Top 12 Comforting Fantasy and Cozy Mystery Books for a Perfect Escape

If you’re looking for a cozy and comforting read to enjoy by the beach, I’ve got the list of 12 fantasy and cozy mystery books for you. To be honest, I hadn’t read many books in these genres until recently. I always thought the world-building and plots were too complicated. However, after reading a few over the last months, I realized they’re much more immersive than I expected. I loved escaping to new worlds and forgetting about everything else. So, I figured I’d share some upcoming fantasy and sci-fi books for your summer reading list. Whether you’re a long-time fan of these genres or just looking to dip your toes in, these books are absolutely magical and enthralling.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde, a Cambridge professor and faerie expert, heads to the remote village of Hrafnsvik to research her faerie encyclopedia. She prefers books and her dog over people and isn’t looking to make friends. But her rival, Wendell Bambleby, complicates things with his charm. As Emily uncovers secrets about the Hidden Ones, the most elusive faeries, she begins to question Wendell’s true intentions.

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

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The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups from the author of The Wishing Game.As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell disappeared in a West Virginia forest, only to reappear six months later with no explanation. Fifteen years later, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of those months, while Jeremy is a renowned missing persons’ investigator. When vet tech Emilie Wendell’s sister vanishes in the same forest, Jeremy believes the magical realm they once encountered holds the key.

Jeremy and Rafe, along with Emilie, must return to the enchanted world to uncover the truth and find Emilie’s sister. This captivating tale weaves a story of lost memories, hidden secrets, and a quest for redemption.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

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The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Set in the Spanish Golden Age, Luzia Cotado uses minor magic to survive as a servant in Madrid. When her mistress discovers her talent, Luzia is thrust into high society’s dangerous games. Antonio Pérez, eager to regain the king’s favor, pulls Luzia into a perilous plot involving magic and politics. With the threat of the Inquisition looming, Luzia must navigate a world of deceit and danger, aided by Guillén Santangel, an immortal with his own dark secrets. This historical fantasy is rich with intrigue and suspense.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

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The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

In the Empire’s border canton, a high officer’s bizarre death leads investigator Ana Dolabra and her assistant Din to a strange mystery. Ana’s unconventional methods and Din’s perfect memory make them a unique team. As they uncover a sinister plot threatening the Empire, Din learns more about Ana’s eccentric genius. This detective fantasy features a Holmes-and-Watson duo in a world where magic and mystery intertwine, promising a thrilling and intricate investigation.

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

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The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

Ex-art thief Maya Hoshimoto is pulled out of hiding to find a powerful artifact to save an alien species. Joined by old friends, she sets off to a dangerous journey through a universe filled with ancient ruins and strange creatures. Haunted by visions and facing betrayal, Maya must decide between saving an alien race or dooming humanity.

Maya Hoshimoto was once the best art thief in the galaxy. For ten years, she returned stolen artifacts to alien civilizations—until a disastrous job forced her into hiding. Now she just wants to enjoy a quiet life as a graduate student of anthropology, but she’s haunted by persistent and disturbing visions of the future.

Then an old friend comes to her with a job she can’t refuse: find a powerful object that could save an alien species from extinction. Except no one has seen it in living memory, and they aren’t the only ones hunting for it.

Maya sets out on a breakneck quest through a universe teeming with strange life and ancient ruins. But the farther she goes, the more her visions cast a dark shadow over her team of friends new and old. Someone will betray her along the way. Worse yet, in choosing to save one species, she may condemn humanity and Earth itself.

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In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf

Weatherly Opal Wilder, a Death Talker, can save lives but at a personal cost. When her cousin Adaire, a Scryer, is killed, Weatherly suspects murder. Unable to save the mayor’s son, Weatherly is blamed for his death. Using clues left by Adaire, Weatherly uncovers dark secrets in her Appalachian town.

In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away.

Black ferns grow where death will follow.

And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker.

When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives; only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her backwater ways when they don’t.

Weatherly’s cousin Adaire also has a gift, she’s a Scryer and can see the future reflected back in dark surfaces. Right before she is killed in an accident, Adaire saw something unnerving, and that’s why Weatherly believes she was murdered—never thinking for a moment that it was an accident. But when Weatherly, for the first time, is unable to talk the death out of the mayor’s son, the whole town suspects she is out for revenge, that she wouldn’t save him.

With the help of clues Adaire left behind and her family’s Granny Witch recipe box, Weatherly sets out to find the truth behind her cousin’s death, whatever it takes.

Imbued with magic, witchery, and suspense, Dana Elmendorf’s In the Hour of Crows is a thrilling tale of friendship, identity, and love.

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The Silverblood Promise by James Logan

Lukan Gardova, a disgraced noble and cardsharp, seeks to unravel the mystery of his father’s murder. His quest leads him to Saphrona, a city where everything has a price. Amid danger and deceit, Lukan must uncover the truth behind his father’s death while navigating the treacherous world of merchant princes.

