May is over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month! (As I mentioned last month, I’m doing these at the beginning of a new month as an experiment, though this time is later than I would prefer since I didn’t get a book review up in time. Let me know if you have a preference for this or the old timing!)
If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of J.C. Eaton’s Sophie Kimball Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!
So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in May? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)
As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.
What really good Cozy Mystery did you read May 2025 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Verity Bright: Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Series (first entry A Very English Murder)
Lucy Connelly: Scottish Isle Mystery Series
Elizabeth Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Spann Craig): Southern Quilting Mystery Series
Jana DeLeon: Miss Fortune Mystery Series
J.C. Eaton: Sophie Kimball Mystery Series
Peggy Ehrhart: Knit & Nibble Mystery Series
Anna Elliot and Charles Veley: Homefront Sleuths Mystery Series (first entry The Blackout Murders)
D.B. Elrogg: Milo Rathkey Mystery Series (first entry Great Party! Sorry About the Murder)
Darci Hannah: Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series
Fiona Grace: Magnolia Bay Mystery Series (first entry The Tainted Taffy)
Diane Kelly: House-Flipper Mystery Series
Shawn McGuire: Whispering Pines Mystery Series (first entry Family Secrets)
Allison Montclair: Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery Series (first entry The Right Sort of Man)
Korina Moss: Cheese Shop Mystery Series
A.R. Winters: Kylie Berry Mystery Series (first entry A Berry Deadly Welcome)
I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.
Rob Jarrad says
Dear Danna: I read the Southern Quilting mysteries by Elizabeth Spahn Craig (most of them) and Peggy Ehrhart’s older Knit and Nibble series starting with Murder She Knit and reading Fatal Yarn right now.
All very worthwhile cozies. I’d recommend them all.
Kathleen says
I’m good with whatever timing works for you in pushing us info.
This is a great series!
Marianne Kotch says
I’ve been reading Shawn Mcgwire’s Whispering Pines series about a small northern Wisconsin town populated by tourists, carnies, and Wiccans. They all get along most of the time…
Regina Williams says
My favorite reads of May are:
Fondue or Die by Korina Moss I love the Cheese Shop series!
Murder at the Lemonberry Tea by Darci Hannah
Fortney, Sally says
I read Death at Inishmore Castle by Lucy Connelly and A Case for the Cookie Baker by Candace Havens, who are the same author. Lucy’s is set in Ireland, and Candace’s in Texas. I also enjoy Lucy’s Scottish series.
There was also The Chow Maniac by Vivien Chien, Hounding a Killer by Kallie E. Benjamin, The Golden Hour by Jeanne Quigley, Killing Me Souffle by Ellie Alexander, Death of a Forest Fairy by Julia Buckley, Booked for Revenge by Karen Rose Smith, Vintage Villainy by Eileen Watkins, and Last Wood and Testament by Peggy Ehrhart. Sorry to hear that the Knit and Knibble series is ending except for a last novella. I liked the facts I learned from the articles that Pamela edited for her job as well as the regular cozy mystery stuff. Good to know that Peggy Ehrhart is starting a series about quilting.
There is certainly a lot of variety in cozy mysteries.
Linda MH says
Hi Danna,
I’ve read the first 13 books in the J. C. Eaton series. Book 14 is next in my to-be-read container of books. Good stories with engaging characters.
An interesting book title caught my eye one day when I was browsing book sites. It was ‘Great Party! Sorry About the Murder!’ by D B Elrogg. (A Milo Rathkey Mystery). The title got my attention so I knew I had to give the book a try. So glad I did. The mysteries are always good with lots of humor. A scene in one book had me
laughing so hard, I actually wrote to the authors (husband and wife team) and asked them how they planned to top that scene in future books. LOL. The 8th book was just released, and I’m already wishing for the 9th book. I highly recommend. If anyone decides to give this series a try, I hope you enjoy the books as much as I do.
My last recommendation is Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune Mystery series. I love these books!!!!!! The books in this series contains great stories, great characters, are beyond entertaining and so much fun! Sometimes I like to relax and reread certain books. The Miss Fortune books and the Milo Rathkey stories are my go to books for re-reading.
