Bakery cozy mysteries
Six bakery mysteries that each start a series, from a Minnesota cookie shop to a pancake house on the coast.
A bakery is a good place to set a cozy mystery. Everybody in town comes through the door sooner or later, and the person behind the counter hears all of it. These are first books in their series, so if one suits you there's plenty more behind it.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
Joanne Fluke · Hannah Swensen Mysteries, book 1
Hannah Swensen runs The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and spends a good part of her day dodging her mother's matchmaking. Then the dairy delivery man is found dead behind the shop with her cookies scattered around him. This is where the long Lake Eden series starts.
Find it on Amazon →Sprinkle with Murder
Jenn McKinlay · Cupcake Bakery Mysteries, book 1 (2010)
Mel Cooper and her best friend Angie DeLaura own Fairy Tale Cupcakes in Arizona. A bride who has ordered cupcakes for her wedding to their friend Tate is found dead after tasting one, and Mel is the obvious suspect. Light and quick, with a lot of frosting.
Find it on Amazon →Glazed Murder
Jessica Beck · Donut Shop Mysteries, book 1
Suzanne Hart is newly divorced and running Donut Hearts in April Springs, North Carolina, when a body turns up outside her shop. A state investigator tells her to stay out of it. She doesn't.
Find it on Amazon →Meet Your Baker
Ellie Alexander · Bakeshop Mysteries, book 1
Jules Capshaw comes home to Ashland, Oregon, after culinary school and a breakup to help her mom at the family bakeshop, Torte. A new board member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is murdered, and the detective on the case is her high school sweetheart. A good pick if you like the Pacific Northwest.
Find it on Amazon →Cookie Dough or Die
Virginia Lowell · Cookie Cutter Shop Mysteries, book 1
Olivia Greyson owns The Gingerbread House in Chatterley Heights, a shop full of cookie cutters and baking supplies, and her friend Maddie bakes for the shop's cookie parties. When Olivia's mentor, also her biggest customer, is found dead, Olivia starts asking questions.
Find it on Amazon →The Crêpes of Wrath
Sarah Fox · Pancake House Mysteries, book 1
Marley McKinney comes to the coastal town of Wildwood Cove to run her cousin Jimmy's pancake house, the Flip Side, while he gets over pneumonia. Then Jimmy is found dead below a cliff. Breakfast food and sea air, and a title that tells you the tone.
Find it on Amazon →
Not a bakery, but the kettle's always on
Claire Willowbrook · Tales from the Twisted Leaf, three mysteries in one volume
Emma Calloway gave up a Seattle law career for a weathered blue tea shop on Harbor Street in Harrow's Cove, Washington. One of the three starts with a dead antique dealer in her storage room, and the police say it was natural causes. Free to read in Kindle Unlimited.
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