The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Ghost Theme Mysteries : Super Supernatural Paranormal Theme Mysteries

About a week ago I received a note from a site reader who asked:
“Could you make a list of paranomal cozies, cozies with witches, occult, vampires & such?”

I had already started a skeleton of a list which included some different supernatural themes, and thought: What better time to be making a theme with werewolves, vampires, “& such” than right before Halloween…. So here goes!

Ghosts:

P. J. Alderman: Port Chatham Mystery Series… Jordan Marsh owns a haunted house on the west coast of USA.

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series… Aunt Dimity simply insists on staying around after Lori inherits her Cotswold cottage.

Mignon F. Ballard: Augusta Goodnight Mystery Series… Augusta Goodnight is a guardian angel who helps solve mysteries… (I wasn’t sure if I should put Augusta in this category but decided to go ahead and include her, she is a guardian angel.)

Juliet Blackwell: Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series… Melanie (Mel) Turner renovates historic houses in California.

Annette Blair: Vintage Magic Mystery Series… Maddie Cutler returns home to not only open a vintage clothing shop, but to also solve mysteries and see a few ghosts.

Melissa Bourbon (aka Misa Ramirez): Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series… Harlow Cassidy is the owner of a boutique. Her great grandmother (as in her deceased great grandmother!) helps her.

Susan M. Boyer: Liz Talbot Mystery Series…. Liz Talbot is a private investigator who can see ghosts.

Helen Chappell: Sam & Hollis Mystery Series… Hollis (a reporter) solves mysteries with the help of her deceased husband Sam.

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Relatively Dead Mystery Series… Abby Kimball sees ghosts.

J. J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene): Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mystery Series… Stella Griffin is the current fire chief of these fire station in Tennessee. She is helped by an ex fire chief, who is deceased.

E. J. Copperman: Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series… Alison may be the owner of the guesthouse, but Paul and Maxie do as they (ghostly) please.

Casey Daniels: Pepper Martin Mystery Series… Pepper is a cemetery tour guide who gets help with her sleuthing from a dead mob boss.

Jana DeLeon: Ghost-in-Law Mystery Series… features a botanist, her friend, and her deceased mother-in-law as the sleuths.

Leighann Dobbs: Blackmoore Sisters Romantic Cozy Mystery Series… Morgan & Fiona sell crystals and herbal remedies, and have open communication with their deceased grandmother. AND Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series… Willa Chance is a crime journalist who sees ghosts.

Elizabeth Eagan-Cox: Shannon Delaney Mystery Series… features a writer in San Diego with ghostly encounters.

K.J. Emrick: Darcy Sweet Mystery Series and its spinoff, the Smudge the Cat Mysteries, both featuring the ghost of the protagonist’s great-aunt.

Christy Fifield (aka Christy Evans) Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery Series… Glory inherits her uncle’s souvenir shop, including resident ghosts.

Alexia Gordon: Gethsemane Brown Mystery Series – Gethsemane teaches schoolboys in an Irish countryside school’s orchestra.

Carolyn Haines: Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series… Jitty, a nanny to one of Sarah’s ancestors keeps tabs on Sarah.

Carolyn Haines: Pluto’s Snitch Mystery Series… Raissa James often sees ghosts and works with a self-proclaimed medium.

Carolyn Hart (aka Carolyn G. Hart): Bailey Ruth Mystery Series… Bailey loved to sleuth before she joined Heaven’s Department of Good Intentions, as a ghost.

Sue Ann Jaffarian: Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series

Madison Johns: Agnes Barton Paranormal Mystery Series

Tonya Kappes: Kenni Lowry Mystery Series

Alice Kimberly (aka Cleo Coyle): Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series… Penelope Thornton-McClure owns the bookstore that Jack Shepard inhabits… as a ghost.

Victoria Laurie: Ghost Hunter Mystery Series…  M.J. Holliday does just that! She hunts down ghosts.

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Taxi for the Dead Paranormal Mystery Series

Gayle Leeson (aka Amanda Lee & Gayle Trent): Ghostly Fashionista Mystery Series – features the owner of a design shop and the ghost who has lived in the shop since the 1930s.

Lizbeth Lipperman (aka Liz Lipperman & Liz Roth): Dead Sister Talking Mystery Series… Lainey Garcia solves mysteries with the help of her sister,  Tessa, who is no longer of this world.

