8 Cozy Mysteries Starring Senior Sleuths

I cannot get enough of Vera Wong, who we met in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. In the second book, Vera is enjoying life: she has her group of friends, and her son has a girlfriend, who Vera hopes will become his wife sooner rather than later. But one day, she finds out she’s the victim of a scam. Vera goes to the police to get justice, where she finds a young woman who seems at odds with herself. Vera decides to bring the young woman under her care and learns that the young woman’s friend has gone missing. Worse yet, a local body is found that matches his description, but no one knows who the man really is. Vera has to use her snooping skills to find out who the victim was, what his story was, and what everyone around him had to gain or lose.

I can’t wait for everyone to meet Miss Hortense. She emigrated from Jamaica in 1960 to a suburb outside of Birmingham and led a career as a nurse. She had invested in the local pardner, a network of local investors, but when her nemesis gets her cut out of the group, that does not sit well with her. Worse, when an unknown man is found dead in that person’s home, Miss Hortense decides she has to find out who killed the man, why, and what secrets exist in the pardner. 

This is a new series by the author of the Thursday Murder Club! Amy Wheeler and her father-in-law Steve could not be more different. She thrives on danger, working as a private security officer, while he has just retired from the police force and wants to enjoy life in a small town. (Whether he’s strictly elderly may be debatable, but he’s definitely retired.) But what should have been an easy assignment for Amy turns into a threat against her life. Several paying clients in the private security company that Amy works for are showing up dead. She ends up having to recruit her father-in-law to clear her name and prevent her from becoming one more body in the rising body count.

What is a mother to do when her daughter is in trouble? Make more trouble, of course. Kausar Khan is still reeling from her husband’s death when she learns that her daughter has been arrested for killing her landlord. Now, Kausar returns to her old suburb to get her daughter out of serious trouble and get to the bottom of the man’s death.

Agatha Christie may be the Queen of Crime, but Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen. And in the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series, she’s also an investigator. She finds herself having to clear her own staff’s names when a palace guest is found strangled in their room. It’s a delightful start to a series that so far has five books and one novella. The fifth book, The Queen Who Came In From the Cold, comes out in November 2025.

The inhabitants of Sunset Hall may be elderly, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get into significant mischief. One day, the police call on them to tell them they found a body nearby. Agnes Sharp and her fellow residents are all anxious until they find out it’s not the one hidden in their shed. So naturally, they decide that they need to find out the murderer and then pin their body on the murderer. Surefire plan! Maybe? The second book of the Miss Sharp Investigates series, Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime, came out last year.

Who hasn’t dreamt about running a library? Being 75 years old doesn’t stop Cleo Watkins from her work, nor will a storm that damaged her library. Her solution? Fire up the bookmobile “Words on Wheels” to continue her mission and raise awareness about the proposed closure of the library. But soon, funding isn’t her only concern when one of her library patrons is found dead, and her best friend is suspected of the crime. It’s the first of three books in the Bookmobile Mystery series.

We end with 12 new stories about Miss Marple by top-notch writers, including Alyssa Cole, Jean Kwok, and Lucy Foley. Each writer brings Miss Marple into new and fun murder mystery scenarios, from the United States to a cruise in China.  It’s a great way of introducing people to Miss Marple as well as giving something to Miss Marple’s fans who have enjoyed her quips on village life and dark deeds.