Elizabeth Penney

Welcome to the quaint village of Blueberry Cove, Maine, where an expert seamstress turned amateur sleuth is getting measured for murder. . . Iris Buckley is sew ready for a change. After the death of her beloved grandfather, Iris decides to return to her Maine hometown to help out her widowed grandmother, Anne—and bring her online hand-made apron designs to real-time retail life. Her and Anne’s shop, Ruffles & Bows, is set to include all the latest and vintage linen fashions, a studio for sewing groups and classes, and a friendly orange cat. The only thing that they were not planning to have on the property? A skeleton in the basement. Anne recognizes the remains of an old friend, and when a second body shows up in the apron shop—this time their corrupt landlord, whom Anne had been feuding with for decades—she becomes a prime suspect. Now, it’s up to Iris to help clear her name. Enlisting the help of her old high-school crush Ian Stewart who, like certain fabrics, has only gotten better-looking with age and her plucky BFF Madison Morris, Iris must piece together an investigation to find out who the real killer is. . .and find a way to keep her brand-new business from being scrapped in the process.

Hems and Homicide

Elizabeth Penney's Chapter and Curse is the first in a brand new cozy series introducing Molly Kimball and set in one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, England...

Chapter and Curse

Faith Newberry's dream job may be morphing into a nightmare. Newly hired as the librarian at the upscale and pet-friendly Castleton Manor literary retreat, Faith sees her move from Boston to the quaint Cape Cod village of Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts, as a boon. But things turn ugly when she discovers that the first edition book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proudly displayed in the library is a counterfeit and not a very good one at that. Who could have absconded with the real volume? Could it have been the former librarian when she mysteriously disappeared leaving only a cryptic note of resignation? Or has someone else duped the handome heir to the Castleton estate, Wolfe Jaxon? Whichever is the case, it soon becomes clear that someone will stop at nothing to keep her from learning the truth.

A Novel Murder

A Treacherous Tale is the second in a charming new cozy series from Elizabeth Penney, set in an English bookshop and following Molly Kimball, who has a habit of bookmarking trouble...

“A cozy mystery that will delight your booklover’s heart and satisfy your hunger for intrigue―and crumpets!” ―Paige Shelton, New York Times bestselling author of the Scottish Bookshop series on Chapter and Curse

Lately, Molly has been feeling that she might have fallen into a fairy tale: she's reinvigorated the family bookshop Thomas Marlowe―Manuscripts and Folios, made friends in her new home of Cambridge, England, and is even developing a bit of a romance with the handsome Kieran―a bike shop owner with a somewhat intimidating family pedigree.

Having recently discovered The Strawberry Girls, a classic children's tale, Molly is thrilled to learn the author, Iona York, lives nearby. But while visiting the famous author at her lovely cottage in nearby Hazelhurst, an old acquaintance of Iona's tumbles off her roof to his death.

Then, when one of Iona’s daughters―an inspiration for the original Strawberry Girls―goes missing, Molly begins to worry this story might be more Brothers Grimm than happily-ever-after. Especially after Molly learns about the mysterious long-ago death of Iona’s husband and co-author of The Strawberry Girls…could past and present crimes be linked? Molly must put the clues together before someone turns this sweet tale sour.

The Cambridge Bookshop Series (The Cambridge Bookshop #2)

Treacherous Tale

Foal Me Once

In Elizabeth Penney's Chapter and Curse, Molly Kimball is used to cracking open books . . . but when a poetry reading ends in murder she must use her skills to crack the case. "With its bucolic British setting, engaging heroine, and unsolved murder dating back decades, Elizabeth Penney has penned the perfect cozy."–Ellen Byron, USA Today Bestselling Author Librarian Molly Kimball and her mother, Nina, need a change. So when a letter arrives from Nina’s Aunt Violet in Cambridge, England requesting their help running the family bookshop, they jump at the chance. Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, is one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, and—unfortunately—customers can tell. When Molly and Nina arrive, spring has come to Cambridge and the famed Cambridge Literary Festival is underway. Determined to bring much-needed revenue to the bookstore, Molly invites Aunt Violet’s college classmate and famed poet Persephone Brightwell to hold a poetry reading in the shop. But the event ends in disaster when a guest is found dead—with Molly’s great-aunt’s knitting needle used as the murder weapon. While trying to clear Violet and keep the struggling shop afloat, Molly sifts through secrets past and present, untangling a web of blackmail, deceit, and murder.

