Here are 17 books that Charley's Ghost fans have personally recommended once you finish the Charley's Ghost series.
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I write cozy mysteries about a house flipper turned sleuth in fictional Crocus Heights, Minnesota. My father was a carpenter, and I was his helper. My childhood was spent on a farm, with the biggest event of the week being a trip to the local library, where I checked out seven books. I would prop my library book in front of my school book and read in class whenever I could. My favorites were mysteries, and later romances, and now cozy mysteries, which combine a bit of both. I am always fascinated by people and their motivations, and that is what I enjoy in all the authors I recommend.
I love Mulhern’s references to the 70s and a snooty country club entourage. I love the way she describes men and whether they live inside or outside of the lines, capturing their quirks perfectly. I love the depiction of a simpler time of life with no cell phones or the internet, where everything felt more personal and connected.
INTRIGUING PLOT, FASCINATING CHARACTERS... "Part mystery, part women's fiction, part poetry, Mulhern's debut, The Deep End, will draw you in with the first sentence and entrance you until the last. An engaging whodunit that kept me guessing until the end!" - Tracy Weber, Author of the Downward Dog Mysteries Sub-Genre Keywords: Humorous Mystery, Historical Mystery, Whodunnit, Amateur Sleuth, Women Sleuths Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband's mistress tends to ruin a woman's day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life. It's 1974 and Ellison Russell's life revolves around her daughter and her art. She's long…
I write cozy mysteries about a house flipper turned sleuth in fictional Crocus Heights, Minnesota. My father was a carpenter, and I was his helper. My childhood was spent on a farm, with the biggest event of the week being a trip to the local library, where I checked out seven books. I would prop my library book in front of my school book and read in class whenever I could. My favorites were mysteries, and later romances, and now cozy mysteries, which combine a bit of both. I am always fascinated by people and their motivations, and that is what I enjoy in all the authors I recommend.
I loved Molly Fitz’s introduction to her series, where a coffee maker hit her character on the head and introduced the ability to hear a multi-named cat speak at the reading of a will. I loved that she shortened the cat’s name to Octo-Cat. Fitz puts the cat in charge, solving the mystery. The main character has challenges with her job, and who can’t relate to those issues?
When a faulty coffeemaker zaps Angie Russo unconscious, she wakes up to a very demanding talking tabby who insists she help him solve his late-owner’s murder. What could possibly go wrong?
If you love cats but also recognize how demanding, snarky, and downright mean they can be when they aren’t getting their way, then you can’t afford to miss this series. Pet Whisperer PI will make you laugh big, think hard, and lose yourself for hours in this purrfect escape!
I am a lifelong fan of cozy mysteries, starting with Nancy Drew. Although I have written primarily about women of the 19th-century American West, I always longed to write mysteries. The Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries is my fourth series but the first outrageous one. The books combine my love of all things culinary (I’ve even written cookbooks) and my love of Chicago, my hometown. What makes them outrageous? Irene’s diva-like deceptions and Henny’s snarky commentary.
Anastasia Pollock is caught in an outrageous situation. Husband, Karl, is at a sales meeting in Harrisburg. No, wait! He drops dead in Las Vegas where he has gambled away their nest egg, tuition for their sons’ college, and $50,000 he owes a loan shark. Lucille, Anastasia’s hateful mother-in-law, an outspoken eighty-something card-carrying Communist, has moved in with Anastasia because she’s broke and has nowhere to go. Anastasia designs projects for a craft magazine, and Marlys, her self-centered fashion editor, is found dead, glued to Anastasia’s office chair. When it turns out that Karl and Marlys were having an affair, Anastasia is the prime suspect in the murder. Anastasia survives all this with sarcastic humor, deadpan comments, and a parrot who quotes Shakespeare. First in a highly successful series.
When Anastasia Pollack’s husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life in New Jersey craps out. She’s left with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her hateful, cane-wielding Communist mother-in-law. Not to mention stunned disbelief over her late husband’s secret gambling addiction, and the loan shark who’s demanding fifty thousand dollars.
Anastasia’s job as crafts editor at American Woman magazine proves no respite when she discovers a dead body glued to her desk chair. The victim, fashion editor Marlys Vandenburg, collected enemies and ex-lovers like Jimmy Choos on her ruthless…
I am a lifelong fan of cozy mysteries, starting with Nancy Drew. Although I have written primarily about women of the 19th-century American West, I always longed to write mysteries. The Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries is my fourth series but the first outrageous one. The books combine my love of all things culinary (I’ve even written cookbooks) and my love of Chicago, my hometown. What makes them outrageous? Irene’s diva-like deceptions and Henny’s snarky commentary.
