Murder in Podunkville:
The Small Town American Mystery
While “English village mystery” is almost a synonym for “cozy mystery”, murder mysteries set
in American small towns are a much more varied and generally edgier group. By and large, they
still do tend to be less violent and more character-driven than their big-city cousins, but the
following list shows a broad range of mysteries on the “Cozy to Hard-Boiled” scale, not to
mention locations all over the continent from Alaska to New Hampshire to Texas.
Susan Wittig Albert (herbalist China Bayles, Pecan Springs, Texas) First book:
Thyme of Death (1992)
- Witches’ Bane (1993)
RPL is missing two of the thirteen titles in between
- Nightshade (2008)
Barbara Allan (antique dealers Brandy and Vivian Borne, Serenity, Iowa; Trash ‘n
Treasures series)
- Antiques Roadkill (2006)
- Antiques Maul (2007)
- Antiques Flee Market (2008)
Garrison Allen (Penelope Warren, an ex-Marine mystery bookstore owner, and
Mycroft “Big Mike”, a 25-pound Abyssinian cat, in Empty Creek, Arizona)
First book: Desert Cat (1994)
- Royal Cat (1995)
RPL is missing the third book: Stable Cat (1996)
- Baseball Cat (1997)
- Dinosaur Cat (1998)
- Movie Cat (1999)
Mignon Ballard (Mary George Murphy and her guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight;
Troublesome Creek, South Carolina)
- Angel at Troublesome Creek (1999)
RPL has all five titles in between
- Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed (2008)
Sandra Balzo (Maggy Thorsen, a 40-something divorcée running a coffee shop, in
the fictional town of Brookhills, Wisconsin)
- Uncommon Grounds (2005)
- Grounds for Murder (2007)
- Bean There, Done That (2008)
- Brewed, Crude and Tattooed (2009) on order
Nancy Bell (county judge Jackson Crain, Post Oak, Texas)
- Restored to Death (2003)
- Death Splits a Hair (2005)
- Paint the Town Dead (2008) on order
Linda Berry (police officer Trudy Roundtree, Ogeechee, Georgia) First book: Death
and the Easter Bunny (1998)
- Death and the Hubcap (2000)
- Death and the Walking Stick (2005)
Alice Blanchard (non-series)
- Darkness Peering (1999) Detective Rachel Storrow investigates two
murders in which her brother is the main suspect; Flowering
Dogwood, Maine
- The Breathtaker (2003) Charlie Grover, police chief of Promise,
Oklahoma, has the murder of an entire family on his hands as the
town also deals with the aftermath of a tornado
Peter Bowen (Metis deputy sheriff, fiddler and cattle inspector Gabriel Du Pre,
Montana) First book: Coyote Wind (1994)
RPL has only five of twelve titles in the series:
- Wolf, No Wolf (1997)
- Stick Game (2000)
- Badlands (2003)
- The Tumbler (2004)
- Stewball (2005)
JoAnna Carl (Lee McKinney, a divorcee who returns to Michigan to work for her
aunt's chocolate business, in the Chocaholic mysteries)
- The Chocolate Cat Caper (2002)
RPL is just missing # 2: The Chocolate Bear Burglary (2002)
- The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up (2003)
- The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle (2004)
- The Chocolate Mouse Trap (2005)
- The Chocolate Bridal Bash (2006)
- The Chocolate Jewel Case (2007)
- The Chocolate Snowman Murders (2008)
Sammi Carter (Abby Shaw leaves a career in corporate law and a cheating husband
to return to her hometown of Paradise, Colorado, to take over her aunt’s
candy shop in the Candy Shop mysteries)
- Candy Apple Dead (2005)
- Chocolate Dipped Death (2006)
- Peppermint Twisted (2007)
- Goody Goody Gunshots (2008)
Mary Higgins Clark (non-series)
- On the Street Where You Live (2001) lawyer Emily Graham, in the New
Jersey resort town of Spring Lake.
