Secrets in the Sand: 6 Beach Cozy Mysteries to Dive Into

When Callie Padget’s mother’s body was found at the foot of the lighthouse, everyone thought it was suicide. But Callie knew differently.

She had tried to leave their hometown, but after losing her job as a reporter, she finds herself back in Cattail Island working at a bookstore. As the anniversary of her mother’s death nears, another woman is found dead at the foot of the lighthouse, just like her mother.

Again, it’s ruled a suicide, but Callie doesn’t believe it for one second. After all, the dead woman had just found a vital clue in a treasure mystery on the island.

She decides to find the truth once and for all, even if the killer is determined that the truth stays buried forever.

It’s the first in the duology of the Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery Series.

Scarlett Gardner is living the dream. She has always wanted to open a bookstore in Southern California.

But things start to take a nightmarish turn when her boyfriend decides to take a different job, leaving her with the business. Worse yet, she ends up finding a customer’s body under the pier, not far from her shop.

Unfortunately, she finds herself in even more trouble when she learns that the deceased left her fortune to Scarlett. She doesn’t know the woman beyond their interactions at the bookstore, nor why she’d leave her a fortune.

Now she’s the prime suspect in the woman’s death. Can Scarlett figure out who really killed the woman before she and her bookstore go bust?

Is there anything more picturesque than a cottage on the beach? Sure it needs some work, but Lucy is up to the challenge.

However, she had not anticipated finding a dead body in her kitchen on her first night by herself in the house. Also, she has no idea who the man is and why he’s in her kitchen.

But as Lucy finds herself investigating the death, she realizes that it may be tied to the mystery of a teenage girl who fled the very house Lucy lives in, 40 years prior.

It’s the ninth book in the 13-book (so far) Lighthouse Library Mystery series, about a librarian who restarts her life curating a library in a lighthouse.

When Shakespearean scholar Summer Merriweather’s mother passes away unexpectedly, Summer returns to Brigid’s Island, NC to handle the estate. She wants to tie up all the loose ends so she can go back to her research in England and save her academic job.

Part of that is selling her mom’s romance bookstore Beach Reads. But when Summer finds a note to her mother that says “Sell the Bookstore or die,” she realizes that her mom may not have died of a heart attack.

With only a scrap of evidence, the bookstore’s book club, and her Aunt, Summer gathers her courage to find out why her mother was murdered.

It’s the first in the trilogy Beach Reads Mystery Series.

Former pastry chef Chloe Barnes is still getting used to the curveballs in life. She had never expected to find herself running a cannabis cafe, “Baked by Chloe,” with luxurious pastries in her hometown of Azalea Bay.

Now she’s settling into the town and taking care of her grandmother, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

It’s the annual Azalea Bay Pro Challenger Surf Competition, which brings surfers and fans from all over to the town, and, of course, Chloe’s cafe. But the surfing competition goes from friendly competition to mourning the apparent suicide of a fan favorite who’s career may be fading.

His friends know better and pull Chloe into the investigation to find out who really wanted the man off the waves forever.

It’s the second in the three-book (hopefully so far) Cannabis Café Mysteries.

It was meant to be a fun and relaxing beach day and off-duty lunch for food critic Hayley Snow and her friend. But the day takes a turn when her husband’s dog, Ziggy, goes missing.

She finds the dog, thanks to his barking, and realizes that Ziggy has found something horrible: a man’s dead body. It’s later determined to be the body of a local developer who was not well-liked for his business developments and his treatment of ladies.

It’s clear that someone wanted the businessman dead and is willing to silence anyone who might get in the way.

It’s the 12th book in the 16-book (so far) Key West Food Critic Mystery series.