While cozy mysteries have their share of thieves, con artists, and the occasional murderer, they abound with likable, often colorful characters who reside in a picturesque village where–except for the occasional murder–friendships prevail, pets are popular and romance blossoms. Readers rejoice when the series’ sleuth or someone close to her is about to be married. What fun the future bride has shopping for gowns and dresses with her bridesmaids. The future bride and groom spend hours searching for the perfect venue, the most fantastic band, and a most delicious menu. Weddings are huge events in cozies, where friends and relatives gather together to celebrate the joyous occasion.
Since cozies are mysteries, death and disaster may arise anywhere and any time. Wedding receptions offer a murderer the perfect opportunity to move among the guests as they gab and drink and dance, totally carefree and not expecting anything unpleasant to happen. There’s always the possibility that not all cozy mystery wedding guests will return home safely and alive.
A murder occurs at the wedding in DEATH ON THE SHELF, the fifth book of my Haunted Library series. Angela Vecchio, my sleuth Carrie Singleton’s best friend who works with Carrie in the Clover Ridge Library, is marrying her fiancé Steve. Tensions arise before the nuptials as often happens. A popular doctor named Aiden Harrington, who is married to Carrie’s cousin, has been behaving strangely the few days before the wedding. At the reception, Carrie and her boyfriend Dylan are at the dessert table about to select some goodies, when Aiden topples forward, straight into the three-tiered chocolate fountain. How did he die? Carrie wonders. And who wanted Aiden dead?
Carrie and Dylan’s wedding is the major event in BOOKED ON MURDER, the eighth and last book in the Haunted Library series. Carrie and Dylan have arranged to be married at the elegant home of their dear friend, Victor Zalinka. Three weeks before the wedding, they discover a body on Victor’s lawn, so of course they investigate. More murders follow. The engaged couple have the adventure of their lives on their wedding day when they face two sets of criminals and Carrie is taken hostage. Will they turn the tables on the bad guys and make it in time for their big event?
Here’s mention of a few more cozy series that feature weddings that don’t quite follow the usual pattern:
After a slow-burn romance lasting through the first eight books of the Deputy Donut Mystery series, donut shop owner Emily Westhill is set to marry Detective Brent Fyne in DOUBLE GRUDGE DONUTS, by Ginger Bolton. However, before Emily can walk down the aisle–a shaded forest pathway to a lakeside tent–she discovers the body of a bagpiper who had been annoying residents of the local town. Afraid the piper’s murder will disrupt their wedding plans, Emily and Brent both investigate. In different ways . .
In Peg Cochran’s BERRIED AT SEA, the fourth book in her Cranberry Cove Series, sleuth Monica Albertson is about to marry Greg Harper, the owner of the local mystery book store. While nothing bad happens at the wedding, a murder occurs on their brief honeymoon at the Cranberry Cove Inn.
In THE DIVA TAKES THE CAKE by Krista Davis, Sophie’s sister is about to get married when the groom’s ex-wife shows up and is murdered. Is the killer sitting on the groom’s side, the bride’s side, or is he standing at the altar?
In Connie Berry’s novella MISTLETOE AND MURDER, Kate Hamilton, an American antiques dealer, is marrying Detective Inspector Tom Mallory of the Suffolk Constabulary. The ceremony is scheduled to take place the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but the couple is held hostage by a young drugs dealer in a remote Essex farmhouse. That night, not knowing if they will live to see their wedding day, Kate and Tom say their vows to each other. Happily, they are freed and make it to St. Aethelric’s Church in Long Barston, Suffolk.
In SIMMERING WITH RESENTMENT, the 11th in the Cookbook Nook Mysteries by Daryl Wood Gerber, Jenna Hart, owner of the Cookbook Nook, is about to marry Rhett Jackson. When their prenuptial dinner is rocked by an explosion that nearly takes Rhett’s life, Jenna is convinced a woman she helped convict of arson and is now out of jail is to blame. The wedding finally takes place after a series of sinister events.
Yes, cozy weddings usually have happy endings, but so many things can go wrong along the way.
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