"Killer at the Cult" by Alison Golden

The Rev. Annabelle Dixon, vicar at the church in Upton St. Mary in Cornwall, manages to get herself involved in more criminal investigations than might be expected for a member of the Anglican clergy. She finds herself in the right place at the right time, or perhaps it’s more of a case of the wrong place at the wrong time.

A group – some in the village call it a cult – has moved into one of the outlying properties. It calls itself the Brotherhood of St. Petrie (puzzled, Annabelle wonders out loud if he could be a minor saint). Members of the small group make various things or provide services like blacksmithing, and they do seem relatively harmless. Their leader is charming and rather charismatic, as Annabelle finds when she visits. 

One visit becomes rather extended; she’s invited to participate in something that resembles a cross between howling at the moon and a frolic in the forest. It’s odd behavior but appears rather harmless fun. When she’s had enough, Annabelle leaves to walk to her car – and stumbles over the body of the group’s leader. He’s been shot with a bolt gun.

Detective Inspector Mike Nicholls would usually be the officer in charge, but he’s at a training session. DI Nicholls is also Annabelle’s romantic interest, but she’s wondering if the relationship is going anywhere; at best, she thinks, it’s stalled. The officer in charge is rather pompous and lights almost immediately upon a suspect. And the assisting officer is a woman who has a definite love interest in DI Nicholls, and she has little if any use for Annabelle.

Alison Golden

What Annabelle comes to learn is that almost every member of the group had a possible motive for killing their leader. And he turns out not to be the kind, charming man everyone thinks he is.

Killer at the Cult by Alison Golden is the latest installment in the Annabelle Dixon series. Officially, it’s classified as a “cozy” mystery, which means the violence is limited and generally off-stage and there’s little or no graphic content (in other words, you’d recommend it to your mother or grandmother without question). 

Golden has three mystery and suspense series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver; the series includes Hunted, Snatched, Stolen, Chopped, and Exposed. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. Golden also includes recipes mentioned in the books at the end of the Anabelle Dixon stories. Raised in Bedfordshire, England, Golden now lives in the San Francisco area. 

The Annabelle Dixon mysteries are light, fun reads, and Killer at the Cult faithfully follows its predecessors. Aside from identifying the murderer, the additional question the story asks is, will DI Nicholls do something and reignite the romance with the good reverend?

Related:

Hunted and Chopped by Alison Golden.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden.

Grave in the Garage by Alison Golden.

Two Annabelle Dixon Mysteries by Alison Golden.

The Case of the Missing Letter by Alison Golden.

2 Annabelle Dixon Mysteries by Alison Golden

The Rev. Annabelle Dixon of the village of Upton St. Mary in Cornwall has a particular knack or gift. Wherever she goes, or wherever she happens to be, murder and crime rear their heads. And he position as reverend allows her access to places and minds that would otherwise be closed. People says things to a vicar they might not say to police.

Author Alison Golden has six books in the Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery series. Body the Woods is the third in the series, and Annabelle continues to find herself at odds with Detective Inspector Mike Nicholls, who has to deal with Annabelle’s way of ferreting out information from people that he and police officers can only marvel out. Not that she’s right all the time, mind you, but right often enough to make a difference in murder cases.

A young boy trips in the woods near Upton St. Mary, and what he trips over is a partially emerged skeleton, buried at least 20 years before. The body turns out to be a young woman who had gone missing and was presumed to have run off from both her sister and her boyfriend. The Rev. Annabelle is naturally nosy, and always intrigued, and she talks to people who knew the young woman.

The vicar comes across a number of unrelated mysteries in the process. Why has her housekeeper suddenly become afraid of everything? Why is Inspector Nicholls constantly in a bad mood? And why is the visiting forensic specialist from London so sad?

In Horror in the Highlands, the fifth in the series, Annabelle is off to the “northernmost islands of Scotland” to visit her brother Roger and her niece Bonnie. Roger is a widower and IT consultant, operating from this quiet, small island where he’s raising his daughter. Annabelle’s visit includes a short stint as temporary vicar of the local church, while the permanent vicar is on holiday. She’s thrilled to see her family, but, well, this is Annabelle, and things are going to happen. 

