuable locket — the case takes an unexpected turn.
Was Archie murdered to silence what he witnessed by the riverside? Or did his knowledge of aristocratic secrets seal his fate? With the great Tower Bridge rising in the background, Emma and Penny must navigate the dangerous currents between London’s working poor and its privileged elite to catch a killer.
Series: An Emma Langley Victorian Mystery — Book 4
Spring blossoms, wedding bells, and…murder?
When Kitty Worthington, her husband Robert, and their friends arrive at Langford Hall for the society wedding of the season, something feels wrong before the first champagne cork pops. The groom is drinking too much. The sweet-faced American bride with a steel fortune looks as though she’d rather be anywhere else. And the crumbling Tudor estate draped in roses and lilies can’t quite disguise the desperation underneath.
Then London’s most feared gossip columnist is found dead in the library, a sharp stiletto in her back. She’d come to Langford Hall to cover the wedding but uncovered a scandal. And someone made sure her story would never make the front page.
As the local inspector blunders through the guest list, Kitty, Robert, and their impromptu investigative committee begin their own enquiries. They soon discover the wedding is not a love match, but an arrangement built on secrets that could destroy reputations on both sides of the Atlantic.
With suspects at every turn — from the iron-willed Countess to the cunning family solicitor — Kitty must untangle two decades of hidden grudges and buried truths before the killer decides that one dead columnist isn’t quite enough.
Series: The Kitty Worthington Mysteries — Book 14
It’s love at first light on a golden Sri Lankan beach… until the tide turns deadly.
Café owner, Keya Varma, is overjoyed to escape the English Cotswold winter for tropical sunshine, and her happiness soars when her CSI partner surprises her with a marriage proposal. A quiet ceremony on a golden beach seems the perfect start to their life together. But paradise loses its sparkle when a priceless sapphire disappears, and a body is found on the sand.
With the local police quick to accuse the newlyweds, Keya’s honeymoon takes a disastrous turn. Caught between suspicion and island bureaucracy, she must depend on logic, courage, and the support of her calm and capable husband to clear their names.
From sacred temples to moonlit beaches, clues glitter amid lies and deception. But as truth proves hard to uncover, Keya learns that even the most precious gems can hide deep flaws.
Can the newlyweds prove that justice, like love, is worth pursuing?
Series: A Cotswold Antique Mystery — Book 4
Lady Eleanor Swift is having a grand time cosying up with her husband in Dublin’s traditional pubs, eating their fill of Irish stew and soaking up the craic… Until another body ruins all their plans!
Lady Eleanor Swift is visiting Dublin with her husband Hugh Seldon and butler Clifford to meet Samuel O’Sullivan, a man who may be able to tell her more about the mysterious disappearance of her parents two decades ago. Deciding they should explore the city a little more, they jump at the chance to visit the world-renowned Finnegan’s brewery.
But their taste test of the famous black stout turns deadly when Eleanor spots a body in one of the barrels! The dead man is none other than the owner of the brewery, Fergal Finnegan himself. Sensing a scandal, the head of operations hires The Byron Detective Agency to investigate.
It seems there was no pot of gold at the end of Fergal’s rainbow. Did his debt-ridden younger brother kill him for his inheritance? Did the fact Finnegan wouldn’t leave his wife make his mistress murderous? And was there more to fight about with rival brewer George Gaffney than just profits?
When their chief suspect is found dead only days later and the top-secret formula for a new beer goes missing, the agency is almost thrown off the case. But Eleanor doesn’t give up on justice. Will the luck of the Irish be on her side before the killer catches up with her?
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery — Book 25
