8 Farm Cozy Mystery Books to Read 'Til the Cows Come Home

Elaine Zimmerman and her best friends, Jackie and Pat, are off on a new adventure: a trip to a Connecticut farm.

After their last mess of a trip, they're looking for a drama-free vacation—preferably one free of exes and murder. Here on the quiet farm, the women and eight other guests have the opportunity to learn how to prepare farm-to-table meals from the talented resident chef, Jason Hill. 

Unfortunately, as Elaine is distracted by the sudden appearance of an ex-boyfriend, it seems one of her fellow culinary students is a little too knife-happy.

With a murder and a cast of suspects that range from health-nut Manhattanites to a groupie grandmother from Wisconsin, this mystery may be too much for Elaine and her pals to handle.

The quiet of the British countryside is upturned when a dead body is found in the cowshed of Cricket Farm. Inspector Jess Campbell hops onto the investigation, but there's little to go on, despite the new superintendent piling on the pressure for answers.

Eli Smith, a shady land-owner, seems like a good place to start, and as Campbell pokes around in the complicated past of the rundown farm, the mystery only deepens.

When a Mercedes is seen fleeing the crime scene, Campbell follows the trail to a suspect. But when another corpse turns up, it seems this new lead is another dead end.

Retired banker Shirley Steele thinks there's no better way to settle down than moving to Minnesota and setting up a hobby farm. The new place may need a lot of work, but it brings her closer to her son, Bobby, and his new wife, Kierston.

That was what she hoped, anyway, but winter seems to have other plans. And the weather wreaks havoc, Bobby can't seem to focus on the repairs, and her neighbors defy her expectations.

And to top it all off, a dead body shows up on her property…

Shiloh Bellamy quit her big city job to come back home to Michigan and save the family farm. But renovating Bellamy Farms into an organic operation outfitted with a farm-to-table café is no simple task.

Things are made all the more difficult when her new investor is found dead shortly after signing the contract. And since it's common knowledge around town that her father held a grudge against the investor, gossip is spreading fast…

Shiloh must protect her family and their farm by finding the real killer, but it seems her stubborn father, her belittling cousins, and the gossiping townspeople are keen on complicating things.

Mabel Skinner doesn't know a single thing about garlic farming—she's an app developer, her talents lie in coding. But when her aunt Peggy unexpectedly dies, Mabel inherits her western Massachusetts farm.

She arrives at Stinkin' Stuff farm at the peak harvest time, and she's only got three days to collect the entire crop before the rain destroys it all. But there are even bigger problems afoot: she suspects her aunt's “accidental death” wasn't so accidental after all.

As she juggles harvesting and investigating, Mabel must face-off with a mysterious crop thief, a garlic rival in a legal battle with her aunt, and a farmer with designs on Peggy's farming secret.

Marketing genius Dana Lewis returns home to Blossom Valley, California, with a new job at O’Connell Organic Farm and Spa. Dana is readjusting to living back at home with her recently widowed mother, and the junk food lover isn't exactly settling in easily at her health-conscious workplace.

But things get even more terrifying than healthy eating when, during the spa's opening weekend, Dana discovers the dead body of Hollywood producer Maxwell Mendelsohn.

Dana puts on a calm face for the spa's blog, the local police, and reporter Jason Forrester. But in addition to managing the farm's image, she's also delved into digging up clues.

Selby McDonald runs The Farmer's Daughter blog, giving recipes, gardening advice, and insight into her life raising two kids on her Michigan farm.

But the peaceful life she's built for herself is shaken up when the local minister's wife is murdered on the farm during a church fundraiser. To make matters worse, Shelby's friend, veterinarian Kelly Thacker, is pinned as the prime suspect.

Shelby sets out to solve the case herself, but with a growing list of suspects, she'll have to find the killer quickly before someone else becomes a victim.

This delightful cozy comes complete with delicious recipes!

Megan Sawyer exchanges the big city and her law career to move back home to Winsome, Pennsylvania, and take care of her grandmother and the family's organic farm and café.

She's looking forward to a little peace and tranquility, but there's nothing but trouble from the start. Her goat goes missing, her fields are ruined by the rain, the town rejects her business permits, and the farm chews through her savings.

Right when Megan thinks she's hit her lowest point, she and the town's handsome veterinarian discover the dead body of the local zoning commissioner in her barn. With suspicion turned on her, Megan must sift through small-town secrets and local politics to find the killer before they strike again.