Abby Vandiver aka Abby Collette is making the world of cozies (and mysteries as a whole) even more special. She’s written seven series (so far) covering bed and breakfasts, ice cream parlors, little houses, and most recently a bookstore and soul food cafe. But she advocates for other writers to get their work out into the world for eager readers.
She has worked with other writers to publish cozy (and mystery) anthologies, whether short stories or full-length novels, where more established writers publish alongside new or under-the-radar authors.
In a 2021 interview with Murder & Mayhem, she said, “I'm Black and I write about Black people. I'll write about anything else. I didn't get out here trying to diversify publishing; I wrote what I know.”
And as she said on her website, “Whatever I write, I put a little mystery into it.” So take a page out of Vandiver’s book and check out her work!
Bed & Breakfast Bedlam
Logan Dickerson is on the run from the FBI but not for murder or theft. She’s an archaeologist who may have trespassed into federal lands for a promising dig. She finds herself in a bed and breakfast in Georgia. But her attempts to keep a low profile get challenging when one of her fellow visitors dies suddenly at the dinner table. The B&B’s grandmother, Miss Vivee, decides that she has to investigate…and bring Logan into the mix. Can they find the killer without getting Logan into more hot water? It’s the first in the Logan Dickerson six book mystery series.
Secrets, Lies, & Crawfish Pies
It’s normal for a funeral home to have bodies…but it’s less common for the owners to find an extra body. It’s definitely more than Romaine Wilder wanted to deal with; after all, she’s just moved back home to Roble, East Texas, after losing her job as a medical examiner and the life she built. But she’ll have to use her skills as a medical examiner to figure out who the person is and why they were dumped in her aunt’s funeral home. It’s the first in the three book Romaine Wilder series.
A Tiny Collierville Murder
Nixie Culpepper cannot wait to bring home her new tiny house to New York. She packed up her dog Alfie to drive down to Collierville, Tennessee to pick up her new abode. Granted she’s got to deal with some shenanigans from grandparents on both sides and her love of high fashion. But when a man is murdered on the ranch, Nixie has to go big or not go home with her small home. There are two books in the Tiny House Mystery.
A Deadly Inside Scoop
We’ve had tiny homes, bed and breakfasts, and funeral home hijinks, so naturally, it’s time for ice cream! Bronwyn Crewse decided to reopen her family’s ice cream shop, armed with her business degree and her grandmother’s ice cream recipes. Opening a “new” business is bad enough, but it’s winter when she has her grand opening. Worse, Browyn stumbles on the corpse of a man’s body in the snow, her own father is under suspicion for the man’s untimely death. Will Bronwyn clear her father’s name and keep her cool? There are three books in the Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series.
Witch's Wheel
For folks who want a bit of the supernatural with their mysteries, the Normal Junction mystery series is for you. It’s described as a bit like a Twilight Zone with all the fun of a cozy. You can’t get to Normal Junction in any normal way but you can go there if you want to fix something in your life. Teagan knows his grandmother was murdered but he can’t get to the bottom of it. So bring in the witch sisters Calayiah and Lybbestre of Normal Junction who can help Teagan figure out what really happened the night his grandmother died. There are two books in the series.
Body and Soul Food
In her newest series, newly reunited twins Koby Hill and Keaton Rutledge have decided to team up and open a bookstore and soul food cafe in Timber Lake in the Pacific Northwest. They were orphaned at birth, separated and only recently reunited. But when Koby’s foster brother is found murdered on the train, they may be separated once again since the police suspect Koby. So they’ve added a murder investigation to the menu as they work to open their new business Books & Biscuits. There are two books in the Book & Biscuits mystery series.
Baby, It's Cold Outside
This one is for the Christmas cozy lovers! In this standalone book, when Brigitt VanBuren retired, she thought her day to day stresses would be over. That’s until she finds a body in the basement of her new home in Poinsettia during Christmas. Worse, she bought the house from her sister. Did her sister kill the person? If so, why? Or was her sister framed?
Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color
Edited by Vandiver, this anthology of 20 crime stories focuses around the theme of midnight. That means seances, dinner meals, a Cuban sandwich contest, escape rooms, and so much more. The stories run the gamut of crime from horror, thriller, mystery, and more. Authors included are V.M. Burns, Jennifer Chow, Tracy Clark, and more.