Jane K. Cleland (Josie Prescott, an antiques dealer in a small town in coastal New
Hampshire, in the Antiques mysteries)
- Consigned to Death (2006)
- Deadly Appraisal (2007)
- Antiques To Die For (2008)
- Killer Keepsakes (2009) on order
Susan Rogers Cooper (sheriff Milt Kovak, Longbranch, Oklahoma) RPL has the most
recent three of the nine book series. First book: The Man in the Green
Chevy (1988)
- Lying Wonders (2003)
- Vegas Verve (2007)
- Shotgun Wedding (2008)
Bill Crider (Sheriff Dan Rhodes, Clearview, Texas) First book: Too Late to Die
(1986)
RPL is missing about half of series, but has the most recent six:
- Ghost of a Chance (2000)
- A Romantic Way To Die (2001)
- Red, White and Blue Murder (2003)
- A Mammoth Murder (2006)
- Murder Among the OWLS (2007)
- Of All Sad Words (2008)
Ellen Crosby (Lucie Montgomery, operating her family’s winery in Virginia, in the
Wine Country mysteries)
- The Merlot Murders (2006)
- The Chardonnay Charade (2007)
- The Bordeaux Betrayal (2008)
Mary Daheim (newspaper publisher Emma Lord; Alpine, Washington)
- The Alpine Advocate(1992)
RPL has nine of the 18 titles in between
- The Alpine Traitor (2008)
Kaitlyn Dunnett (Liss MacCrimmon, a dancer forced into early retirement by a knee
injury, helping at her aunt’s Scottish store, in Moosetookalook, Maine)
- Kilt Dead (2007)
- Scone Cold Dead (2008)
Earl W. Emerson (Mac Fontana, former fire chief and acting sheriff of Staircase,
Washington) First book: Black Hearts and Slow Dancing (1988)
- Morons and Madmen (1993) # 3
- The Dead Horse Paint Company (1997) # 5
Ferris, Monica (Betsy Devonshire, a needlework shop owner in Excelsior, Minnesota)
- Crewel World (1999) included in Patterns of Murder (2005)
- Framed in Lace (1999) included in Patterns of Murder (2005)
- A Stitch in Time (2000) included in Patterns of Murder (2005)
- Unraveled Sleeve (2001)
RPL is missing one of the six titles in between
- Knitting Bones (2007)
- Thai Die (2008)
Joanna Fluke (Hannah Swensen, manager of The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden,
Minnesota)
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (2000)
RPL is missing one of the eight titles in between
- Candy Cane Murder (2007) [novella]
- Carrot Cake Murder (2008)
- Cream Puff Murder (2009) on order
Chris Grabenstein (police officer John Ceepak, a veteran of the Iraq war, and his
partner, part-time officer Danny Boyle, in the resort community of Sea
Haven, New Jersey)
- Tilt-a-Whirl (2005)
- Mad Mouse (2006)
- Whack-a-Mole (2007)
- Hell Hole (2008)
Linda Greenlaw (former big city detective Jane Bunker returns to the small Maine
fishing community of her childhood as a marine insurance investigator)
- Slipknot (2007)
- Fisherman’s Bend (2008)
K.C. Greenlief (sheriff Lark Swenson and state detective Lacey Smith, in Big Oak,
Wisconsin)
- Cold Hunter’s Moon (2002)
- Death at the Door (2003)
Judith Guest (non-series)
- The Tarnished Eye (2004) Sheriff Hugh DeWitt tries to solve the
murder of a family at their summer cottage in Northern Michigan;
based on a true story
Elizabeth Gunn (Jake Hines, police detective in Rutherford, Minnesota) First book:
Triple Play (1997)
- Par Four (1998)
- Five Card Stud (2000)
- Six-Pound Walleye (2001)
- Seventh-Inning Stretch (2002)
- Crazy Eights (2005)
- McCafferty’s Nine (2007)
David Handler (Mitch Berger, a New York film critic, and Desiree Mitry, a black
police detective, in Dorset, Connecticut)
- The Cold Blue Blood (2001)
- The Hot Pink Farmhouse (2002)
- The Bright Silver Star (2003)
- The Burnt Orange Sunrise (2004)
- The Sweet Golden Parachute (2006)
- The Sour Cherry Surprise (2008)
Charlaine Harris (Aurora Teagarden, a librarian in Lawrenceton, Georgia)
- Real Murders (1990)
- A Bone To Pick (1992)
- Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (1994)
- The Julius House (1995)
- Dead over Heels (1996)
- A Fool and His Honey (1999)
- Last Scene Alive (2002)
- Poppy Done to Death (2003)
Charlaine Harris (Lily Bard, a housecleaner in Shakespeare, Arkansas)
- Shakespeare’s Landlord (1996)
- Shakespeare’s Champion (1997)
- Shakespeare’s Christmas (1998)
- Shakespeare’s Trollop (2000)
- Shakespeare’s Counselor (2001)
Donald Harstad (Carl Houseman, Deputy Sheriff, Nation County, Iowa) RPL is
