Cats and cozies go together like hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream. Fireworks and the Fourth of July. That’s because cats are cute, clever and curious and often uncover clues. While fiercely independent, they also like to cuddle with the people they love.
A variety of other animals appear in cozy mysteries as well. Dogs of every size and breed are featured almost as often as cats. These are just some of the fur and feather creatures that bring an added dimension of friendship and fun to cozy mysteries.
*
Allison Brook, Death on Dickens Island
Riley, a Bearded Collie, makes his way into Death on Dickens Island, the first book in my new series, and into the hearts of my sleuth, Delia Dickens, and her son Connor.
Lorien Berenson, Wagging Through the Snow
Lorien Berenson’s sleuth Melanie Travis breeds standard poodles. The books in this popular series center around mysteries involving a dog of a different breed. A Maltese appears in Wagging Through the SnowAGGING THROUGH THE SNOW.
Sasscer Hill, Full Mortality
Horses take first place in the Nikki Latrelle Horse Racing mysteries by Sasscer Hill, a former amateur jockey who once bred racehorses herself. In Full Mortality, her first book in the series, jockey Nikki Latrelle looks after a badly treated racehorse and protects the filly from going to the slaughter house.
Donna Andrews, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Birds of all feathers appear in Donna Andrews’ humorous and long running Meg Langslow series. Blacksmith, Meg Langslow’s father is looking after penguins in Book #8, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much.
Amy Muir, The Psychic Parrot Mystery
The Bayview Bookstore Cozy Mystery series by Amy Muir features Bob, a psychic parrot who lives with bookstore owner Andrea Chase and offers up clues to help her solve mysteries.
Lorie Lewis Ham, One of You
Lorie Lewis Ham’s sleuth Roxi Carlucci has a pet dumbo rat named Merlin in the Tower District Mysteries along with a black cat named Dan, and a Pit Bull named Watson.
Betty Webb, The Anteater of Death
Betty Webb’s Gunn Zoo Mystery Series features zookeeper Teddy Bentley and all sorts of animals, among them an anteater accused of having killed a man found in her enclosure in The Anteater of Death and an otter that finds a cell phone recording a death-in progress in The Otter of Death.
Erin McCarthy, Kathy Love, Solving Llamageddon and the Alpacalypse
Llamas appear in the seven Friendship Harbor Mysteries by Erin McCarthy and Kathy Love. Sleuth Sophie LaFleur inherits Jack Kerouac, a lively llama, who manages to get kidnapped in Book number three, Solving Llamageddon and the Alpacalypse.
Amanda Flower, Truffle Trouble
A potbellied pig named Jethro is a popular character in Amanda Flower’s Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series. Jethro belongs to sleuth chocolatier Bailey King. He is the ringbearer in Bailey’s wedding in Truffle Trouble, book #10.
Heather Day Gilbert, Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass
Heather Day Gilbert’s exotic pet-sitter sleuth Belinda Blake deals with wolves in one book, and a python in Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass.
Janna Rollins, An Escape Goat
Goats get in on the sleuthing track when Callie Haybeck, Janna Rollins’ sleuth, opens a goat yoga studio in An Escape Goat. Racing pigs join the fun in Goats Just Wanna Have Fun.
***
