Ghost Cozy Mysteries
Ghost Stories With Scary Good Mysteries
Ghost cozy mysteries are a subgenre of paranormal mysteries. They have ghostly characters who communicate with, assist, or sometimes complicate the life of an amateur sleuth. The ghost may have unfinished business, a connection to the murder victim, knowledge of the crime, or information that the living characters cannot obtain.
Ghost cozy mysteries can also overlap with the broader category of paranormal mysteries, but they aren't usually frightening. Unlike darker supernatural thrillers or horror novels, cozy ghost stories use supernatural elements to add mystery, humor, charm, and intrigue rather than terror.
If you’re looking for the best ghost cozy mysteries, here are 12 books to try. All of them are the first book in a paranormal cozy mystery series.
The Ghost and the Dead Librarian is the first book in the Haunted Bookshop Detective Series by Cleo Coyle. In this ghost cozy mystery, a Rhode Island bookshop owner investigates a bookish mystery with a wisecracking 1940s gumshoe ghost.
Come Shell or High Water is the first book in the Haunted Shell Shop Mystery Series by Molly MacRae. In this ghost mystery, a folklorist with an island-based seashell shop solves a mystery with the ghost of an 18th-century Welsh pirate.
Lowcountry Boil is the first book in the Liz Talbot Mystery Series by Susan M Boyer. In this cozy mystery, a female private investigator hightails it back to her South Carolina island home to solve her grandmother’s murder.
The Ghost Hunter Next Door by Danielle Garrett is the first book in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries. In this cozy, a florist ghost whisperer and a gang of mystery-solving ghosts try to help a ghost during a haunted house renovation.
Bodies and Battlements is the first book in the Ravensea Castle Mystery Series by Elizabeth Penney. In this ghost cozy mystery, an herbalist and her actress sister try to solve a murder in a haunted British castle-turned-bed and breakfast
Murder Can Mess Up a Masterpiece is the first book in the Haunted Craft Fair Mystery Series by Rose Pressey. In this cozy, a psychic artist and her Chihuahua, Van Gogh, investigate a haunted painting to save someone from being framed.
Them Bones is the first book in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series by Carolyn Haines. In this ghost cozy mystery, a Southern belle haunted by the ghost of her great-great-grandmother’s nanny is hired to solve a murder.
If You’ve Got It, Haunt It is the first book in the Haunted Vintage Mystery Series by Rose Pressey. In this cozy mystery, a Southern vintage fashionista rummages through clues in Georgia to find out who killed a ghostly socialite.
Southern Spirits is the first book in the Southern Ghost Hunter Mystery Series by Angie Fox. In this cozy ghost story, a graphic artist traps a ghost on her property and gets an offer she can’t refuse from the town’s bad boy.
The Ghost of Marlow House is the first book in the Haunting Danielle Mystery Series by Bobbie Holmes. In this ghost mystery, a woman inherits a seaside house haunted by a 90-year-old ghost and discovers her real problems are with the living.
A Ghostly Undertaking is the first book in the Ghostly Southern Mysteries by Tonya Kappes. In this cozy mystery, a Kentucky undertaker does some sleuthing to help the not-so-dearly departed cross over into the great beyond.
Murder in G Major is the first book in the Gethsemane Brown Mystery Series by Alexia Gordon. In this fall-themed cozy mystery, the owner of a teddy bear shop solves a mystery during Oktobear Fest, the town's annual teddy bear festival.
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