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Nancy Coco is the pseudonym of USA Today Bestselling author Nancy J. Parra.

She uses the pen name when writing cozy mystery novels.

Nancy also writes historical romance and cozy mysteries under the name Nancy J. Parra, and cozy mysteries under the pen name Nell Hampton.

Often labeled as humorous with a huge liking for bold protagonists, Nancy’s love of a good whodunit drove her to write mystery series.

Complete with fun settings, mouthwatering recipes, and most importantly, pets, her books often leave readers yearning for more.

The holder of a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction, Nancy is a member of Sisters in Crime.

She currently lives in the Midwest with her dog.

More about Nancy Coco

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery

United States

Pseudonym: Also known as Nell Hampton, and Nancy J. Parra

Website: https://www.nancyjcoco.com/nancy-coco

Candy-Coated Mystery

  1. All Fudged Up (2013)
  2. To Fudge or Not to Fudge (2014)
  3. Oh Say Can You Fudge (2015)
  4. All I Want For Christmas is Fudge: A Candy-Coated Mystery Novella (2016)
  5. All You Need is Fudge (2016)
  6. Oh, Fudge! (2017)
  7. Deck the Halls with Fudge: A Candy-Coated Mystery Novella (2017)
  8. Forever Fudge (2018)
  9. Fudge Bites (2019)
  10. Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas (2020)
  11. Here Comes the Fudge (2021)
  12. A Midsummer Night's Fudge (2022)
  13. Give Fudge a Chance (2023)
  14. Having a Fudgy Christmas Time (2023)
  15. Three Fudges and a Baby (2024)

Oregon Honeycomb Mystery

  1. Death Bee Comes Her (2021)
  2. A Matter of Hive and Death (2022)

Detailed book overview

Candy-Coated Mystery

All Fudged Up

You Can't Fudge An Alibi

Allie McMurphy is up to her neck in renovations at the grand old hotel that's been in her family for generations. With its quaint Victorian charm--and world-famous fudge shop--the place is one of Mackinac Island's most beloved landmarks.

Sure, every family has a skeleton or two in the closet. But Allie didn't expect to find an actual corpse inside hers, especially one Joe Jessup, who had a long-running feud with her dear departed grandfather. Which makes Allie the number-one suspect.

Can she sniff out the culprit before another victim checks in?

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B00CSX8UQI
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
To Fudge or Not to Fudge

Mulch Ado About Murder

With summer in bloom and tourists afoot, Allie is out walking her pup, Mal, when the curious canine digs up a bone from under a flowering lilac bush. The bone leads to a toe that's missing a body. For the successful confectionaire it's only the first in a series of sour events in the middle of the island's Lilac Fest. When her stint on a cooking reality show swirls up a trail of foul play, Allie will have to outwit a cunning killer if she wants to continue living la dolce vida...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2014
Ebook: B00IUPCL0E
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Oh Say Can You Fudge

Allie McMurphy is busy making yummy fudge for the summer holiday—until murder gives her something else to chew on. . .

Red, White, And Boom

It's not Fourth of July on Mackinac Island without fireworks and fudge. The Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop is supplying the treats—and Allie has hired Rodney Rivers, the biggest name in aerial displays, to create an unforgettable spectacle. Unfortunately, Allie finds him dead, covered with screaming chicken fireworks, just before the entire warehouse of pyrotechnics goes up in smoke. Is it arson or is it murder? Allie and her bichonpoo, Mal, must sift through the suspects until the killer is caught and the island can enjoy a star-spangled celebration.

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2015
Ebook: B00ONTR4U8
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
All I Want For Christmas is Fudge: A Candy-Coated Mystery Novella

Ho-Ho-Ho-Homicide

This Christmas, event planner Jenn Christensen has come back to the winter wonderland of Mackinac Island, Michigan, to race for charity in the Santa Fun Run, rekindle her love for CSI tech Shane Carpenter, and indulge in her BFF Allie McMurphy's fabulous fudge. But there's one event she didn't plan—chasing down a killer. 

After finding a deceased Santa in a snowbank, she's shocked to discover the police suspect her of murder. It's up to Jenn, Allie, and a helpful golden retriever named Marley to catch the killer and find out who's at the top of the naughty list.

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2016
Ebook: B00TWC3RXO
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
All You Need is Fudge

Fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy is making fudgie treats for the annual yacht race--but a killer's stirring up a batch of trouble...

Sailing Into Murder

The annual yacht race off the coast of Mackinac Island, Michigan, is a highlight of the summer season, and Allie is pulling out all the stops making chocolate centerpieces for the occasion. Unfortunately, she and her bichonpoo, Mal, also pull a dead body from the murky waters of the marina. 

