21 Halloween Cozy Mysteries

Book Summary

Stormy left her hometown with huge dreams of being a best-selling author. Although she sold her first novel right after college, she soon fell into obscurity. Without a new book contract, she had to return to her one-stoplight town to work in her family’s restaurant and live in the apartment upstairs.

During her first shift, she trips over the body of Roy Axe, one of the most hated men in town. Just her luck, the detective on the case is her high school boyfriend, and their reunion is tense. As a distraction, Stormy and her cousin get drunk and find their great-grandmother’s Ouija board. It starts a whole series of magical events, even if Stormy isn’t sure she believes in magic. Shadow Hills is full of secrets and sorcery, but Stormy just wants to solve the case and move on. Is there more to the story? Is she actually a witch?

Book Summary

Lee Barrett returned to her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, to interview as a reporter at the local TV station. However, the only job available was for a call-in psychic to host the late-night horror movies. She reluctantly took the job but then started seeing real events in her prop obsidian ball.

She starts wondering if the previous host, Ariel, might have been a practicing witch before her murder. Along with the job, Lee inherited Ariel’s cat, which seems to have its own strange powers. With Halloween right around the cover, Lee must find Ariel’s killer before they find her.

Book Summary

Sassy Southern PI Sarah has gathered with friends to decorate for Halloween and gush over a new baby. Just as she’s about to refresh everyone’s cocktails, there’s a knock at the door. 

A woman named Frankie pleads for help finding her daughter, Christa, a journalist. Christa was investigating a trend of young women disappearing every Halloween, one per year. It’s been happening for five years, and Frankie is distraught with worry that Christa was this year’s victim. 

Frankie is concerned that a cult, People of Eternity, is behind the disappearances. They have far-reading connections in New Orleans, and their reach is believed to include law enforcement, so Frankie wants Delaney Detective Agency to investigate instead. Soon Sarah is deep in a secret world of cult leaders, witchcraft, and maybe even human sacrifice.

Book Summary

Realtor Tabitha Chase visits the small beach town of Crystal Cove to sell her late aunt’s houseboat. She expects it to be straightforward, but nothing in town is as it seems. 

A local witch has died, and Tabby is a suspect. She’ll need the help of a handsome forensic expert, a dashing detective, and her newly inherited psychic cat to clear her name and reveal the truth.

Book Summary

Minister Ted and his wife Trudy are newcomers to Bar Harbor. Trudy runs a food truck called Wicked ‘Wiches and makes fast friends with Hayley after stopping in Island Times to place an ad for her food. 

While catering a Halloween party, Trudy tragically dies in her truck. A cranky, competitive caterer is the prime suspect, but Hayley’s husband saw someone dressed as a witch rushing away from the truck. That’s not super-helpful since many women at the party had the same witch costume. Which witch is to blame for the Wicked ‘Wiches murder?

Book Summary

When Mia finds herself newly single and unemployed, she’s ready for a big change. It’s time to start over in Magic Springs, Idaho, where magic, witches, and warlocks are mostly welcome. She loves to cook, so she set up a new gourmet dinner delivery business. She hopes the touch of magic added to her recipes is the perfect secret ingredient.

But then her first catering job is a disaster…the client is stabbed and left under the table! Suddenly, she’s both prime suspect and next on the killer’s list. She has to work together with her meddling Grandma and her ex’s little sister, who showed up looking for her own fresh start, to figure out which eccentric resident is a killer.

Book Summary

June relocated her homeopathy business from a flea market booth to a shop in her hometown of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Whispering Falls seems like a quiet and cozy little town, but June will soon discover that it’s actually a supernatural town with a lot of magical secrets.

When a woman in town is found dead holding June’s favorite bracelet, people wonder if it’s a clue to reveal the murderer. June’s best friend is a police officer, but now that June is the main suspect in the murder, she’s on her own to try to prove her innocence.

Book Summary

Despite never being to Marlow House in Oregon, Danielle has inherited it and dreams of turning it into a Bed & Breakfast. To her surprise, she didn’t only inherit the home, it comes with the ghost of a resident who has been dead for almost ninety years! 

