Olivia Blacke

Bayou transplant Odessa Dean scored a rent-free apartment in one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Brooklyn and has a new job working at Untapped Books & Cafe. Hand-selling books and craft beers is easy, but then things turn sourer than an IPA when the death of a fellow waitress goes viral. Nothing about Bethany's death feels right to Odessa. As an up-and-coming YouTube star, Bethany had more than one viewer waiting for her to fall from grace. Determined to prove there's a killer on the loose, Odessa takes matters into her own hands.

Killer Content

Vinyl Resting Place

Amateur sleuth Odessa Dean is about to discover the only thing harder than finding her way out of an escape room is finding an affordable apartment in Brooklyn in this sequel to Killer Content. Odessa Dean has made a home of Brooklyn. She has a fun job waiting tables at Untapped Books & Café and a new friend, Izzy, to explore the city with. When she's invited on a girls' day out escape room adventure, she jumps at the chance. It's all fun and games until the lights come on and they discover one of the girls bludgeoned to death... The only possible suspects are Odessa and the four other players that were locked in the escape room with the victim. She refuses to believe that one of them is responsible for the murder, despite what the clues indicate. In between shifts at the café, Odessa splits her time interviewing the murder suspects, updating the bookstore's social media accounts, and searching for the impossible--an affordable apartment in Brooklyn. But crime--and criminally high rent--waits for no woman. Can Odessa clear her and Izzy's names before the police decide they're guilty?

No Memes of Escape

In this darkly funny supernatural mystery about an unlikely crime-solving duo that launches a commercial, unique, and genre-blending series, death is only the beginning. Ruby Young's new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost. Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she's kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice. Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can't solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn't kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can't, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake's death...and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.

A New Lease on Death

Second in the Record Shop series by Olivia Blacke, A Fatal Groove is a mystery for the record...

A Fatal Groove

Third in the oh-so-smooth Record Shop series by Olivia Blacke, Rhythm and Clues is a mystery that will have you dancing along. It's raining murder It's been five whole months since the last murder in Cedar River, Texas and sisters Juni, Tansy, and Maggie have settled into a routine. Their struggling vinyl records shop/coffee nook, Sip & Spin Records has attracted the attention of predatory investors, but the Jessup sisters have no intention of selling. When the pushy finance bro is killed outside their shop during a torrential Texas Thunderstorm that's washed out all the roads in and out of town, they find themselves trapped in town with a killer. Without power, Sip & Spin Records is relying on generators to provide great tunes and tasty beverages like Since U Bean Gone to a town thirsty for entertainment. When the river spits out an unexpected surprise, Detective Beau Russell asks for Juni's help, never imagining that her investigation will lead her straight into the clutches of a murderer. Up until now, the Jessup sisters have been playing it by ear, but with the whole town watching, can they catch a killer before he strikes again?

Rhythm and Clues

First in a new series by Olivia Blacke, Vinyl Resting Place follows three sisters who discover that opening a family business can be murder. "A charming cozy for a new generation of mystery readers . . . Vinyl Resting Place is a delight!" –Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet. Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail—and the coffee—goes cold. Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin' On Heaven's Door,” but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.

The Record Shop Mysteries

The odd couple of crime-solving returns in Olivia Blacke’s Death at the Door, where a ghost and her living roommate find another mystery on their doorstep. Ruby Young is slowly adjusting to her new life in Boston. A big part of that is her unexpected roommate—the ghost of the woman who lived there before. For Cordelia Graves, she may no longer be breathing, but it’s still her apartment and Ruby is the somewhat unwanted houseguest. They’re both happy they’ve managed to become friends, which is a miracle considering they struggle to communicate with each other. Cordelia even set Ruby up with her old job. When Ruby discovers the body of a delivery guy at work, the new life she’s been building hangs in the balance. The last time Cordelia dragged Ruby into a murder investigation, it was almost two ghosts living in the apartment, not one. Determined to protect Ruby, Cordelia tries to shield her from the investigation, but Ruby has other ideas. It will take both of them working together to navigate the fine line between the dead and the living to bring a killer to light.

A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery

Death at the Door

Death is only the beginning in Olivia Blacke's A New Lease on Death, a darkly funny supernatural mystery that introduces an unlikely crime-solving duo. The Anthony Award Winner for Best Paranormal Ruby Young's new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost. Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she's kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice. Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can't solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn't kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can't, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. As the roommates form an unlikely friendship and get closer to the truth about Jake's death, they also start to uncover other dangerous secrets.

Vivien Chien

Olivia Matthews

Katharine Schellman

Leonard Goldberg

Meri Allen

Donna Andrews

Carolyn Haines

Allison Montclair

Mindy Quigley

Korina Moss

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of eleven charming cozy mysteries publishing in Spring/Summer 2023 for free for easy sampling. The eighteenth edition of Cozy Case Files features cozies from the following authors: Meri Allen, Donna Andrews, Olivia Blacke, Vivien Chien, Leonard Goldberg, Carolyn Haines, Olivia Matthews, Allison Montclair, Korina Moss, Mindy Quigley, and Katharine Schellman. Bring your appetite as you catch up on what's happening in your favorite eateries in Fatal Fudge Swirl, Curds of Prey, Misfortune Cookie, Hard Dough Homicide, and Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust. Take up birding in Birder, She Wrote. Travel west in A Fatal Groove and Tell-Tale Bones. Want to escape the present? Head to the past in The Wayward Prince, The Lady from Burma, and The Last Drop of Hemlock.

A Cozy Mystery Sampler

Cozy Case Files, Volume 18

Rhys Bowen

Ellie Alexander

Paige Shelton

Diane Kelly

Jean-Luc Bannalec

Gigi Pandian

Clare Broyles

Anastasia Hastings

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of ten charming cozy mysteries publishing in Winter 2023 for free for easy sampling. The seventeenth edition of Cozy Case Files features the latest cozies by the following authors: Ellie Alexander, Jean-Luc Bannalec, Olivia Blacke, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles, Anastasia Hastings, Diane Kelly, Olivia Matthews, Korina Moss, Gigi Pandian, and Paige Shelton. This editions has THREE cozy series starters for you to enjoy. Set in 1885 London, Of Manners and Murder follows Violet as she discovers that when you represent best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course. In Vinyl Resting Place, three sisters knew there could be some scratches on the track when opening Sip & Spin Records in Texas, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet. And in Little Caribbean, Brooklyn, New York, investigating a murder was never supposed to be on Spice Isle Bakery’s menu in Against the Currant. Catch up at what’s happening at your favorite eateries in Muffin But the Truth. Check in to see the latest renovation projects in The Raven Thief and Primer and Punishment. Travel abroad to Edinburgh and Brittany in Fateful Words and The Body by the Sea. Or visit New York at the turn of the century with the incomparable Molly Murphy Sullivan in All That is Hidden.

Olivia Blacke

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