Finding Clean Cozy Mystery Books
My mom and I went to the library recently, and she was in the mystery section. We love reading cozy mystery books, but sometimes you’ll pick a series that’s not all that clean. Sometimes they’ll have sexual situations or not very nice language. When I pick up a cozy mystery, I want it to be cute, quirky and clean. A lot of them are just that, but you just never know anymore.
I belong to a Facebook group called Mystery Most Cozy, so I asked them for suggestions. They had a lot of them! I haven’t read all of these books, of course, so hopefully their ideas of clean are the same as mine.
What do you expect out of a cozy mystery? My first experience with cozy mystery books was The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun, so that shaped my idea of the cozy genre. They include no sex and very little cursing. The murders aren’t gruesome, and they are always solved by the lead character in the book.
Cozy Mystery Series Suggestions
Here are the suggestions from the Mystery Most Cozy group in no particular order. Hopefully this will be a great list for all of us cozy mystery lovers. I’m linking them to Amazon if they are available there. I’ll just link to one of the books in the series if there are more than one (there almost always are!), and you can find the rest of the series there.If you’ve read any of these and found that they really aren’t all that clean, please let me know!
A Fresh-Baked Mystery Series by Livia J. Washburn
Books by the Bay Mystery Series by Ellery Adams
Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series by Leighann Dobbs
A Flower Shop Mystery Series by Kate Collins
Southern Sisters Mystery Series by Anne George
Southern Pasta Shop Mystery Series by Jennifer Hart
Ghost-in-Law Mystery Series by Jana DeLeon
Miss Prentice Cozy Mystery Series by E. E. Kennedy
Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mystery Series by Paula Paul
Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series by M. C. Beaton
Agatha Raisin Mystery Series by M. C. Beaton (They swear a lot in this. They’re British…)
Craft Corner Mystery Series by Mary Ellen Hughes
Maggie Olenski Mystery Series by Mary Ellen Hughes
Pickled and Preserved Mystery Series by Mary Ellen Hughes
A Murder in the Mountains Mystery Series by Heather Day Gilbert
An Amish Mystery Series by Laura Bradford
Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series by Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Lucille Mystery Series by Peg Cochran
Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series by Liz Mugavero
Magic Potion Mystery Series by Heather Blake
Wishcraft Mystery Series by Heather Blake
Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series by Rita Mae Brown
Tea Shop Mystery Series by Laura Childs
Professor Bradshaw Mystery Series by Bernadette Pajer
The Cat Who Mystery Series by Lilian Jackson Braun
Melanie Travis Mystery Series by Laurien Berenson
Domestic Diva Mystery Series by Krista Davis
Paws and Claws Mystery Series by Krista Davis
Aunt Dimity Mystery Series by Nancy Atherton
Magical Bakery Mystery Series by Bailey Cates
The Pampered Pets Mystery Series by Sparkle Abbey
Death on Demand Mystery Series by Carolyn Hart
Cheese Shop Mystery Series by Avery Aames
Village Cooks Mystery Series by Valerie Horowitz
White House Chef Mystery Series by Julie Hyzy
Meg Langslow Mystery Series by Donna Andrews
St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery Series by Annette Mahon
Bibliophile Mystery Series by Kate Carlisle
Goldy Shultz Mystery Series by Diane Mott Davidson
Benni Harper Mystery Series by Earlene Fowler
Caprice De Luca Mystery Series by Karen Rose Smith
Lady Emily Mystery Series by Tasha Alexander
Dulcie Schwartz Mystery Series by Clea Simon
Sleuthing Sisters Mystery Series by Christine Lynxwiler, Sandy Gaskin, and Jan Reynolds
Scumble River Mystery Series by Denise Swanson
Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery Series by Denise Swanson
Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series by Terri Reid
Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series by Sue Ann Jaffarian
Passport to Peril Mystery Series by Maddy Hunter
Local Foods Mystery Series by Edith Maxwell
Dorothy Martin Mystery Series by Jeanne Dams
Hilda Johansson Mystery Series by Jeanne Dams
Kay Driscoll Mystery Series by Susan Bernhardt
Shaky Detective Mystery Series by Lyla Fox
Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery Series by Lesley Cookman
Penny Brannigan Mystery Series by Elizabeth J. Duncan
Raven’s Nest Bookstore Mystery Series by Allison Kingsley
An LOL 4 Mystery Series by Mary Beth Magee
Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series by M. Louisa Locke
Fiona Mason Mystery Series by Judith Cranswick
Cats in Trouble Mystery Series by Leann Sweeney
A lot of these authors have other series as well, and I am sure I have not included all of the great cozy mystery series out there! Please feel free to add your comments with your favorite clean cozy mystery series too!
I started to read the first book in the China Bayles mystery series. On the third page was the “F” word. Will take it back to the library.
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll take that one off!
I was curious about the Agatha Raisin mysteries so I’m reading. There are numerous cuss words already and I’m only on chapter 3
I have not read the books, but I know that they do swear a lot on the TV show on AcornTV. I think that British people just swear a lot! I wanted to try her Hammish Macbeth books. They’re probably much the same.
Livia Washburn has multiple hefty swear words.