I’m an avid reader, so it was hard to decide how to choose my favorite books with characters starting over in some way. I went through my bookshelves and selected mysteries with an amateur sleuth; if you haven’t read these yet, you won’t be sorry if you add them to your TBR list. I personally enjoy stories about others rising to the challenge, whatever the situation.
Scot Free by Catriona McPherson
Book 1 in the Last Ditch mystery series.
The author’s gift with humor makes this impossible to put down. I totally want to hang out with California transplant Lexy Campbell and her pals.
Lexy Campbell fell in love and left her native Scotland for a golden life in California–hitched to a hunk, building her marriage counseling practice, living the dream. Six months later she’s divorced, broke, and headed home. There’s just one last thing. Lexy’s only client–sweet little old Mrs. Bombarro–is in jail for murdering her husband with a fireworks rocket. Lexy knows the cops have got it wrong; all she needs is a few days to prove it and somewhere cheap to sleep at night. But checking into the Last Ditch Motel leads Lexy to a whole new cast of characters with troubles of their own.
Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley
Book 1 Kat Holloway mystery series.
Kat Holloway is a strong heroine who must start over after her husband dies and she’s forced to create a life not only for herself but her daughter. I love this series so much and each book just gets better. Highly recommend!
Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne.
Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered.
Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.
Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes
Book 1 in the Caribbean Kitchen mystery series.
I was pulled into this story from the beginning. The descriptions were spot on, and my mouth watered with each recipe. I would tune in for each episode to watch Miriam cook!!
Food anthropologist Miriam Quinones-Smith’s move from New York to Coral Shores, Miami, is traumatic enough without having to deal with her son’s toddler tantrums and her husband’s midlife crisis. Her best friend, Alma, adds some spice back into Miriam’s life when she offers her a job as an on-air cooking expert on a Spanish-language morning TV show. But when the newly minted star attends a Women’s Club luncheon, a socialite sitting at her table suddenly falls face-first into the chicken salad, never to nibble again.
When a second woman dies soon after, suspicions coalesce around a controversial Cuban herbalist, Dr. Fuentes–especially after the morning show’s host collapses while interviewing him. But then, Detective Pullman learns that the socialite’s death resulted from a drug overdose–and an anonymous tip fingers Alma as the pusher.
Pullman persuades Miriam to ply her culinary know-how and her understanding of Coral Shores’s Caribbean culture to help find the killer and clear Alma’s name. While her hubby dallies with his ex-girlfriend, Juliet, Miriam quizzes her neighbors for answers and researches all manner of herbs.
As the ingredients to the deadly scheme begin blending together, Miriam is on the verge of learning how and why the women died. But her snooping may turn out to be a recipe for her own murder.
Be My Ghost by Carol J. Perry
Book 1 in A Haunted Haven Mysteries
Maureen Doherty and her sidekick Finn inherit a haunted inn. All of the characters are great—especially loved the piano.
Maureen’s career as a sportswear buyer hits a snag just before Halloween, when the department store declares bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Finn’s lost his way as a guide dog after flunking his test for being too friendly and easily distracted. Sadly, only one of them can earn unemployment, so Maureen’s facing a winter of discontent in Boston–when she realizes she can’t afford her apartment.
Salvation comes when she receives a mysterious inheritance: an inn in Haven, Florida. A quaint, scenic town on the Gulf of Mexico hidden away from the theme parks, Maureen believes it’s a good place to make a fresh start with a new business venture. But she gets more than she bargained for when she finds a dead body on her property–and meets some of the inn’s everlasting tenants in the form of ghosts who offer their otherworldly talents in order to help her solve the mystery…
Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor
Book 1 of the Irish Village mystery series.
Siobhan O’Sullivan and the family bistro—I had such empathy for these characters right away as the twenty-two-year-old takes on the lion’s share of responsibility to keep her family together and safe.
In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Natalie’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.
It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.
With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.
*
What are your favorites? Is there something I need to add to the list?
In Murder at an Irish Castle, Rayne McGrath has to start over from scratch—when I wrote the story, I kept my favorites in mind, and why I loved them. I wanted a strong and empathetic character, and to make the reader feel like they were transported from Hollywood to Ireland <3
