10 Cozy Mystery Books to Pack for Your Beach Vacation Right Now

Looking for cozy mysteries to read on a beach vacation? These are the kind of books you can pick up between swims, read in the sun, and actually finish without feeling overwhelmed. If you want light mysteries with small-town settings, a bit of humor, and easy-to-follow plots, this list is perfect for summer reading and relaxing beach days.

Also read
29 Great Beach Reads For This Summer
24 Highly Popular Beach Reads For Summer Escape
New Summer Book Releases You’ll Want on Your TBR Right Now
4 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Picks So Good For the Beach You’ll Want to Pack Them All ( Under 300 Pages)

12 Feel Good Romance Books for Beach Days You’ll Keep Thinking About

Peach Tea Smash by Laura Childs

Peach Tea Smash follows Theodosia as a murder happens during a fancy themed event. What looks like a perfect night quickly turns strange when a well-liked man is killed. As she starts asking questions, it becomes clear the victim may not have been the real target. This one has a fun setting with a twisty mystery that slowly comes together.

Murder at an Alice in Wonderland–themed event threatens to send Theodosia Browning through the looking glass in the latest entry in this New York Times bestselling series.

During the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Opera on the grounds of the old Pendleton Grist Mill, Harlan Sadler, husband of Cricket Sadler, the chairwoman, is killed. He’s been hit in the head with a croquet mallet, and his body hung on the chains and paddles of the grist mill. Nobody can figure out why since Harlan was much beloved by everyone. It’s only after Cricket and Delaine beg Theodosia to investigate that she realizes the killer might have mistaken Harlan for his crazy son, Duke. After all, Duke is a slum landlord and recently injured a woman in a boating accident.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE

Scone Cold Dead by Maddie Day

Scone Cold Dead follows Robbie, who is already dealing with a lot as she prepares for a baby and runs her café. When a body is found near her aunt’s farm, things take a turn. With someone close to her possibly involved, she has to figure out what really happened before things get worse.

After a body is found in a local farmer’s field, country store and café owner Robbie Jordan suspects that a newcomer in South Lick, Indiana, may not be a stranger to everyone in town . . .

Robbie is just weeks away from giving birth. While her husband Abe scrambles to get the house ready for their baby’s arrival, Robbie makes last minute arrangements to keep her shop and restaurant, Pans ’N Pancakes, up and running when she’s on maternity leave. And it seems Robbie and Abe aren’t the only ones grappling with anxiety—a stranger is causing a stir in town and Robbie’s Aunt Adele appears unusually preoccupied at the baby shower . . .

But when someone finds a body in the ram field on Adele’s sheep farm, it’s Robbie’s turn to be worried. Especially after Chief Buck Bird uncovers a troubling link between Adele and the possible murder victim. Robbie has no choice but to knit the clues together and solve this mystery before anything else gets flocked up.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE

Murder at the Summer Fete by T.E. Kinsey

Murder at the Summer Fete is set around a small village event that should have been fun and simple. But strange things start happening, and soon a body is found. As the mystery unfolds, it feels like someone is copying a story. This one is cozy, a little clever, and easy to get into.

A fete worse than death…

After finding the killer of Lucy Roth six months ago, life has settled back to normal for bookshop owner, Nancy Hunter, and her grandmother, Jane. The annual Dedley End village fete is just around the corner, and Nancy is delighted when bestselling author, Thomas Green, agrees to launch his first new novel in ten years there.

But then a series of sinister events lead Nancy to realise someone is trying to sabotage their fete, so she, along with Jane and their journalist friend Jonathan, must turn detective to discover who isn’t at all thrilled about the return of Thomas Green.

When a body is discovered at the summer fete, the death scene mirroring that in Thomas’ latest bestseller, they realise that there’s another killer in Dedley End, but can they outsmart someone who appears to have pulled off the perfect crime?

The clues are right under Nancy and Jane’s noses, if only they can find them. Because the answers to life’s questions can always be found in a book…!

A twisty, unputdownable cozy mystery that fans of Richard Osman, S.J. Bennett and The Marlow Murder Club will love.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE | READ with Kindle Unlimited

Murder by the Seashore by Samara Yew

Murder by the Seashore follows Scarlett, who opens a bookshop by the beach hoping for a fresh start. But everything changes when she finds a dead body and becomes the main suspect. As more secrets come out, she has to clear her name before it’s too late.

Perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Ellery Adams, Scarlett Gardner’s dream was to open a bookshop in Southern California, but it soon becomes a nightmare when she finds the dead body of a customer—and becomes the prime suspect.

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. That’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

After Scarlett gives a statement to the police, she thinks her life can go back to business as usual. But when a lawyer, representing someone named Lorelai Knight, tells Scarlett that she now stands to inherit a small fortune, she’s left with more questions than answers. Before she can make sense of any of it, the police bring her in for questioning; the body she found was Lorelai Knight. And the evidence they have against Scarlett doesn’t look good. Business is booming as Scarlett returns to Palm Trees and Page Turners, but for all the wrong reasons – curious tourists don’t want books, they want a glimpse of the Bookshop Killer.

Who could really be behind all of this? And why frame Scarlett? To clear her name, she’s going to have to get creative—and hope she can remain one page ahead of the killer.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE

Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries by Tonya Kappes

Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries follows Mae, whose life falls apart after her husband is arrested. She ends up in a small town trying to start over, but things don’t go as planned. When a murder happens and she becomes a suspect, she has to prove she’s not who everyone thinks she is.

Welcome to Normal, Kentucky~ where nothing is normal.

Mae West, a far cry from the Hollywood actress, has been thrown for a loop. Her plush lifestyle in the big city of New York comes to a screeching halt after the FBI raids her mansion and arrests her husband, Paul West, for a Ponzi scheme that rips people out of millions of dollars.

Mae finds herself homeless, friendless, and penniless. All hope isn’t lost. . .the only thing Mae got to keep that the government didn’t seize is a tourist camp ground, Happy Trails, in Normal, Kentucky and an RV to live in. One problem, Mae’s idea of camping has room service.

By the look of the brochure, Happy Trails has plush Kentucky Bluegrass, a crystal clear lake, a beach chair with her name on it and thoughts of how much money it could bring her after she sells it. Mae figures she’ll take a couple weeks vacation with her toes dipped in the lake. Things aren’t always as they appear. The Kentucky Bluegrass is nothing but dirt and the crystal clue lake is murky with green slime on top.

Mae quickly find out that Happy Trails and the citizens of Normal were also victims of Paul’s schemes, making her lower than tha lake scum in the residents’ eyes. Mae doesn’t think things could get much worse, but as luck would have it, Paul West has escaped from prison and is found dead, murdered, floating in the Happy Trails mucky green lake.

Mae is the number one suspect on Detective Hank Sharp’s short list. After all, Mae has the perfect motive as a kept wife who has been scorned to ashes, embarrassed to death, and seeking revenge.

Time is running out for Mae to prove that she’s innocent and nothing like her husband. If only she could get someone to believe her and talk Detective Sharp into looking at other residents who’ve lost all their savings to Paul’s Ponzie scheme before the curtain is closed on this Hollywood namesake.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE | READ with Kindle Unlimited

Booked for Death by Victoria Gilbert

Booked for Death follows Charlotte, who runs a cozy bed-and-breakfast focused on books. When a guest is found dead, her peaceful life is turned upside down. As she looks into the past and the people around her, she realizes there’s more going on than she thought.

Nestled in the historic waterfront town of Beaufort, North Carolina, Chapters Bed-and-Breakfast is a listener’s paradise. Built in 1770, the newly renovated inn hosts a roster of special events celebrating books, genres, and authors. It’s the perfect literary retreat – until a rare-book dealer turns up dead in the carriage house during a celebration of Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey.

The victim’s daughter points the finger at 42-year-old widow and former schoolteacher Charlotte Reed, who inherited the B&B from her great-aunt Isabella. Charlotte is shocked to discover that the book dealer suspected Isabella of being a thief who founded Chapters on her ill-gotten gains. Charlotte has successfully learned the B&B business in a year, but nothing has prepared her to handle a death on the premises.

Armed with intelligence and courage and assisted by her vibrant older neighbor, a visiting author, and members of a local book club, Charlotte is determined to prove her innocence and to clear her great-aunt’s name. But the murderer is still at large and is equally determined to silence anyone who might discover the truth behind the book dealer’s death. Now, Charlotte must outwit an unknown killer – or end up writing her own final chapter.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE

Murder on the Cricket Green by Catherine Coles

Murder on the Cricket Green takes place in a quiet village where everything seems normal—until someone suddenly dies during a match. With suspicion falling on the wrong person, the truth starts to unravel slowly. It’s a classic small-town mystery with secrets hiding everywhere.

