Cozy Mystery Short Stories by Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

Visit Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader for this weekly Friday meme.

Here are two short stories/cozy mysteries that you will enjoy, by mystery writer Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

Ding Dong Bell: The Kitten in the Well

Book beginning:

This story takes place in the fictional village of Knavesborough, Yorkshire, in the early 1990s.

"He won't get away with throwing me out of here! Not after forty years, he won't!" The old woman was so agitated that the words cascaded out of her mouth, and Reverent Gershwin took a quick step backwards, out of firing range. Ursula Abbot gave the large pot on the cooker an indignant shove on the cooker so the goulash slopped over, and flies rose in a dark formation above the food before settling down again. 

She grabbed a greyish dishcloth and dabbed it around haphazardly in the mess. Three cats came bouncing to help her remove the tempting pool of sauce on the kitchen floor.  

"Well, but I can't imagine Mr. Alnwick won't consider your age..., the vicar began.

A clean and cosy short story, featuring the popular Gershwin family in Knavesborough. It all begins quite innocently with a visit to an old cat woman, but no matter what the Gershwins stick their noses in, something sinister will happen. Revisit the 1990s and meet Rhapsody, Harmonia and Psalmonalla Gershwin, the spunky sisters and their curious kitten.
(goodreads)

Green Acres

Mrs Vanilla McVities, the former cook of Netherfield Manor, has bought an old mansion and converted it into an old people's home. Rhapsody Gershwin, librarian and amateur sleuth, pops in to visit a neighbour and finds herself on the business end of murder. A sheep dog also plays an important role in the story - you'd be barking to miss this one.  A short story in the Rhapsody Gershwin series, set in Knavesborough, a fictional Yorkshire village. First published in the anthology "The Red Shoes". Now you can find out what happened to a couple of the quirky inhabitants since we left them at the end of  the cozy mystery, "The Cosy Knave". 
(goodreads)

Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen is a teacher from Denmark. In her spare time she reads and writes crime fiction in English and Danish, and in 2010 she sold her first flash stories to American magazines and publishers.

Since then she has published two collections of flash fiction, "Candied Crime" (humour) and "Liquorice Twists" (a bit darker). Her most popular story is "The Cosy Knave" - a humorous and cosy novel featuring village constable Archibald Penrose and the librarian Rhapsody Gershwin.

LATEST NEWS: "The Red Shoes" - four irreverent short stories characterized by dark humour, quirky characters and severed limbs.

Author of "Heather Farm", bestselling ghost story on Amazon.com in 2011.

COMING SOON: "Anna Märklin's Family Chronicles" - a historical mystery, set in Denmark and Sweden. Published in Denmark in 2011.