When Allie's boyfriend's sister becomes the prime suspect, Allie dives into investigating the murder herself. Amid bitter feuds and hushed-up scandals, the courageous candymaker quickly gets in over her head. Someone is trying to fudge the facts to keep a secret worth killing for. . .

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2016
Ebook: B017G7HE4E
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Oh, Fudge!

Life is always sweet in Allie McMurphy’s delectable fudge shop. But murder can make things unpleasantly sticky...

 A DEADLY CONFECTION

After Allie inherited her family’s McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, cousin Tori moved off to California in a bitter huff, and the two haven’t spoken since. So to have her cousin reappear on Mackinac Island without warning is a big surprise—but not as surprising as finding her standing over a dead woman impaled with a garden spade in the Mackinac Butterfly House. Butterflies may be free, but Tori won’t be for much longer—unless the cousins can bury the hatchet and work together to catch a killer who’s taken flight. Because when it comes to family, blood is thicker than fudge...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2017
Ebook: B01MYVZULE
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Deck the Halls with Fudge: A Candy-Coated Mystery Novella

It’s Christmas on Mackinac Island—and homicide just rode in on a horse-drawn sleigh…Includes a yummy fudge recipe!   

In the cozy warmth of their new home on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, newlywed seniors Frances and Douglas Devaney savor the picture-postcard snowy scenery through their kitchen window. But when they spy a horse-drawn sleigh dashing through the snow bearing a frozen stiff, their blood runs cold. The victim is banker Warren Engle, stepson of a close friend of Frances. 

With amateur sleuth Allie McMurphy, their boss at the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, busy filling holiday orders for peppermint candy fudge, the couple tackle the case themselves, plowing through clues to rein in the runaway culprit . . .

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2017
Ebook: B06XK5PFHW
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Forever Fudge

When a film crew comes to Mackinac Island, the last thing fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy expects to find is a murder victim... 

SHOT ON LOCATION

It's Labor Day weekend, the official end of tourist season, and the beginning of a whole batch of trouble. First, the island is invaded by a TV crew filming a murder mystery pilot, and handsome Hollywood heartthrob Dirk Benjamin needs Allie’s help to prep for his role as local cop Rex Manning. 

Then, Allie’s bichonpoo Mal sniffs out a real murder in the alley behind the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, a man shot in the head—with a note challenging amateur sleuth Allie to catch the culprit. Like it or not, the fudge maker has to square off against a crazy killer—but this time she may have bitten off more than she can chew...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2018
Ebook: B078QM8PGM
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Fudge Bites

Halloween on Mackinac Island is a season of fun tricks, but finding a corpse is no treat for fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy...

NIGHT OF THE REALLY DEAD 

It’s late October, off-season for tourists, but locals are up and lurching for the annual zombie walk charity event. Though everyone’s living it up, trouble is just a few pawprints away. Allie follows the bloody tracks of her calico cat, Carmella, to a body in the alley behind the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop. 

Unlike the island’s other walking dead, this one’s flatlined for good. It seems that someone is using the zombie fest as the perfect backdrop for murder. Now amateur sleuth Allie and dreamboat officer Rex Manning must use every trick in their treat bag to unmask a killer in disguise.

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2019
Ebook: B07MH9XDNQ
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas

Christmas on Mackinac Island brings a flurry of festive activity for fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy—but also a body in a snowbank...

SNOWED UNDER 

All Allie wants for Christmas is for renovations to be finished on the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop so she can move back home for the holidays. But for now she's staying in her friend Frances's apartment, busily baking batches of holiday fudge. After someone leaves a mysterious note on the door to meet up, the curious fudge maker goes to the rendezvous with her bichonpoo, Mal—only to discover a woman facedown in a snowdrift. 

With her dying breath, the woman gasps, “Frances.” The police suspect she named her killer, but Allie knows that's impossible. She needs to wrap up this case before the trail runs cold—and give her friend the gift of freedom this Christmas season...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2020
Ebook: B085LTPHQY
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Here Comes the Fudge

Fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy never expected her maid of honor duties to include clearing the groom of murder...

THE BODY OF A CRIME 

It’s late spring on picturesque Mackinac Island, Michigan. Allie is prepping her Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop for the start of the tourist season and her best friend Jenn’s wedding. But when Jenn’s fiancé Shane, a crime scene investigator on the island, misses a dinner date, the two friends go looking for him. 

Led by Allie’s bichonpoo Mal into an alley, they come upon Shane standing over a body with a bloody knife in his hand. Shane won’t say what’s happened, just tells them to call 911. As the CSI is taken into custody by his colleagues, including Allie’s beau Rex Manning, the fudge maker vows to prove her friend’s fiancé is not a killer—before the ceremony turns into a jailhouse wedding...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-1496727602
Publisher: Kensington
A Midsummer Night's Fudge

After a summer celebration on Michigan’s Mackinac Island ends in murder, hotel and fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy puts on her sleuthing hat...

