There’s a particular pleasure reading a cozy mystery: curled up on the couch, with a cup of something and your knitting waiting on the side table.
The whole thing is just comfortable. Except…there’s nothing like squinting at cramped 10-point type to ruin it. That’s why we have large print! It’s the difference between reading until you’re tired and reading until you’re done.
Yet here’s another ‘except.’ Finding them is tricky.
Half the ‘large print’ listings online are just slightly-bigger-than-usual paperbacks. And don’t get me started on seeing which series have which books available!
I’ve done that sorting for you. Here are nine first-in-series large print books I keep getting recommended and can’t wait to read. Enjoy!
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Table Of Contents
- Cozy Mysteries In Large Print On My TBR
- Death By Darjeeling By Laura Childs
- The Secret, Book & Scone Society By Ellery Adams
- Murder At The Summer Cheese Festival
- A Crafty Killing By Lorraine Bartlett
- Books Can Be Deceiving By Jenn McKinlay
- The Thursday Murder Club By Richard Osman
- Death By Dumpling By Vivien Chien
- The Diva Runs Out Of Thyme By Krista Davis
- A Few Notes On What Makes A Cozy A Cozy
- How To Find Genuine Large Print Books
Cozy Mysteries In Large Print On My TBR
Note: I’ve checked every pick to ensure it’s in print, but they move in and out of stock, so it’s always worth confirming current availability before you order.
Meet Your Baker By Ellie Alexander
The Bakeshop Mysteries open in Ashland, the (real!) home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Juliet ‘Jules’ Capshaw is a pastry chef returning to her family bakeshop after a hard year…and finds murder.
The bakery scenes are the heart of this series! The descriptions of croissants and tarts will have you eyeing the bakery aisle on your next grocery run. Ashland’s a real city, and this depiction feels especially lived in. And Jules is the right kind of protagonist: capable, not infallible, observant without conveniently clever.
With more than twenty books now, you have plenty ahead if it clicks.
Death By Darjeeling By Laura Childs
Laura Childs started the Tea Shop Mysteries in 2001, and it’s passed its twenty-ninth book! That’s the longevity you only get when a series delivers, book after book. Theodosia Browning runs the Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston’s historic district. The city functions as a second protagonist: cobblestone streets, garden parties, the genteel-Southern atmosphere done with affection, not parody.
The tea details are a gift. She’s spent decades steeped (pun intended!) in tea culture, and folds blending, brewing, and history into the mysteries without it feeling like homework. If you’ve ever spent a Sunday afternoon with a pot of Darjeeling and a skein of yarn, you already know the texture of these books.
The Secret, Book & Scone Society By Ellery Adams
This is a different cozy. Nora Pennington runs Miracle Books in the tiny resort town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina that draws visitors seeking healing. Nora practices what she calls bibliotherapy, prescribing books the way you might tea or rest.
When one of her customers is found dead, Nora and three women form a secret society, each required to share a painful truth to join.
The friendships feel earned rather than convenient, and the scone recipes throughout are tested. If you want a cozy that doesn’t shy away from real feelings, but still delivers a satisfying puzzle, this is a wonderful place to start.
Murder At The Summer Cheese Festival
![Murder At The Summer Cheese Festival: The Maplewood Crafters Club Investigates In This Cozy Mystery (Silver Springs Mysteries 1) [Large Print] (Silver ... Series In Small-Town Vermont [Large Print])](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41brZrTrVVL.jpg)
Disclosure: this one’s mine! Surprise! The Silver Springs Mysteries are my contribution to culinary and craft cozies. I’m including this because I thought you might enjoy it.😊
Set in a fictional Vermont small town, it follows Laura Evans, a burned-out Boston restaurant manager who’s moved for a quieter life running the General Store’s café.
Then a food critic is murdered ahead of the Summer Cheese Festival. With help from her landlady Evelyn and coworker Jasmine, can she solve the case?
I wrote these books with accessibility in mind. Every novel is available in regular, large, and dyslexic-friendly print, (paperback and hardcover,) plus eBook and audio. If you’ve been frustrated by the lack of recently-published cozies in large print, this series exists partly because of it.
A Crafty Killing By Lorraine Bartlett
For craft-cozy readers, this is one to settle into. In an upstate New York village, Katie Bonner inherits a share of Artisans Alley, a struggling crafters’ cooperative.
Before she can sort out the books and leaky roof, the previous owner turns up dead. Katie has to keep the building standing while figuring out who killed him.
I appreciate cozies that treat crafting right! (We’ve seen enough ‘knitting’ with one needle.) This author doesn’t do that. The series has nine books. Plenty of crafting joy!
The Thursday Murder Club By Richard Osman
If you’ve somehow missed the sheer sensation that is this series: four friends in an upscale English retirement village meet every Thursday in the jigsaw puzzle room to discuss unsolved murders, until one Thursday a real murder lands on their doorstep.
It even got a Netflix adaptation!
I adore the writing and especially appreciate how it takes older characters seriously. Each protagonist is sharp, funny, and competent. They”ve lived long enough to know how the world really works. Just how they should be portrayed.