Luckily, Walt is charming. He convinces Danielle that she needs to solve the mystery of his death so he can finally move on. But she also has challenges from the living. Marlow House is full of other secrets.

Book Summary

Just before Halloween, the department store Maureen worked for as a buyer declared bankruptcy. Her golden retriever Finn had his own setback, failing a guide dog test for being too friendly. As Maureen faces the fact that she can no longer afford her Boston apartment, she receives a mysterious inheritance. It’s in Florida on the Gulf Coast in a quiet, scenic town. 

While she’s ready to make a fresh start in her new business, she has a setback when a dead body shows up on the property. She’s not sure if it makes it better or worse that the Inn came with ghosts of former tenants who want to help her solve the mystery.

Book Summary

Jay Ruddle, a wealthy businessman, plans to donate his extensive collection of North Carolina historical documents to one lucky library. The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library is hoping to be the one he chooses. Unfortunately, while the library was hosting a lecture on ghostly legends of the Outer Banks, Jay is found dead in the rare books section.

The murder is not the only strange thing happening in town. Haunted horses materialize in the marsh, the lights take on an eerie life of their own, and things keep moving when no one is looking. Is the Lighthouse really haunted? Is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow real?

Book Summary

Verity is an out-of-work graphic designer, but that isn’t her biggest problem this week. She accidentally trapped a ghost on her property and now has a supernatural sidekick. And when the sidekick joined her, she also gained the ability to see spirits. 

This leads to an offer from someone she shouldn’t partner with for more than one reason – Ellis is the brother of her ex and the town’s bad boy. He owns a stunning historic property, but the town’s former citizens haunt it. They seem to be growing restless. He needs Verity’s help stopping the disturbances. While she tries to figure that out, a modern-day mystery also arises.

Book Summary

Busman’s Harbor has a history of hauntings and ghost sightings, making it the perfect town to host Halloween festivities. Julia Snowden agrees to help out with a haunted house tour that includes a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster murder.

When one of the actors winds up dead, Julia must find the killer.

Book Summary

Abby is on the planning committee for Snowberry Creek’s annual Halloween Festival. She volunteers to pick up the pumpkins from the ornery farmer in town, but when she arrives, she finds him dead in his corn maze with a knife in his back.

The police suspect a homeless veteran named Kevin, who was seen arguing with the farmer after being accused of stealing pumpkins. But Abby’s tenant, Tripp – another veteran, is sure that Kevin is not the culprit. Together, Abby and Tripp will follow the twists and turns of the case to find the corn maze killer. 

Book Summary

Halloween is celebrated year-round in the town of Pumpkin Hollow. This is Mia’s hometown, and she’s just moved back after a decade away. Soon after she returns, her neighbor – the most hated woman in town – is murdered and Mia is a suspect.

Can she find the real killer and save the town’s beloved Halloween celebration before it’s too late?

Book Summary

As Halloween nears in Sandy Harbor, Maine, blogger and foodie Allie McSwain finds the coordinator of the town’s Halloween bazaar dead. Allie is determined to find the murderer, but the detective on the case just wants to keep Allie out of harm’s way. With romance blossoming between Allie and the detective,

Book Summary

Vampires don’t exist… or do they? 

Charlie Kingsley makes teas and solves mysteries. When one of her customers is convinced that their neighbor’s house sitter is a vampire, Charlie wants to figure out the real story. The house sitter is digging holes in the backyard in the middle of the night – but surely they aren’t graves. Or are they?

When Polly – a local teenager – goes missing, and then a body turns up in the “vampire’s” yard. Charlie races to find Polly before any more bodies pile up.

Book Summary

Reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town’s annual Giant Pumpkin Fest, which features a pumpkin-boat regatta, a pumpkin weigh-in, and even a pumpkin catapult contest. For the contest, locals bring their home-built catapults and take turns hurling pumpkins at an old car. Lucy’s husband, Bill, and his friend, Evan, have been hard at work on their own catapult. But when the day of the contest arrives, Evan is MIA. When one of the pumpkins hits the old car hard enough to pop the trunk open, they discover Evan’s body inside. 

Lucy knows that Bill can’t be the murderer, but she’ll have to prove it, and in doing so, she’ll also wind up investigating a decades-old unsolved mystery.