Hope everyone has a great June!
Mrs. Ainee C. Beland says
I have been reading books by Fiona Grace; I finished her Magnolia Bay, Tainted Taffy; although it was a slow reading and the main character Autumn Ray is a bore, she did bring great fun to being a nosy body who disregards the police with their investigation into the murder of the sweet shop owner.
Autumn decided to set her investigation and to solve the murder, which of course she does with the help of her sister Willow, who is very self-absorbed and likes flowers; she owns a flower shop or such. Also, Autumn’s ex-boyfriend, Ethan, helped Autumn as well.
For an ex, he is different than the rest; in that he drops what he is doing to go and help Autumn out; twice he’s done this…one time she needed him to help her set up a camera to spy on those entering the home of the late sweet shop owner; so they met up and as they were setting up the camera up on a tree branch or such; Autumn noticed the curtains moving from inside of the house; there was already someone in the house; so they decide to go and grab the guy but he left through the front door, and they ran after him, in the darkness, and forced him down to the ground to question him; he told them that he was an accountant trying to steal a recipe for his wife and at the time of the murder he was off the island doing accounting stuff; so he was not the killer.
All in all, this was good reading, very slow, and at times, Autumn was a bit boring and too self-involved, while her sister Willow was a great help and too self-absorbed. Yet they both lived on this island, with only walking or biking as a means to get to and from. This was an island where everything was possible and within reach or at one’s fingertips; or ask, and all is granted to thee.
Hanna says
I discovered Verity Bright’s* books about a young woman in 1920 who traveled the world and now is back in England a heiress, a lady. The first A Very English Murder. Her first night at her new home, she is not certain that she will stay, walking outside in a pouring rain and sees a man being murdered in an abandoned hut. Except, when the police comes, there is no body. Her insistence finally pays and we continue to follow her in the next book Murder at the Dance when her host and a potential love interest is found standing over a dead body and a safe is open. Besides the murders we follow her attempts to blend into a small town when everyone is always in owe of her.
I enjoyed Diane Kelly’s House flipping series Dead as a Door Knocker and Dead in a Doorway where Whitney and her cousin are both excellent carpenters and who know how to fix a home with a hope of selling it in a profit, until a dead body is found on the premises. Many details about house building and interesting characters. The cat – Sawdust – saves the day.
Also Korina Moss’ Cheese shop series: Cheddar off Dead and Gone for Gouda. Cheesemonger Willa Bauer opened a new french inspired cheese store in a small town and gets involved in a murder case. We are introduced to many type of cheeses and also to Willa’s friends and allies.
M.E.H. says
I have recently discovered a series by A.R. Winter called the Kylie Berry mysteries. Heartwarming, hilarious, action-filled and intriguing, I have read the entire series twice, and am eagerly looking forward to the 14th book to come out the next year. Winters creates a familiar small-town vibe, with very quirky characters and a cafe owner who cannot cook. At all. Her culinary disasters are interspersed with her curiosity and constant interference in whatever local murder comes her way. I have greatly enjoyed this series, and highly recommend it to anyone who likes their murder with an overwhelming seasoning of mirth!
Michelle M. says
I’m enjoying the Homefront Sleuths series of mysteries, which are set in a British village during WWII. Written by father/daughter team Charles Veley and Anna Elliot, the books revolve around a group of surprising friends who help solve crimes in the village. Enjoyable reads with enough period details to be interesting but not overwhelming. The first book is The Blackout Murders and the series is available for free with Kindle Unlimited.
Linda says
“The Right Sort of Man” by Allison Montclair is the first book in the Sparks and Bainbridge mystery series. London, 1946. Two women of a similar class but of very different life experiences, meet at a wedding, develop a friendship that leads to opening a marriage bureau. One of their clients is killed and another accused of the murder. Of course, they must clear their client’s name to reestablish their business’ reputation.
I highly recommend this book with its compelling story line and excellent characterizations. The venue of postwar London with its neighborhoods still in ruins and rationing still ongoing add to the atmosphere of this addictive read.