A young friend of Bonnie brings a box of valuable jewelry to Annabelle for safekeeping. The box was found under a loose floorboard in an abandoned house. Then someone breaks into the church safe and steals the box. And then the body of the owner of the local pub is found murdered on the beach. The island is so small that it doesn’t even have a police officer, which allows Annabelle to investigate, under Inspector Mike Nicholls lands in a helicopter. If you haven’t read Grave in the Garage, the fourth in the series, you wouldn’t know that something has fundamentally changed in the relationship between the vicar and the policeman. They’re now holding hands and blushing. A lot.

Alison Golden

It may be a small island that she’s visiting, but it has more crime that you can shake a stick at. And Anabelle will find herself in the thick of all of it.

Golden has three mystery and suspense series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver; the series includes Hunted, Snatched, Stolen, Chopped, and Exposed. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as minimal violence and any romantic interest will not involve graphic sex. Golden also includes recipes mentioned in the books at the end of the Anabelle Dixon stories.

Body in the Woods is a solid mystery, a bit more serious than its predecessors. Horror in the Highlands comes to its conclusion a bit abruptly, but it’s still a fun story.

Related:

Hunted and Chopped by Alison Golden.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden.

Grave in the Garage by Alison Golden.

Photo of St. Clement, Truro, Cornwall, by Adverse Camber via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Grave in the Garage” by Alison Golden

The Rev. Annabelle Dixon, vicar of the church in the village of Upton St. Mary, loves her Mini Cooper. When she’s not listening to the new and excellent organist practicing at the church, she likes nothing better than to tool around the countryside, visiting parishioners, and driving her little car.

Except today, the Mini Cooper dies on her. So, she goes tromping back up the road, takes a shortcut through farmers’ fields (dealing with a few obstinate cows along the way), and finally arrives at Mildred’s Garage. But Mildred and her employees Ted and Aziz are nowhere to be found. Until Annabelle finds a body in the service bay, under a car. It’s a very dead Mildred. 

Annabelle unexpectedly finds Inspector Mike Nicholls in the pub across the street. He knows the reverend well; he also knows her penchant for getting involved in murder investigations. He’s also discovering that he’s attracted to Annabelle, and while she’s not ready to admit it, she’s attracted to him as well. It’s a potent combination of murder and romance.

Alison Golden

The assistants, Ted and Aziz, remain missing. Forty-year-old Ted mains he life like clockwork – work, pub, home. But he’s a no-show at the pub, and he can’t be found. Teenager Aziz is normally a various serious young man, and his family wants to believe that he’s just off with friends, or something. There’s an ongoing mystery that may or may not be related to the murder – the men of the village keep disappearing at night, and they’re spending a lot less money at the pub.

Grave in the Garage by mystery writer Alison Golden is part of the ongoing Annabelle Dixon series. It falls squarely in the cozy mystery sub-genre. The books in the series also include a considerable element of light humor involving Annabelle, Nicholls, and Annabelle’s housekeeper Phillippa, a wannabe matchmaker.

Golden has three mystery and suspense series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver; the series includes Hunted, Snatched, Stolen, Chopped, and Exposed. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as minimal violence and any romantic interest will not involve graphic sex.

Grave in the Garage is an entertaining story, with a nice overlay of the developing relationship between Annabelle and the police inspector.

Related:

Hunted and Chopped by Alison Golden.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden.

“Murder at the Old Abbey” by Pippa McCathie

Fabia Havard is a former police superintendent now working as a full-time artist in southern Wales. Her former subordinate, Matt Lambert, still works for the police; he was instrumental in clearing Fabia’s name in a police corruption case. He’s seven years younger than she is, and the two are slowly (and rather irritably) falling in love.

Fabia lives near White Monk Abbey, the ancestral family home of the Mansell family. Octogenarian Caradoc Mansell dominates the family, always threatening to change his will. The estate is entailed, meaning it will go to the first-born son when Caradoc dies. But then there’s the contents of the house – paintings, antiques, silver, a stamp collection, and thoroughbred horses. A few small items have gone missing; the chief suspect is the brother of Caradoc’s daughter-in-law. 

A new family member arrives from the island of Mauritius via London. The young woman turns out to be Caradoc’s granddaughter, whose grandmother had been in love with Caradoc when he was stationed there with the Royal Army. The old man decides to change his will and signs the new will right before he’s found dead. It appears to be heart failure; it turns out to be murder. Fabia knows the family, and she begins to help Lambert with his investigation.