In this fourteenth book in the Country Club Murders series, Ellison Russell returns from a long honeymoon to find an older woman has been murdered in her bed. With a new husband, her mother in the hospital (targeted by the murderer?), her difficult sister as a houseguest, one too many animals, and a full social calendar, Ellison can’t catch a break. Ellison is smart and funny, and she’s found herself a new, inappropriate, and wonderful husband. The spoof of the 1980s country club society is spot on.
When Ellison Russell Jones returns from her honeymoon, she’s ready for a restful summer.
But while she was away, an older woman was murdered in her bed. And the police have questions only Ellison and her friends can answer.
She gets to be a sleuth. A real one! But with a new husband, her mother in the hospital (targeted by the murderer?), her sister as a house guest, one too many animals, and a full social calendar, Ellison can’t catch a break, much less a killer.
She’d better focus, or she may be the next victim.
I am a lifelong fan of cozy mysteries, starting with Nancy Drew. Although I have written primarily about women of the 19th-century American West, I always longed to write mysteries. The Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries is my fourth series but the first outrageous one. The books combine my love of all things culinary (I’ve even written cookbooks) and my love of Chicago, my hometown. What makes them outrageous? Irene’s diva-like deceptions and Henny’s snarky commentary.
Social media expert Maddy Montgomery, left standing at the altar, is #StartingOver in small-town Michigan after inheriting her great-aunt’s bakery and a 200-pound English Mastiff named Baby. Her plan to sell the bakery and go back to her sophisticated life is spoiled by a restriction in the will requiring her to spend a year in New Bison. Maddy doesn’t bake, and her Louboutins aren’t made for walking giant dogs, but the locals are friendly, and Lake Michigan is beautiful. Maddy feels ready to take on the challenge—until New Bison’s mayor is fatally stabbed, and her fingerprints are on the knife. When there’s another murder, she even begins to suspect the one person she has trusted. Maddy’s snarky dialog and clever use of hashtags, along with the irresistible Baby, make this a stand-out.
“Snappy dialogue, a well-drawn supporting cast and an irresistible canine companion all add delicious flavor. Gulp this book down or savor it, but consuming it will guarantee a sustained sugar high.”– The New York Times Book Review
In a brand-new culinary cozy series with a fresh edge and a delightful small-town setting, the acclaimed author introduces Maddy Montgomery, a social media expert who’s #StartingOver in small town Michigan after inheriting her great-aunt’s bakery…and a 200-pound English Mastiff named Baby.
A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book Of 2022
When Maddy Montgomery’s groom is a no-show to their livestream wedding, it’s a disaster…
I write cozy mysteries about a house flipper turned sleuth in fictional Crocus Heights, Minnesota. My father was a carpenter, and I was his helper. My childhood was spent on a farm, with the biggest event of the week being a trip to the local library, where I checked out seven books. I would prop my library book in front of my school book and read in class whenever I could. My favorites were mysteries, and later romances, and now cozy mysteries, which combine a bit of both. I am always fascinated by people and their motivations, and that is what I enjoy in all the authors I recommend.
I love that Laurie’s main character in her Psychic Eye series is a modern-day psychic and solves a mystery. I love a good psychic theme where Abby Cooper has an office where she books readings, solves mysteries, and has a serious love interest. Laurie has a website with links to a podcast where she and her sister discuss current murder cases. I might even book a reading with her.
Abby Cooper is a P.I., psychic intuitive. But her insight failed her when she didn't foresee the death of one of her clients-or that the lead investigator for the case is the gorgeous blind date she just met. Now, with the police suspicious of her abilities and a killer on the loose, Abby's future looks more uncertain than ever.
I grew up on a steady diet of Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown. Then, in a plot twist that surprised exactly no one, I became an English teacher, a librarian (did you know you can recommend books for a LIVING???), and an author. I love books where the sleuth must not only solve the case at hand, but also wrestle with some sort of ongoing personal problem–bonus points if they can simultaneously pull the curtain back on societal issues and make me feel like I’m getting to experience life in a place where I don’t actually live (I’m looking at you, London and L.A.).
I enjoyed being along for this wacky ride as Finlay accidentally gets herself hired as a contract killer, disposes of a body, and navigates the criminal underworld–all while raising her two small children and dealing with her infuriating ex-husband. There’s a love triangle in this book, but the relationship I enjoyed most was the friendship that develops between Finlay and Vero, her former nanny turned partner in crime.