Lukan Gardova is a cardsharp, academy dropout, and―thanks to a duel that ended badly―the disgraced heir to an ancient noble house. His days consist of cheap wine, rigged card games, and wondering how he might win back the life he threw away.

When Lukan discovers that his estranged father has been murdered in strange circumstances, he finds fresh purpose. Deprived of his chance to make amends for his mistakes, he vows to unravel the mystery behind his father’s death.

His search for answers leads him to Saphrona, fabled city of merchant princes, where anything can be bought if one has the coin. Lukan only seeks the truth, but instead he finds danger and secrets in every shadow.

For in Saphrona, everything has a price―and the price of truth is the deadliest of all.

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The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Murder leaves Maia, the half-goblin son, as the unexpected Emperor. Thrust into a world of court politics and assassination plots, Maia must navigate a web of deceit without friends or advisors. Struggling to trust anyone, he seeks to rule justly while uncovering the truth behind his father’s death. This political fantasy offers a deep dive into court intrigue and the burdens of leadership.

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.

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The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Librarian Kiela escapes a revolution with precious spellbooks, fleeing to her childhood island. There, she meets a persistent neighbor and starts a jam business with magical twists. Opening a secret spellshop, Kiela uses illegal magic to help her community. This cottagecore romance is filled with charm, mythical creatures, and the warmth of newfound friendship and love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

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A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets by Kate Khavari

Botanist Saffron Everleigh returns to London and finds herself involved in a murder mystery. With her former love interest Alexander’s brother under suspicion, Saffron investigates, uncovering dangerous secrets and unexpected connections. Balancing her scientific career with sleuthing, she risks everything to solve the case. This historical mystery weaves botany with intrigue in 1920s London.

London, 1923. Returning from Paris, botanical researcher Saffron Everleigh finds that her former love interest Alexander Ashton’s brother, Adrian, is being investigated for murder. A Russian scientist working for the English government has been poisoned, and expired in Adrian’s train compartment. Alexander asks Saffron to put in a good word for Adrian with Inspector Green. Despite her unresolved feelings for Alexander, Saffron begins to unravel mysteries surrounding the dead scientist.

As if a murder case weren’t enough, her best friend Elizabeth’s war-hero brother, Nick, arrives in town and takes an immediate interest in Saffron. Saffron learns Alexander has been keeping secrets from her, including a connection to Nick, who Saffron and Elizabeth begin to suspect is more than he seems.

When another scientist is found dead, Saffron agrees to go undercover at the government laboratory. Risking her career and her safety, she learns there are many more interested parties and dangerous secrets to uncover than she’d realized. But some secrets, Saffron will find, are better left undiscovered.

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Fatal First Edition by Jenn McKinlay

Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband Sully find themselves suspects in a murder on a train. After discovering a valuable first edition book and the subsequent murder of the conference director, Lindsey must clear their names. As they unravel the mystery, they navigate a web of secrets and deception.

Briar Creek Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular library conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey and Sully return the book to the conference director, not wanting to stir up any trouble.

But just hours after the pair boards the train back to Connecticut, rumors that the Highsmith novel has gone missing buzz amongst the passengers, and they soon find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. And worse—the murderer planted the book in Lindsey and Sully’s room next door, making them prime suspects. Now, they must uncover the murderer and bring them to the end of their line, before they find themselves booked for a crime they didn’t commit.

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A Bean to Die For by Tara Lush

Lana Lewis, former reporter turned barista, discovers a body in the community garden where she plans to grow coffee. As she investigates, she uncovers the victim’s many enemies and tries to clear the main suspect’s name. Despite promising her boyfriend to stay out of the case, Lana digs deeper into the mystery, risking everything to find the killer.

Perfect for fans of Cleo Coyle and Lucy Burdette, reporter-turned-barista Lana Lewis is back on the case when a body is found in the community garden.

Lana Lewis is brewing up new concoctions at Perkatory, a popular café in Devil’s Beach, when she decides she wants to try her hand at growing her own coffee. She secures a gardening plot in the community garden, thanks to her father and the garden’s owner, Darla. Darla’s list of rules is long, but that doesn’t stop someone from leaving Jack Daggett’s body amongst the gardening plots.

Jack, an environmental activist, had been banned from the garden previously, because of his many fights with Darla about organic produce. Lana promises her boyfriend, police chief Noah, that she’s going to stay out of this case, having been too involved in previous cases. But when she learns that Jack died from an accidental overdose, and Darla is the top suspect because of her shady past, Lana can’t help but poke around in an attempt to clear Darla’s name.

As Lana dives deeper into the case, she learns that Jack had more enemies than she realized. When Darla turns up dead, Lana has to turn up the heat on her investigation. With Lana on the case, it won’t be long before someone spills the beans to crack this case wide open. But will she able to find the killer before they strike again?

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