missing the most recent title: A Long December (2003)
- Eleven Days (1998)
- Known Dead (1999)
- The Big Thaw (2000)
- Code Sixty-One (2002)
Steven Havill (UnderSheriff Bill Gastner and Deputy Estelle Reyes-Guzman,
Posadas County, New Mexico. In the more recent books Bill is retired and
Estelle is the UnderSherrif)
- Heartshot (1991)
- Bitter Recoil (1992)
RPL has all but three of eleven titles in between
- Statute of Limitations (2006)
- Fourth Time is Murder (2008 (on order)
Joan Hess (Claire Malloy, small-town bookstore owner in Farberville, Arkansas)
- Strangled Prose (1986)
-The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn (1986)
Many in between
- The Goodbye Body (2005)
- Damsels in Distress (2007)
Joan Hess (Arly Hanks, a small-town police chief in Maggody, Arkansas) First book:
Malice in Maggody (1987) RPL is missing the first four titles.
- Madness in Maggody (1991)
There are many in between
- Muletrain to Maggody (2004)
- Malpractice in Maggody (2006)
Tony Hillerman (Navajo tribal policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, New Mexico)
- The Blessing Way (1970)
- Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
RPL is missing two of 16 titles in between
- Skeleton Man (2004)
- The Shape Shifter (2006)
James Hime (former Texas Ranger Jeremiah Spur and black Deputy Sheriff Clyde
Thomas, Brenham, Texas)
- The Night of the Dance (2003)
J.A. Jance (Joanna Brady, sheriff in Cochise County, Arizona)
- Desert Heat (1993)
- Tombstone Courage (1994)
RPL is missing two of the nine titles in between
- Dead Wrong (2006)
- Damage Control (2008)
Craig Johnson (Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming) Book # 3
Kindness Goes Unpunished takes place in Philadelphia
- The Cold Dish (2005)
- Death Without Company (2006)
Henry Kisor (Steve “Two Crows” Martinez, a Lakota Indian by birth, eastern white
by upbringing, and deputy sheriff in Porcupine City, in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan)
- Season’s Revenge (2003)
- A Venture into Murder (2005)
- Cache of Corpses (2007)
William Kent Krueger (Cork O’Connor, Sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota; Cork
quits the Sheriff’s Department and becomes a private investigator later
in the series)
- Iron Lake (1998)
- Boundary Waters (1999)
- Purgatory Ridge (2001)
- Blood Hollow (2004)
- Mercy Falls (2005)
- Copper River (2006)
- Thunder Bay (2007)
- Red Knife (2008)
Vicki Lane (Elizabeth Goodweather, a 50-something widow and proprietor of an herb
and flower farm near Asheville, North Carolina, in the Appalachians)
- Signs in the Blood (2005) on order
- Art’s Blood (2006)
- Old Wounds (2007)
- In a Dark Season (2008)
Mary Logue (police officer Claire Watkins, who moves to a small town in Wisconsin
after her husband is killed)
- Blood Country (1999)
- Dark Coulee (2000)
- Glare Ice (2001)
- Bone Harvest (2004)
- Poison Heart (2005)
- Maiden Rock (2007) on order
- Point No Point (2008) on order
Jess Lourey (Mira James, an assistant librarian and part-time reporter, in Battle
Lake, Minnesota; the Murder-by-Month mysteries)
- May Day (2006)
- June Bug (2007)
RPL is missing Book # 3: Knee High by the Fourth of July
- August Moon (2008)
Rett MacPherson (genealogist Torie O’Shea; New Kassel, Missouri)
- Family Skeletons (1997)
- A Veiled Antiquity (1998)
RPL has all 7 titles in between
- Died in the Wool (2007)
- The Blood Ballad (2008)
Margaret Maron (Deborah Knott, district judge working in the North Carolina
community where she grew up)
- Bootlegger’s Daughter (1992)
- Southern Discomfort (1993)
RPL has all 10 titles in between
- Hard Row (2007)
- Death’s Half Acre (2008)
- Sand Sharks (2009) on order
Archer Mayor (police detective Joe Gunther in Brattleboro, Vermont; later in the
series, Gunther heads the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, but most
investigations still take place in small communities)
- Open Season (1988)
- Borderlines (1990)
There are many in between
- The Second Mouse (2006)
- Chat (2007)
- The Catch (2008)
Leslie Meier (housewife and amateur sleuth Lucy Stone, Tinker’s Cove, Maine) First
book: Mail-order Murders (1991) RPL is missing the first three titles.