Pippa McCathie

Murder at the Old Abbey by Pippa McCathie is the second novel in the Lambert and Havard detective series. The first, Murder in the Valleys, was published in 2018. The mysteries are officially classified as “cozy,” a la Agatha Christie, but thery’re also solidly in the detective mystery class. 

McCathie was brought up in Mauritius, so she knows of what she writes. She’s published poetry and short stories, and two of her children were born in Wales. She currently lives on the island of Guernsey.

Murder at the Old Abbey is as much a romance as it is a mystery, and McCathie’s two detectives are as engaging with each other as they are with the crime. It’s a fun story, with criminal low-lifes, an old spooky mansion, an unexpected will, and nicely drawn suspects.

“As Good as Dead” by Karen Chester

It’s right before Christmas, and Jennifer Frost is fretting over how to make up for a lost booking at her Watarah Bed-and-Breakfast Inn in Pelican Bay, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane on Australia’s east coast. Her guests include an obnoxious couple from Melbourne, a younger man in his 30s who might (or might not) be a doctor, her own aunt seeking refuge from major repair work at her own home, and a young woman named Heidi who is more a boarder than a guest and content to occupy a nondescript room that needs serious updating.

And if it’s not her guests trying her patience, it’s that sourpuss of a neighbor across the street, Peggy Sherman, who turns out to be the sister of the Melbourne woman. Peggy is always ready with a retort, an insult, a sharp word, and an angry stare. When her sister pays a surprise visit, Peggy unceremoniously kicks her out of her house. She’s not fond of family.

Jennifer relieves her tension and frustration by baking, and somehow remains as polite as possible, long after most of us would have slugged someone. And then Heidi’s estranged husband is found dead in Jennifer’s garden. No one seems to have an alibi, and everyone has a secret.

As Good as Dead is the second mystery in the Pelican Bay series by Karen Chester. It’s a cozy mystery, so the violence and gore are kept to a minimum. Its focus is how Jennifer is reluctantly drawn into investigating the death on her own, risking the ire of the police and possibly putting herself in danger. She discovers lurking thugs, angry mistresses, aggravated policeman, and connections to illegal drugs.

In addition to the three Pelican Bay mysteries (Last Gasp, As Good as Dead, and Dead Wood), Chester has also written six novels in the Emma Cassidy mystery series: Throw a Monkey Wrench, Pushed to the Limit, Murder Most Likely,Witch Way to Murder, In the Dead of Winter, and A Case of Cold Feet.

As Good as Dead is a fun mystery, full of twists and turns (not to mention baked goods). Jennifer, a former reporter in Sydney, makes a good detective because she observes things that most others miss. And it’s one of those observations that will lead to the killer’s identity.

Top photograph: a bed-and-breakfast inn in Australia.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden

Alison Golden is one prolific mystery writer, with three series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as there may be a murder or two, but the violence is minimal and whatever romantic interest there is will not involve graphic sex.

In the case of Golden’s two cozy detectives, there is also a strong undercurrent of humor.

Death at the Café is a kind of prequel to the Rev. Annabelle series. It’s set in London; the recently ordained Annabelle is working at a church in the East End. While she’s enjoying it and seeing good things happen, her vicar’s soul yearns for the country village life. She also likes cake, of any type or variety.

She goes to meet an old childhood friend, Sister Mary, a nun now serving in Africa who’s in London to help raise money for her mission. As it turns out, the sister has an appointment to meet with the niece of a potential benefactor the hour before she meets Annabelle. As the niece approaches the nun’s table, she collapses. She’s dead, and it isn’t by natural causes. Annabelle will work overtime to help her friend, and they encounter another murder, stolen jewels, and good old-fashioned greed. 

In Murder at the Mansion, the Rev. Annabelle is now the vicar in the Cornwall village of Upton St. Mary, driving her blue Mini Cooper around the countryside. She has a housekeeper, Philippa, who knows the new vicar likes a good cake or two but suspects she’s quietly stealing Philippa’s culinary delights. Annabelle hears rumors that a new resident from London, who’s bought the big mansion near town, is secretly scheming to open a brothel. She decides to check for herself, and while she waits for him to finish his yoga meditation, the man is killed by a crossbow.

The case is investigated by Inspector Mike Nicholls, who, in what is made clear from the outset, is a potential love interest for Annabelle, even if he doesn’t know it yet. She knows it, however. And she’s drawn into the case not solely for the purpose of finding the killer.

Both Annabelle Dixon mysteries include recipes for all the cakes and desserts featured in the stories.