Dixie Lyle: Whiskey, Tango and Foxtrot Mystery Series… Deirdre “Foxtrot” Lancaster is an administrative assistant who sleuths with the help of her (deceased) telepathic cat and a shape shifting dog.

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series. The sleuth inherits her grandmother’s wool shop, and an unexpected ghost.

Katy Munger (aka Gallagher Gray & Chaz McGee): Dead Detective Mystery Series The main sleuth is Kevin Fahey, a dead policeman.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy and Pat J.J. Murphy write the Lee Fontana Mystery Series which features a parolee and a prison ghost cat in California.

Sharon Pape: Portrait of Crime Mystery Series… Rory gets the help sleuthing from a federal marshall… from the 1870s.

Leigh Perry (aka Toni L.P. Kelner): Family Skeleton Mystery Series…  Georgia is a professor who is “assisted” by Sid, a ghost.

Rose Pressey: Haunted Vintage Mystery Series, Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Series, AND Haunted Renovation Mystery Series, all of which feature various levels of ghostly business.

Wendy Roberts: Ghost Dusters Mystery Series… Sadie Novak sees dead people at her job… as a death scene cleaner-upper.

Mary Saums: Thistle & Twigg Mystery Series… Jane Thistle and Phoebe Twigg are 60 year old best friends living in Alabama.

Paige Shelton: Country Cooking School Mystery Series… Grams and Betts solve mysteries with a ghost of a chance.

Beth Solheim: Sadie Witt Mystery Series… Both Sadie and Belly LaGossa (Sadie’s dog) are able to see the dead.

Mary Stanton (aka Claudia Bishop): Beaufort & Company Mystery Series… Bree Winston-Beaufort inherits her uncle’s law firm and soon finds herself dealing with clients who were previously “down to earth”.

Fran Stewart writes the ScotShop Mystery Series which features Peggy Winn, the owner of a shop which specializes in Scottish merchandise… oh, and her 14th century Scottish specter.

Kirsten Weiss: Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery Series – Maddie Kosloski is the manager of a local paranormal museum.

This list doesn’t include the following Paranormal Cozy Mystery themes: Vampire or Werewolf, Witch, Psychic or 6th Sense, or Enchanted/Magical  (which I’ve listed on the Theme page.)

Please feel free to post a comment if you know of any other mystery authors (who are currently on the Cozy Mystery site) who you think write mysteries that would fit into this Ghost Theme. Thanks!

♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link.♦

Comments

  4. Carolyn Haines needs to be added to this list.

    Her Sarah Booth Delaney & Jitty, the ghost of her great aunt’s nanny.

    Her books are a riot.

    Reply

  5. Great site! Annette Blair started a new mystery series with ghosts. The first is A Veiled Deception. Casey Daniels has a series (A Pepper Martin Mystery) taking place in a graveyard where the main character helps ghosts solve mysteries.

    Reply

  7. Hello;

    Thank you so much for your lists, I have found so many authors of the ghostly persuasion that I was unaware of from your efforts.

    “Brava.”

    Reply

  8. Saw a posting on PBS about this site and just had to check it out. I love it. I have found several new series to try. Thanks so much!

    Reply

  9. Hi Penelope and Lisa,
    Welcome to the site! I’m glad that you have been able to find a few authors who you might enjoy.

    When I first started the site, I only included Cozy Mystery authors who I followed. As time went on, I started getting more and more recommendations from other Cozy Mystery readers. So, thanks to those recommendations, I have found several other authors who I now follow.

    Reply

  10. I would like to comment on Madelyn Alt’s newest book “At Witches in Time.” I so enjoy this series and watching Maggie develop her talent and fall in love. I was really looking forward to how she was doing, only to be left in limbo. In the beginning her romance department was looking up and she and Marcus were moving forward only to be interrupted in the middle by a mystery (oh, no!) Well the mystery ended but it never got back to their relationship: of which I was disappointed that it didn’t finish what it started. I love her books and all the developing talents people have, I just wish it would move at a little faster pace and have her actually use more of her talent. There just wasn’t much used in this book. I will look forward to the next one and hope it finishes what this book started.

    Reply

  11. I am not sure if anyone has mentioned author Wendy Roberts. She has a wonderful series featuring Sadie Novak who sees dead people while cleaning crime scenes.

    Reply

  12. Thank you, Michelle, for the reminder. When I add a new author to the site, I try to get them on their corresponding theme pages, but for some reason I am finding that I have missing a few lately.

    Thanks, again!