Safe Harbor

Ellie Alexander

Diane Kelly

Vivien Chien

Donna Andrews

Cate Conte

Carolyn Haines

Ashley Weaver

Ellen Hart

Susan Cox

Jane K. Cleland

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of eleven charming cozy mysteries publishing in Fall 2020 for free for easy sampling. The tenth edition of Cozy Case Files features the latest cozies by the following authors: Ashley Weaver, Jane K. Cleland, Ellen Hart, Carolyn Haines, Donna Andrews, Ellie Alexander, Cate Conte, Diane Kelly, Elizabeth Penney, Vivien Chien, and Susan Cox. In 1930s England, Amory Ames must sort through secret identities and whirlwind romances to uncover the killer in the crowd in A Deception at Thornecrest. Or in Hidden Treasure and In a Midnight Wood, things from the past shake things up in the present. Christmas is threatened to be canceled in A Garland of Bones, The Gift of the Magpie, and A Whisker of a Doubt. Then after the holidays are over, a murder in the midst of preparation for the town’s annual IceFest means brewer Sloan Krause must serve a pint of hoppy justice in Without a Brew. In Bending the Paw, murder without a body is like a dog without a bone. Need an excuse to order takeout? Thread & Dead and Killer Kung Pao have you covered with a lobster festival or the popular Ho-Lee Noodle House. And finally, San Francisco is calling your name in The Man in the Microwave Oven.

Cozy Case Files, A Cozy Mystery Sampler, Volume 10

Maggie was asked to inventory a summer cottage on the island. There is word that a lost painting from the 1920s may of been found.

Deadly Prospect

Tragedy strikes in Thread and Dead, the second book in Elizabeth Penney's cozy mystery series—and now everyone in Blueberry Cove, Maine, is on pins and needles. . . Iris Buckley is busier than ever this July, with the town’s annual Lobster Festival fast approaching. In just a matter of days her apron shop Ruffles & Bows, will be jam-packed with tourists eager to lay eyes on its world-class collection of aprons and linens—and Iris’s inventory is running low. Then, just when all hope seems lost, Iris gets a call from Eleanor Brady, a wealthy, reclusive spinster who just happens to have trunks full of vintage fabrics. Would Iris like to come down to Eleanor’s cottage estate Shorehaven and have a look? Before long Iris is on the scene—and on the case. Turns out that Eleanor has rented Shorehaven to the handsome, charismatic environmentalist Dr. Lukas de Wilde and his flock of students. What begins as an apron-scouting endeavor soon morphs into a full-blown murder investigation when Dr. de Wilde’s beautiful young teaching assistant turns up dead. Now it’s up to Iris—along with her partner-in-love-and-crime Ian Stewart—to unravel the mystery before the Blueberry Cove killer strikes again. Praise for The Apron Shop series “Quirky-meets-fun.”—Woman's World on Hems & Homicide “Penney knows the recipe for delivering just what cozy readers are looking for.” —Reviewing the Evidence

The Apron Shop Series

Thread and Dead

Bodies & Bows is the third in the charming cozy Iris Buckley mystery series set in an apron shop in Maine—Elizabeth Penney will have you on pins and needles... Iris Buckley is hoping for a bit of rest and relaxation now that the summertime rush is winding down in Blueberry Cove, Maine. Her apron shop Ruffles & Bows has been a huge success, her friendships are stronger than ever, and now she’s ready for all of the end of summer cookouts on the beach that she can handle. But before Iris can even turn on the grill, Bella’s latest fling, former Olympian sailor and gorgeous bad boy Lance Pederson is killed in a hit and run while jogging at dawn—and all the evidence points to Bella herself. Suddenly the month of August isn’t looking so restful, since now Iris has been roped into the Lighthouse Rehabilitation Committee, helping her friend Sophie plan a wedding, and—most importantly of all—tracking down a killer and clearing Bella’s good name before everything unravels.

Bodies and Bows

M. C. Beaton

Jess Dylan

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of seven charming cozy mysteries publishing in Fall 2021 for free for easy sampling. The thirteenth edition of Cozy Case Files features the latest cozies by the following authors: Ellie Alexander, Donna Andrews, M. C. Beaton with R. W. Green, Jane K. Cleland, Jess Dylan, Elizabeth Penney, and Diane Kelly. Dip into two series debuts! In Chapter and Curse, follow Molly Kimball as she heads to Cambridge, England to help run the family bookshop. In Getaway with Murder, Misty Murphy celebrates her fiftieth birthday by ending her marriage, emptying both her nest and her bank account, and purchasing a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Spring has arrived in Leavenworth, Washington in The Cure for What Ales You, and despite the festive spirit Slone Krause is brewing over her past. And speaking of things in bloom, Petals and Poison returns readers to a flower shop with a knack for attracting trouble as well as customers. Beloved heroine Agatha Raisin is back in Down the Hatch, where a newfound hobby, power-walking, leads Agatha to a dead body and right into her newest case. In Jane Austen’s Lost Letters, Josie Prescott comes across two undiscovered letters, under mysterious circumstances, written by the beloved novelist. Finish by getting in the holiday spirit in The Twelve Jays of Christmas, where a snowstorm brings to light not only a murder, but an elopement within the Langslow family.

Elizabeth Penney

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