A different detective, Inspector David Graham, is the main character in The Case of the Screaming Beauty. Amelia and Cliff Swansbourne operate The Lavender, a beautiful, old, and well-maintained hotel, written up in all the right travel magazines. A guest, a young and rather beautiful woman from London, is found murdered in her room, and potential suspects abound.

As Inspector Graham pursues the case, it becomes anything but straightforward. And the key to finding the murdered is wrapped into why the dead woman screamed the night before, long before she was murdered.

Each of the three mysteries is fast-paced, with clues left for the reader to consider. They are exactly what they’re written to be – fun and clean entertainment.

Golden was born and raised in Bedfordshire, England, and is now based in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Top illustration: Boscastle Village in Cornwall, watercolor by Dawn Hudson via Public Domain Pictures.

“Murder at the Lighthouse” by Frances Evesham

Libby Forest is a new resident in Exham on Sea in Somerset. She’s moved from London, after the death of her husband, and if truth be told she’s not terribly unhappy with is passing. Her two children, her friends, and her neighbors all warned her against moving to a small town, but she’s glad she did. She’s working on a cake cookbook, doing a part-time stint at the local bakery, and generally enjoying her new life.

She’s walking a neighbor’s dog on the beach one morning, right near Exham’s lighthouse, when she discovers a bundle, a bundle that turns out to be a body of a woman. The woman grew up in Exham but has been long gone, making her name as a singer in the United States. No one even knew she was back. The death is considered accidental until a second woman is killed, this one who watched comings and goings around the lighthouse and kept a diary of what, and whom, she saw.

Murder at the Lighthouse by Frances Evesham is what’s called a cozy mystery, which generally means in the tradition of Agatha Christie and with a noted absence of graphic violence. I’m usually not a fan of cozy mysteries (my likes tend more in the direction of police procedurals) but a cozy mystery makes a nice break.

Frances Evesham

And it wouldn’t be a cozy mystery without a spot of romance, and there’s that, or at least a potential romance between Libby and the father of the investigating police officer. And the officer keeps bumping into Libby at crime scenes and places she really shouldn’t be. And it doesn’t take long for the village to know what’s going on, because, well, this is a small town, and everyone knows everything pretty quickly.

Evesham is the author of four other Exham on Sea mysteries, Murder on the Levels, Murder on the Tor, Murder at the Cathedral, and Murder at the Bridge; and two historical mystery romances set in Victorian England, Danger at Thatcher Hall and An Independent Woman. She’s been a speech therapist, professional communicator, and a road sweeper, and worked in the criminal courts. She lives in Somerset, England.

Murder at the Lighthouse is an entertaining story, and a good example of what cozy mysteries are all about.

Top photograph by Flash Alexander via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

"Sleeping Dogs" by Linda Chontos

Sleeping Dogs by Linda Chontos is three stories for the price of one.

The first in the “Chronicles of Miller’s Crossing,” Sleeping Dogs tells the story of a woman recovering from the unexpected death of her husband; a 36-year-old murder that may have resulted in the wrong person going to prison; and a church that is on the verge of tearing itself up over worship styles.

Chontos makes the three stories fit more than comfortably together.

Matty Amoruso has just returned to her home in Miller’s Crossing after three weeks with her daughter and son-in-law. She’s still reeling with the unexpected loss of her husband, retired pastor Joe. Small actions and small memories will trigger grief, and she’s struggling to keep one foot in front of another.

Sorting through Joe’s papers, she finds a red notebook, and some notes about a 36-year-old murder of a teenager. Joe had been meeting with the man convicted and imprisoned for the crime, and the notes suggest Joe believed the man to be innocent. Slowly, and over an extended period of time, Matty begins to look into what Joe may have found.

Linda Chontos

And Matty’s close neighbor and all-around busybody Willa Mae is not only forcing her way into Matty’s day-to-day life; Will Mae is also leading the charge against Joe’s successor at church, who has changed traditional worship to a more contemporary style. (And if you think that isn’t enough to murder someone all on its own, then you haven’t been to church in the last 20 years.)

Chontos is a writer and a frequent contributor to the devotional web site Laced with Grace.

Sleeping Dogs falls into the cozy mystery category – you won’t find violence, blood and gore, and general mayhem. But you will find a delightful story (actually, three delightful intertwined stories), one that is both warmhearted and moving.

Photograph by Paul Brennan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.