Books Set in Missouri
Our journey through the 50 states continues with a stop in Missouri!
Book Club Pick – Missouri
Antiques, Artifacts & Alibis by Sally Bayless
What is Antiques, Artifacts & Alibis about?
A new job, a new friend, and a newly adopted furry companion. Then there’s the dead body in her new office.
Libby Ballard, director of the history museum in the small town of Dogwood Springs, Missouri, is eager to build a new life. She’s only been in town a few days, but already she’s settled into an apartment, made friends with a neighbor, and adopted a lovable dog.
But the idyllic charm of Dogwood Springs is about to be shattered by the shocking discovery of murder. When Libby walks into her new office, she finds the lifeless body of her predecessor.
The shadow of a killer looms over the museum, threatening to derail Libby’s new job before it even begins. To make matters worse, the police wrongly target one of her staff members as the prime suspect.
If Libby wants to clear her colleague’s name and save her own job, she must delve into secrets and lies to find the truth.
Join Libby as she hunts for the real killer!
More Sweet Reads Set in Missouri
Enjoy this additional selection of books set in Missouri, featuring cozy mystery, contemporary fiction, sci-fi, and sweet Christian romance. Perfect for easy reading, these delightful tales promise happy, hopeful endings.
Which one will you choose for a literary escape to Missouri?
Best Friends in the Show Me State by Jessie Gussman
Genre: Christian Romance
She’s the girl next door. He’s always just out of reach. When violent weather sparks an unexpected attraction, has love’s lightning finally struck?
Marlowe Glass happily accepts the responsibility of bringing up her orphaned niece. But the struggling stepmom reaches the end of her rope when a terrifying storm destroys her house. So she doesn’t hesitate to accept her sexy-but-forbidden neighbor’s offer of temporary lodging.
Handsome farmer Clark Hudson longs to be free from his ex-wife’s manipulations. Although preparing to fight for custody of his son, he jumps at the chance to help out his best gal pal from way back in high school. But when their “forever-friends” bond turns complicated as desires become too hot to handle, the upstanding man fears giving in to his heart might ruin a beautiful connection.
As Marlowe grapples with rebuilding or cutting her losses, she worries she’ll mess up the relationship she holds most dear. And when Clark’s former spouse makes money-grubbing demands, the single father must risk it all to guarantee them both a loving future.
Can a history of close companionship unite two souls for a lifetime?
Chain Piecing a Mystery by Hillary Doan Sperry
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Jenny Doan can quilt her way out of any situation, but when three people, including her niece, confess to the murder of a local celebrity, Jenny’s left feeling like she’s holding a needle for the first time. When the confessions are found to be a hypnotist’s hoax, the relief is short-lived when one of them turns up dead.
Amid trunk shows and fabric giveaways, Jenny finds long-held grudges and jealousy-fueled secrets buried deep in the quilted lining of her beloved small town. When the killer threatens Jenny and her niece, she will fight to unravel the truth before they kill again.
From festival booths to hypnotist’s props, Jenny stitches together a compelling mystery with a twist readers won’t see coming, whether by following the clues or a string of chain-pieced quilt blocks.
The Deep End by Julie Mulhern
Genre: Cozy Mystery
“My morning swim doesn’t usually involve corpses.”
Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband’s mistress tends to ruin a woman’s day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life.
It’s 1974 and Ellison Russell’s life revolves around her daughter and her art. She’s long since stopped caring about her cheating husband, Henry, and the women with whom he entertains himself. That is, until she becomes a suspect in Madeline Harper’s death.
The murder forces Ellison to confront her husband’s proclivities and his crimes—kinky sex, petty cruelties and blackmail. As the body count approaches par on the seventh hole, Ellison knows she has to catch a killer. But with an interfering mother, an adoring father, a teenage daughter, and a cadre of well-meaning friends demanding her attention, can Ellison find the killer before he finds her?
Her Hope Discovered by Cynthia Herron
Genre: Christian Romance
Is the sure thing worth risking for the possibility of maybe?
Charla Winthrop, a savvy business woman seeking a permanent lifestyle change in small-town Ruby, learns that things aren’t always what they appear when she takes up residence in a house steeped in charm and a hint of mystery.
Rumor has it that Sam Packard the town carpenter is her go-to guy for home remodeling, but can Charla convince him to help her—with no strings attached, of course?
Alone far too long, Sam’s prayed that God would send him a wife and a mother for his daughters. However, the new Ruby resident is hardly what he imagined. A new place to call “home,” the possibility of what might be, and the answer to someone’s prayers unite this unlikely pair with the help of the town’s residents.
Nestled in the Ozarks’ hills and hollows is Ruby, Missouri, a quaint, cozy town where “neighbor” is merely another word for “friend.” Ruby will charm and delight as will her quirky, lovable characters who will steal your heart, but hand it right back—with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Savor your new friends’ sorrows and successes in the community where offbeat is perfect and mishaps and mayhem never tasted so good.
Aliens Need Love 2 by Maria Leeper
Genre: Christian Sci-Fi Romance
Sometimes it takes a fresh start. Matthew must learn to start over on a new planet with new people. Who can he trust?
Ethel lost her entire family in the space of five years. Can she come out of her dark times to see the light? With a lot of help from Jesus they might just find faith again.
In this Christian Sci-fi Romance series, four brothers land in modern-day Florida. Now they must split up to escape the men in black. Matthew escapes to Missouri and must fit into small town life while evading detection. It’s a matter of life and death.
Fairy Godmothers, Inc by Saranna DeWylde
Genre: Romance (some open door scenes)
If love is the source of all the magic in the universe, and the town of Ever After, Missouri, is the epicenter of enchantment, then the locals are in dire need of a reboot. At least according to resident fairy godmothers Petunia, Jonquil, and Bluebonnet. Their solution? Blow a bit of fairy dust in the direction of those in need of romance. . . . What could possibly go wrong?
SOME KIND OF AWFUL . . .
Lucky Fujiki’s first name is a cosmic joke. Her luck is so bad, even the number seven steers clear of her. But when her adorable godmothers ask for a favor, Lucky can’t say no. After all, it’s just a little one—to save the world’s magic. Lucky can already feel the bad juju waiting to strike. And her mission is even worse than she imagined: to promote Ever After as a wedding destination by faking a marriage to her first love and long-time ex, Ransom Payne—he of the Embarrassing Incident that neither of them will ever live down . . .
OR ALL KINDS OF WONDERFUL?
Ransom Payne has spent years building an impressive new reputation for himself, and now his godmothers want him to pretend to wed the one girl he’d like most to forget? Sure, weddings in Ever After could be a huge boon for his chocolate business, but risking more up-close-and-personal time with Lucky? Considering the stakes, it’s a curse he’ll have to bear, at the risk of being humiliated—or perhaps, bewitched . . .
The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
For the past six months, Arthur Moses’s days have looked the same: He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch. The last thing Arthur would imagine is for one unlikely encounter to utterly transform his life.
Eighteen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who visits the cemetery to escape the other kids at school. One afternoon she joins Arthur—a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls. Moved by Arthur’s kindness and devotion, Maddy gives him the nickname “Truluv.” As Arthur’s neighbor Lucille moves into their orbit, the unlikely trio band together and, through heartache and hardships, help one another rediscover their own potential to start anew.
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