Westleham Village, May 1948

The villagers of Westleham are excited for the first village cricket match since the end of the war. But Martha Miller has more pressing concerns – namely, the sudden reappearance of her husband, Stan, missing for two years and acting as though nothing has happened.

Martha doesn’t know what to feel, especially now that his return threatens her growing fondness for the kind-hearted village vicar, Luke. Yet she’s not the only one unsettled by Stan’s return…

As the match begins and the crowd cheers, Stan suddenly collapses – dead before he hits the ground. And all eyes turn to Martha.

To clear her name, she must uncover the truth about Stan’s missing years and his sudden reappearance. But in a village this small, everyone has something to hide. Will Martha’s amateur sleuthing find the real killer or will she pay the price for someone else’s deadly deed?

Let the investigation commence!

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE | READ with Kindle Unlimited

Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

Little Bookshop of Murder follows Summer, who returns home after her mother’s death. She plans to leave quickly, but strange messages and unanswered questions pull her in. As she digs deeper, she starts to wonder if her mother’s death was really an accident.

A Shakespearean scholar inherits a beachside bookshop–and a murder mystery–in this delightful new cozy series for fans of Kate Carlisle and Ellery Adams.

Summer Merriweather’s career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder’s thread. Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper’s pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job. But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.

Returning to Brigid’s Island, NC, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell her mom’s embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and go home. But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: “Sell the bookstore or die.”

Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid’s Island. What method is behind the madness? Was Hildy murdered? The police insist there’s not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation. Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy’s beloved book club. But there are more suspects on Brigid’s Island than are dreamt of in the Bard’s darkest philosophizing. And if Summer can’t find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy’s worth of corpses–including her own.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE

Moth Busters by Margaret Lashley

Moth Busters follows Bobbie, who is trying to get by while dealing with chaotic people and situations. When a strange case comes her way, things quickly spiral into something unexpected. This one is more quirky and funny, with a mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Behind every Florida Man is a Florida Woman—usually waving a restraining order.

“Florida Man” has met his match in Bobbie Drex, a down-and-out native of the Sunshine State. She may be short of cash, but she’s always packing enough snark to give any whack-job a run for his money.

Including her wisecracking, redneck cousin, Earl.

But when a mysterious stranger arrives at her mechanic shop seeking repairs to his ratty old RV, it’s Bobbie who’s in for a complete overhaul.

Phantom shooters in hot-pants. Gonadal twins. Norman Bates in a turban. Mothman pooper scoopers.

It’s enough to make anyone want to run off and join the circus. But in Florida, you don’t have to. Wait long enough, and the freak show comes to you.

So, grab some mosquito repellant and a lawn chair. Then sit back and relax. Things are about to go sidesplittingly off the rails in the Sunshine State

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE | READ with Kindle Unlimited

Southern Sass and Killer Cravings by Kate Young

Southern Sass and Killer Cravings follows Marygene as she returns home to help her family diner. But things go wrong when a customer dies and her sister becomes the main suspect. To save her family and their business, she has to figure out who’s behind it.

Life has always been sweet on Georgia’s Peach Cove Island, but a case of murder has Marygene Brown down in the pits . . .

For generations, the women of the Brown family on Peach Cove Island have been known for their Southern sass and sweet homemade desserts at their beloved Peach Diner. Since their mother’s passing two years ago, Marygene has been stuck in Atlanta while her sister Jena Lynn has been running the family business. Now Marygene has left her husband and returned to her hometown, where she can almost feel Mama’s presence.

But all is not peachy back home. Marygene has barely tied on an apron when a diner regular drops dead at the counter. When it turns out the old man’s been poisoned, Jena Lynn is led away in handcuffs and the family eatery is closed. Now, to save her sister and the diner, Marygene must find the real killer. With some startling assistance from her Mama’s spirit, Marygene will be serving up a special order of just desserts.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON  | LISTEN FREE ON AUDIBLE | READ with Kindle Unlimited

Also read
29 Great Beach Reads For This Summer

24 Highly Popular Beach Reads For Summer Escape

New Summer Book Releases You’ll Want on Your TBR Right Now

4 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Picks So Good For the Beach You’ll Want to Pack Them All ( Under 300 Pages)

12 Feel Good Romance Books for Beach Days You’ll Keep Thinking About