    Reply

  13. This just happens to be my FAVORITE genre. With that in mind, I have two more authors… Sue Ann Jaffarian and P.J. Alderman. Sue has the “Ghost of Granny Apples” mysteries. P.J. has “Port Chatham Mystery series”.

    Reply

  15. How about Phil Rickman? His novels are not always about ghosts per se, but they definitely contain otherworldly elements, involve mysteries, and have some great, well-developed characters.

    Reply

  17. Linda Lael Miller has started a series about Mojo Sheepshanks, who sees dead people. there are 2 in the series currently and are fab.

    Reply

  20. Wow you are great!!! Thank you for a wonderful, wonderful site, very nice. I get almost as much fun reading about the different cozys as reading one 🙂 You did a great job. I will be back ..over and over again.. thanks, Sally

    Reply

  21. I have been trying to find an author I really enjoyed in either Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock magazine many years ago. The hero was a hypochondriac who had a different outrageous illness in each story, using a medical manual of some sort. She solved mysteries reluctantly with her aunt and cousin, but she actually was surprisingly successful.

    Reply

  22. Pamela DuMond’s first in a new series, CUPCAKES, LIES, AND DEAD GUYS fits into the ghost category and it is a terrific, funny mystery!

    Reply

  23. Karen White has 2 in a series about ghosts in Charleston, SC historic homes. Don’t forget Charlaine Harris’ Harper Connelly series.

    Reply

  24. RE: your Ghost Theme author page====
    The P. J. Alderman series with Jordan Marsh takes place on the WEST coast of the USA…….. 🙂

    Reply

    • Thank you, Marlene, for telling me about that mistake. I just corrected it.

      Thanks, again!

      Reply

  25. Juliet Blackwell and E. J. Cooperman would be good authors to add to your list. They are fun, paranormal with a good story line. =))

    Kathy

    Reply

      • Juliet Blackwell recently started a second series that would fit more with the ghost theme than the witch theme – the Haunted Home Renovation series.

        Reply

        • Judith, I’m glad you wrote about Juliet Blackwell’s Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series. For some reason, every time I looked at Blackwell’s page on the site, I fixated on her Witchcraft Mystery Series. Thank you!

          Reply

    • Thank you Selene and Danna I could not remember Karen White’s name and I love the Tradd Street series.. I have been searching forever.. thanks again.. 🙂

      Reply

  27. I, too, don’t like super servings of hot, steamy sex or blood and guts all over. I want good plots you can’t see a mile off, developed characters, usually justice triumphant, and as icing and sprinkles on the cake, humor laced throughout and maybe even some paranormal thrown in. Oh, and once I find an author that fills this laundry list–a long, long series of books to feast on. I am so happy to have come across this treasure site of unexplored writers (of 21 names, I am familiar with 3!)

    Reply

    • Carolynn, I wish that more of the current Cozy Mystery authors would “remain true” to the spirit of what Cozy Mystery books used to be!

      I’m glad you found the site, and hope you are able to find some new authors to follow…

      Reply

  28. This site is the most awesome site, thank you soooooo very much for having these authors listed, I am always looking for a new series and this will help me find one. Keep up the great work. Kudos to you a million times over.

    Reply

    • Welcome to the site, Nonakins. I hope you continue to enjoy it, and that you find a lot of authors to your liking.

      Reply

  29. Nancy Atherton. Aunt Dimity is a type of ghost with her writings. At least, in the first book there is mention of her paranormal abilities (she prepared the cottage for the heroine to welcome her -tea, a fire in the fireplace)

    Reply

  30. hi I found a book earlier now can’t find it. It involves a youngish lady who inherits a bookshop from her grandmother who has died but keeps hanging around. if anyone can help me remember I would be very happy. so many thanks and happy reading judy

    Reply

  32. I’m so glad to have stumbled across your site! I’ve been a big reader of urban fantasy for years but lately I’ve been feeling a bit bored with it, so I started reading the cozy’s with a paranormal theme and found most of them utterly fun! Then I mixed it up a bit when my mom gave me the Cece Caruso mysteries by Susan Kandel and I went through them like a hot knife through butter. I’m using your site to compile my wish-list for when I visit the flea market and used bookstores. I’ve also shared your site on my Facebook page a few times. Thanks so much for doing what you do here!!

    Reply

    • Welcome to the site, Annie H! I’m glad you found us, and that you found Cozy Mystery books with paranormal themes.