Death By Dumpling By Vivien Chien
Lana Lee is in her late twenties, fresh off a bad breakup, and back at her family’s restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodle House, in a Cleveland mall called Asia Village.
When the landlord dies from shrimp dumplings (prepared in Ho-Lee’s kitchen, delivered by Lana, despite a known allergy that should’ve stopped the whole thing) Lana sleuths to clear the family business.
This series brings what the cozy genre needs more of: a Taiwanese-American protagonist, an urban-suburban Asian-American community setting, and well-written family dynamics. The food writing is excellent!
If you want a different setting without losing the cozy charm, start here.
The Diva Runs Out Of Thyme By Krista Davis
Sophie Winston, a Washington-area event planner and entertaining columnist, hosts her first solo Thanksgiving. It doesn’t go well.
Her ex-husband’s new fiancée turns up dead, and Sophie’s perfect-neighbor rival Natasha finds that situation almost too satisfying.
The series is comfort food in book form. Recipes between chapters, entertaining tips, a setting with charm, and Sophie is competent, warm, and self-aware.
Cookie Crumble And Murder By K.E. O'Connor
For readers who love an English village and the smell of a hot oven, this one’s worth picking up. Holly Holmes runs a café in the quaint village of Audley St. Mary, bakes irresistible treats, and lives alongside her corgi, Meatball.
Then the village undertaker turns up dead in an open grave, and Holly is, awkwardly, on the suspect list. Time to put the piping bag down and start asking the questions the police aren’t.
This is a prequel to a long-running series, so once you’ve finished, plenty more village mischief waits. The baking scenes are lovely, and the corgi is, well, a corgi. Cozy in the proper English sense, perfect with a real cup of tea.
Strawberries And Strangers By Leena Clover
Jenny King has been dumped by her cheating husband, and she’s starting over in the tiny seaside town of Pelican Cove. Her cakes and muffins are filling the display case at the Boardwalk Café, and a queue is forming at the counter. A nice, quiet new chapter. Until her aunt, a local artist, is accused of killing a stranger nobody can identify.
Jenny puts the apron down and starts asking questions, despite a cranky local sheriff who’d prefer she didn’t.
This is the first of more than a dozen Pelican Cove books, so if it clicks, you’ll have plenty of seaside summer afternoons ahead.
Some Other Options
A Few Notes On What Makes A Cozy A Cozy
If you’re new to the genre, a quick orientation. The cozy mystery makes a promise: no graphic violence or explicit content, an amateur sleuth, a setting small enough that everyone knows everyone, and a satisfying resolution with justice restored.
The conventions are the whole point! They’re perfect for the end of a hard day.
What I love about the cozy world is it takes what matters seriously. Hospitality, crafting, cooking: treated as meaningful, skilled labor. As they should be!
Even better, that competence is what makes the protagonists great amateur sleuths.
How To Find Genuine Large Print Books
A practical guide, because the listings are…confusing.
- Look For The Imprint. Most large print books come from a handful of publishers: Thorndike Press (a Gale/Cengage imprint, which also owns Wheeler and Kennebec), Center Point Large Print, Random House Large Print, and HarperLuxe. If the book’s imprint is one of those, you’re almost certainly getting real large print. If you can’t find an imprint anywhere, be suspicious.
- Check The Font Size. Large print uses 16-point type at minimum. Standard paperbacks use 10 to 12-point. If the description doesn’t mention font size and you can’t access a ‘Look Inside’ preview, the listing may not be large print.
- Watch The Trim Size And Page Count. Large print editions are physically larger (often 6×9″ or bigger) and have higher page counts, because the same words need more room.
- Don’t Trust ‘Large Print’ In The Title Alone. Always check the publisher and the physical details before you order.
- Beware The eBook Workaround. Yes, you can increase font size on a Kindle or tablet. No, it isn’t the same. Enlarged eBook text reflows unpredictably, line breaks shift, hyphenation goes strange, and the glare contributes to fatigue. For readers who need physical large print, digital isn’t a substitute.
- Use Your Library. Public libraries are the easiest source for large print cozies. If your branch doesn’t have a title, interlibrary loan can usually find it within a few weeks. A sensible way to test a series!
I started writing cozy mysteries partly because I wanted more of them in formats that work for the readers I care about: older readers. Knitters who want to alternate between a chapter and a row without changing their reading glasses.
If anything above ends up on your reading pile, I’d love to know which one! If you ever want to try a Vermont cheese-festival murder…you know where to find me.
Happy reading. And happy knitting.
About The Author
Jodie Morgan (Author & Founder)
jodie@knitlikegranny.com | Lives In: Regional Australia
Author: Jodie Morgan is a passionate knitter and blogger with 40+ years of experience currently living in regional Australia. Taught by her mother and wonderful grandmother “Mama”, she fell in love with crafting from a young age. When she’s not knitting, you’ll find her enjoying a cup of coffee with cream, or sharing helpful resources and tips with the online knitting community. Get to know Jodie and the team on our meet the team page.
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