This story is completely absurd, laugh-out-loud funny, and very suspenseful.
"Getting the job done" for one single mom takes on a whole new meaning in Finlay Donovan is Killing It.
One of Suspense Magazine's "Best Thrillers of 2021" One of New York Public Library's Best Books of 2021 Nominated for the Left Coast Crime 2022 Lefty Award for the Best Humorous Mystery
“Funny and smart, twisty and surprising.”—Megan Miranda
Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny…
I write cozy mysteries about a house flipper turned sleuth in fictional Crocus Heights, Minnesota. My father was a carpenter, and I was his helper. My childhood was spent on a farm, with the biggest event of the week being a trip to the local library, where I checked out seven books. I would prop my library book in front of my school book and read in class whenever I could. My favorites were mysteries, and later romances, and now cozy mysteries, which combine a bit of both. I am always fascinated by people and their motivations, and that is what I enjoy in all the authors I recommend.
I love every one of M. C. Beaton’s books, including her witty, wry humor and observations of an abusive ex-husband and her move to a small village. I love her flaws and that she is an unapologetic smoker and has two cats she loves. I love that she is relatable with a hardscrabble life, coming from an impoverished childhood and finally making it. Albeit with all the insecurities that come from her past. Every book is a treat.
'Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy' ASHLEY JENSEN
'No wonder she's been crowned Queen of Cosy Crime' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A Beaton novel is like The Archers on speed' DAILY MAIL
The first Agatha Raisin mystery from bestselling author M. C. Beaton
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Revenge is a dish best served warm...
High-flying public relations supremo Agatha Raisin has decided to take early retirement. She's off to make a new life in a picture-perfect Cotswold village. To make friends, she enters the local quiche-making competition - and to make quite sure of first prize she secretly pays a visit…
I am fascinated by the process of sharing stories and finding unique ones to experience. A member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I share my unmanageable at times life with others so they can see my life as typical, not abnormal. I believe I was put here on this earth to witness to others and open eyes and hearts to alternate lifestyles. I want to make a difference, and hope my writing may touch readers. No one else could have written my story, and it needs to be told. Mental health issues are difficult to share, but if we all remain silent, it will never get any easier.
I wanted to understand other cultures and this book was a glimpse into Indian ways. I also love a good tale about the writing process. This book made me root for the Indian girl and see the world from a different point of view.
One book can change the world, I felt the author was trying to do so with this insight into her culture. A book I might re-read it was so sweet and magical. A romance that kept me on my toes for sure. Discovery, forgiveness, and a HEA that had me in the feels.
Recovering addict Nick Dorsey finds solace in his regimented life. That is until he meets Shyla Metha. Something about the shy Indian beauty who delivers take-out to his Greenwich Village loft inspires the reclusive writer. And when Shyla reveals her desire to write a book of her own, he agrees to help her. The tale of a young Indian girl growing up against a landscape of brutal choices isn’t Nick’s usual territory, but something about the story, and the beautiful storyteller, draws him in deep.
I am fascinated by the process of sharing stories and finding unique ones to experience. A member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I share my unmanageable at times life with others so they can see my life as typical, not abnormal. I believe I was put here on this earth to witness to others and open eyes and hearts to alternate lifestyles. I want to make a difference, and hope my writing may touch readers. No one else could have written my story, and it needs to be told. Mental health issues are difficult to share, but if we all remain silent, it will never get any easier.
This book made me wonder who else I may know who is Trans but passes. Again I was overwhelmed by the hard life and unexpected trauma so many Trans individuals go through. It warmed my heart that Chris was determined to keep his family together and provide for his little sister.
I found the workings of bronco bucking fascinating, and the writing made me feel like I was there experiencing it. I never was a girly girl, but even in my best butch days I don’t think I could pass for a male. Once I began reading this little book I never thought of Chris as anything but a boy.
This book made me want to get more books like it out into the world. Everyone deserves a HEA (happily-ever-after) after all.
When your life falls apart, couldn’t you just be someone else? Especially if that someone else was you all along anyway?
Seventeen-year-old Chrissy Taylor is orphaned to a stepmama who squandered their sizable inheritance on drinking and drugging. Now, with their ranch lost, they squat in a run-down, rented trailer on the outskirts of small-town-podunkville where Chrissy cares for her nine-year-old half sister, Luce. But landing on the wrong side of the tracks puts them on the radar of the local sheriff and social services.
There’s one saving grace to losing everything and moving away. Nobody knows her. Chris can…