      Reply

    • Marlene, I was a bit surprised that Joyce and Jim Lavene decided to go with a pseudonym with this series. I wonder if that’s because it is a paranormal mystery series.

      Reply

  34. I’m new to cozies but my first ‘series’ “Thistle & Twigg” and “Mighty Old Bones” by Mary Saums involves ghosts and paranormal events.

    I’d like to heartily recommend them if that sort of thing is your cup of tea!

    Also, I LOVE this site! Thank you sooooooo much for creating it!!!!!

    Reply

    • Thanks, Odee, for telling me about Mary Saums. I’ll go put her Thistle & Twigg series in this paranormal theme.

      Reply

  35. First – thank you so very much for this site. I often refer to it when in need of something new. Therefore I would like to add to the list a completely new and unknown to me so far author of “A Skeleton in the Family (A Family Skeleton Mystery)” – Leigh Perry. It deals with lovable characters among whom we can find Sid – a walking/ talking/ joking skeleton. I just finished the book and warmly encourage to reach for it. Not only the characters are believable but there is also enough of mystery, real-life activities and problems and fun to make this relaxing reading for the coming chilly fall.

    Reply

  36. My first visit to this site and I am impressed. I have noticed Terri Reid is not on your list. She writes great books which I have enjoyed and I’m sure others would as well. Thanks for a great book listing.

    Reply

  37. my mom is looking for the name of an author who wrote a book that took place in prescott, az….the former madam of what turns out to be a bordello, helps solve the mystery…any ideas? thanks!

    Reply

  38. Wonderful, wonderful. I was hoping to somehow remember the name of a series and simply entered ‘mysteries with ghosts’ and up came this site. So many new books to read, some many new ghosty and human friends to enjoy during the coming days. Glad to find that there are lots of people like me who enjoy this genre. Thank you for starting this list.

    Reply

  39. I love the “graveyard queen” series by Amanda Stevens. Another good cozy mystery is “A Ghostly Undertaking” by Tonya Kappes.

    Reply

  40. So glad I stumbled upon this blog. I’m a new author trying to figure out how to categorize my novels. 😀 I have ghosts, ghost hunters, romance, and mystery in my series. Looking forward to reading some of these authors to see if my work fits in to this category.

    Reply

  41. Trying to remember the series where a woman buys a house that belongs to a ghost who was a murdered law enforcement officer in the 1800’s . Sweet relationship between them develops. Please help!

    Reply

  44. You might want to add Angie Fox’s Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries series about Verity Long who lives with the ghost of a 1920s gangster. She accidentally trapped him on her property & gained the ability to see spirits. Fun series. Think there are 9 books in the series so far.

    Reply

  45. I don’t see the Bobbie Holmes series, “Haunting Danielle” on here…there are 20 of them, to date.

    Reply

      • Their are 31 books in the Haunting Danielle series, and I love for the next drop. Great characters, place, and story lines.

        I also enjoyed Angie Fox’s Southern Ghost Hunter. Love Verity. It also can get pretty intense when she enters the ghost’s realm. Very fun, interesting series. Don’t for get Lucy her per skunk. ❤️

        Thank you for the compilation. I love a series that have a ghost or two in them.

        Reply

      • I just finished the first book in Bobbi Holmes’s Haunting Danielle series. I loved it. I was sorry it wasn’t added to this site yet. I love finding authors and series new to me based on your recommendations.

        Reply

  47. I really enjoy the page. A series that I’ve been reading lately is Angie Fox’s Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries which I didn’t see on the list. In general, I don’t really like ghost stories or suspense, but I’ve been enjoying this series about a small town southern girl with boyfriend issues who accidentally gets stuck with the ghost of a gangster and tries to make the best of it. I also liked the Country Cooking School Series and the Relatively Dead Series. So much for me not liking ghost stories!

    Reply

  48. I love your list. I am going to try each one of these authors. Bobbi Holmes has a series called Haunting Danielle that is ghost-themed.

    Reply

    • I absolutely love the Haunting Danielle series! I’ve been listening to them on audio book over the past couple of years and I’m now to the point where there is only one left in the series. I want so badly to just listen to it RIGHT NOW, but then there won’t be anymore to listen to.

      Reply

  49. I have another series that, while not cozy, has been mentioned on here before.
    The Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones deals with ghosts. Charley is the grim reaper, so she sees dead people, and helps them cross over, and also sometimes has to find out who killed them. All while dodging demons that would like nothing more to have her for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

    Reply

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