- Back to School Murder (1997)
There are eight titles in between
- St. Patrick’s Day Murder (2008)
Robert B. Parker (Jesse Stone, washed-up LAPD cop with a drinking problem, is
offered a job as police chief of tiny Paradise, Massachusetts
- Night Passage (1997)
RPL is missing the second title: Trouble in Paradise (1998)
- Death in Paradise (2001)
- Stone Cold (2003)
- Sea Change (2006)
- Blue Screen (2006)
- High Profile (2007)
- Stranger in Paradise (2008)
- Night and Day (2009) on order
Cathy Pickens (fired from a big city law firm for having too many principles,
attorney Avery Andrews sets up shop in her girlhood hometown of Dacus,
South Carolina)
- Southern Fried (2004)
- Done Gone Wrong (2005)
- Hog Wild (2007)
- Hush My Mouth (2008)
James Sallis (John Turner, an ex-cop, ex-con, ex-psychotherapist, now deputy
sheriff in Cripple Creek, Tennessee) First book: Cypress Grove (2003)
- Cripple Creek (2006)
- Salt River (2007)
Julia Spencer Fleming (army-helicopter-pilot-turned-Episcopal-priest Claire
Fergusson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne, Miller’s Kill, New York)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (2002)
- A Fountain Filled with Blood (2003)
- Out of the Deep I Cry (2004)
- To Darkness and to Death (2005)
- All Mortal Flesh (2006)
- I Shall Not Want (2008)
Patricia Sprinkle (MacLaren Yarbrough, a business-owner turned magistrate in
Hopemore, Georgia, in the Thoroughly Southern mysteries)
- When Did We Lose Harriet? (1997)
- But Why Shoot the Magistrate? (1998)
RPL has 3 of the 6 titles in between
- Guess Who’s Coming To Die? (2007)
- What Are You Wearing To Die? (2008)
Dana Stabenow (personal tragedy causes State Trooper Liam Campbell to move
from Anchorage to a small Alaska town)
Fire and Ice (1998)
So Sure of Death (1999)
Nothing Gold Can Stay (2000)
RPL is missing Book # 4: Better to Rest (2002)
Strohmeyer, Sarah (Bubbles Yablonsky, a hairdresser and journalist in Lehigh,
Pennsylvania)
- Bubbles Unbound (2001)
- Bubbles in Trouble (2002)
- Bubbles Ablaze (2003)
- Bubbles a Broad (2004)
- Bubbles Betrothed (2005)
- Bubbles All the Way (2006)
Denise Swanson (school psychologist Skye Denison; Scumble River, Illnois)
- Murder of a Small-Town Honey (2000)
RPL has all but one of the eight titles in between
- Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry (2009)
Thornton, Betsy (Chloe Newcomb, a victims advocate in Cochise County, Arizona)
First book: The Cowboy Rides Away (1997)
- High Lonesome Road (2001)
RPL is missing the two titles in between
- A Song for You (2008)
Credit to the Stop You’re Killing Me! website for some of the series descriptions.
March 2009