Fall Cozy Mysteries for Getting Cozy With

Fall is the perfect time to get cozy. These fall cozy mysteries were perfect in helping to keep that cozy vibe going with picture-perfect small towns, cute shops, windswept streets, cuddly pets, and delicious treats. And of course, you know, murders to solve.

The Books

Title: Case of the Bleus: A Cheese Shop Mystery
Author: Korina Moss
Publication date: September 26th 2023
Page Count: 313
Publisher’s page: Case of the Bleus

What in the bleu blazes is happening in Yarrow Glen now?

Cheesemongers from across the Northwest have come to the Sonoma Valley for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. As owner of the local cheese shop, Curds & Whey, Willa Bauer loves it. The event showcases custom cheese creations, and it’s the perfect time to gather with old colleagues to honor her former boss, the late and grate cheese legend, Max Dumas. He was famous for journeying into the wild bleu yonder to where he aged his award-winning custom Church Bleu. Only Max knew the recipe and location to his beloved cheese, and many are eager to have these revealed at his will reading.

But instead of naming someone to inherit his cheese and its secrets, Max stuns everyone with one cryptic clue. When a fellow cheesemonger dies under mysterious circumstances––the woman they all thought would get the secrets to Max’s prized possession––everyone falls under suspicion. Willa adores Church Bleu as much as the next cheese connoisseur, but it’s not to die for. Is a killer trying to get away with murder…and the cheese?

My Review

First things, I must confess this is technically not a fall cozy mystery. I thought it was when I picked it up, probably because of the cheese? idk, but it still has a fall vibe, so it counts in my books. If you love cheese, you’re going to love this book – a cute little cheese shop in a cozy little town and a murder mystery where cheese plays an integral part. There are so many amazing detailed descriptions of cheese (flavor profiles, textures, what process gives each unique taste), recipes with cheese (included step-by-step in the back of the book), and just a real love for cheese on every page. The mystery was good up to the very last crumb and I quite enjoyed it with a nice cheese plate to nibble on by my side (this book made me crave cheese so bad, I was dreaming about it).

Title: Catch Me If You Candy
Author:  Ellie Alexander
Publication date: August 22nd 2023
Page Count: 352
Publisher’s page: Catch Me If You Candy

Things are getting spooky in Catch Me If You Candy, the next delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series from author Ellie Alexander, set in Ashland, Oregon!

Halloween has arrived in picturesque Ashland, Oregon, and all of the ghouls and goblins have descended on Main Street for the annual parade. It’s a giant street party and Torte is right in the mix.

Jules Capshaw and her team have been baking up autumn delights and trick-or-Torte bags filled with sugar cookie cutouts, spiced cider, and mummy munch. It’s the end of the season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which means that the costumes for the parade are going to be out of this world. The elaborate guises even extend to pets. The grand marshal of this year’s parade is no other than a regal pug aptly named King George. Jules is delighted to get to share the experience with Carlos and Ramiro, but things take a dark turn when she discovers a dragon slumped in front of the bakeshop.

Jules is distraught when she realizes the dragon is dead. She’s also shaken because a few days before the parade, her mother’s Mahjong partner Helen discovered a warning note about a dragon in an antique game set. Jules hopes it’s just a random coincidence, but as the clues begin to unfold it becomes evident that there’s been a murder on All Hallow’s Eve. Can Juliet sift out the truth before the killer comes after her?

My Review

While delivering a box of Halloween treats to her mom’s Mahjong group, Jules gets a bad feeling when one of the group finds a note warning “the dragon is dead” in an antique game set she recently purchased. When Jules finds a dead man in a dragon costume slumped in front of her bakeshop on Halloween night, she becomes obsessed with finding out who did this and why and she can’t sleep until she does.

Do NOT read this book if you’re hungry – the descriptions of all the seasonal foods and the recipes recited step-by-step during the story will have you salivating. Some of the suspects felt inconsistent in their characterization to me and between that and the distraction of amazing-sounding food and red herrings thrown the reader’s way, I will confess I was confused by the end. This is book 17 in the series, so maybe I just didn’t know the cast of characters well enough? I did like the writing though, and the recipes, so I think I’ll give this series another try.

Title: Nine Lives and Alibis
Author: Cate Conte
Publication date: August 22nd 2023
Page Count: 304
Publisher’s page: Nine Lives and Alibis

In Nine Lives and Alibis, the seventh in Cate Conte’s Cat Café beloved cozy mystery series, Daybreak Island is gearing up for Halloween—but this year it seems like it’ll be all tricks and no treats.

It’s October in Daybreak Harbor, which means everything Halloween. The town is going all out for the holiday, hoping to one-up the festivities in neighboring Salem, Massachusetts, and Maddie James is delighted to be part of the planning for the annual happenings.

But trouble brews when Maddie’s youngest sister, Sam, books a famous medium, Balfour Dempsey, to come to town for the celebrations and stay in the local haunted inn—along with his equally famous black cat. The town busybody books a secret reading with Balfour and doesn’t want anyone to know why. Maddie’s best friend Becky is hell-bent on getting Balfour to help her solve two 40-year-old mysteries—a murder and a missing maid. And the psychic has a stalker who’s followed him here to the island, demanding he connect with her dead husband.

When Balfour is pushed off the cliffs behind the inn to his death and his beloved cat goes missing, it throws the whole town into a frenzy. And Maddie and her family find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery straight out of a Halloween movie.

My Review

The first 40% of this book is set up – literally, it’s Maddie running errands around town getting ready for Daybreak Island’s first Haunted Halloween Festival. When we finally got to the murder portion of our cozy murder mystery, I was actually sad Balfour died (even though his murder is IN the book description) and was really rooting for Maddie to help find the killer. The softspoken medium really just wanted to help people.

This book is perfect for cat lovers, which is probably obvious with it being part of the Cat Cafe Mystery series. The main character owns a cat cafe and takes her cat JJ EVERYWHERE. To meetings, while running errands, while investigating a murder – JJ is always by her side. The cat cafe hosts a feline costume parade as part of the Halloween festivities. JJ is dressed as Sherlock Holmes. It’s super cute.