THERE’S NO SUGARCOATING A KILLER’S SCHEME 

During the Midsummer Night’s Festival, Allie decides to take her bichonpoo, Mal, home to spare her furry little ears from the sounds of fireworks. But on her way back, Allie spots a body in the lake. Just minutes ago, Winona Higer was crowning the event’s Queen—could the competition have really been that deadly? 

While she ponders the mystery the next morning, Allie prepares her favorite dark chocolate cherry fudge recipe. But she’s soon recruited to sub for the late Winona and serve as parade float judge, among other duties. As she hears rumors and gossip, and learns of mean pranks and threatening notes, her instincts kick in—despite her boyfriend the cop’s disapproval. 

Now, between managing a new hire and keeping the tourists filled with fudge, she’s dealing with a case that’s boiling over...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2022
ISBN: 978-1496735539
Publisher: Kensington
Give Fudge a Chance

FORECAST: FAIR WIH A CHANCE OF MURDER...

The Mackinac County fair is in full swing, and the air is rich with the scent of funnel cakes and the sound of carnival rides. Allie is focused on the fudge competition—another win would really put her hotel and fudge shop on the map. But she’s willing to take a little break and walk through the haunted house attraction with her friend Jenn.

When they come across a body, though, it turns out not to be a prop. Soon Allie’s cop boyfriend is on the scene, and the sleuthing confectioner is hunting for clues. Danger strikes too close to home when the hotel becomes the scene of a suspicious fatal accident, and Allie suspects the two deaths are connected. The case is turning into a real rollercoaster. Allie will need to hold on tight...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2023
Ebook: B0BFC7SKQZ
Publisher: Kensington
Having a Fudgy Christmas Time

’TIS THE SEASON FOR FUDGE—AND SLEUTHING 

Carol is looking forward to finishing plans for the Mackinac Island Senior Center Christmas Ball. But when she arrives at the center, she finds the door jimmied open and a dead man inside. The victim is a local senior who seems to have been sleeping in the center at night—but why? 

Although she promises Officer Rex Manning not to involve her book club in solving the mystery, Carol finds a way to fudge around that. Rallying her troop of silver-haired sleuths—and with some support from Ally in between her batches of Christmas fudge -- Carol sets out to discover which grinch tried to steal this Christmas. All she wants from Santa is to get this case wrapped up with a bow!

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2023
Ebook: B0C4C79KSZ
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Three Fudges and a Baby

When her pregnant best friend’s doula is found with a smoking gun, fudge maker Allie McMurphy’s sleuthing becomes a labor of love . . .

DID THE DOULA DO IT?

April is not only the start of “fudgie” season on picturesque Mackinac Island, it’s when Allie’s BFF Jenn Carpenter is due. Jenn wants to have her baby on the island, so she’s lined up a midwife and a doula. But she’s two weeks overdue—and if one more person tells her she looks ready to pop, she’s going to go bananas.

If there was a list of what not to expect when you’re expecting, right at the top would be coming upon your doula holding a gun over the body of her fiance. Clearly in shock, Hannah Riversbend claims not to have shot him. Jenn asks Ally to prove the doula’s innocence before her special delivery arrives. The clock is ticking as Ally races to solve the murder in time for Jenn’s bun to come out of the oven. . .

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2024
Ebook: B0C9VYMYP9
Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Oregon Honeycomb Mystery

Death Bee Comes Her

Welcome to a specialty shop in the Oregon tourist town of Oceanview, where it’s all things honey—from taffy to body scrub. But murder can make things sticky...

A BALMY WAY TO GO 

With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson—until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood. More unfortunate? 

Clutched in the victim’s fist is a label from Wren’s homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number one.

With fabulous feline support from Everett, Wren must comb the town for clues and clear her name before someone else gets stung.

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-1432888343
Publisher: Wheeler Publishing Large Print
A Matter of Hive and Death

When a bee wrangler is bludgeoned, Let It Bee honey shop owner Wren Johnson makes it her beeswax to solve the crime...

For the picturesque town of Oceanview on the Oregon Coast, May brings blossoming fruit trees and the annual UFO festival. As Aunt Eloise tries out alien costumes on their Havana brown cat Everett, Wren is off to meet with a bee wrangler, her go-to guy for local fruit tree honey.

But when she arrives, Elias Brentwood is lying on the ground amidst destroyed hives and a swarm of angry bees. The bees didn’t kill him, a blow to the head did. As blue-eyed Officer Jim Hampton investigates and the town is invaded by its own swarm of conspiracy theorists and crackpots, Wren and Aunt Eloise decide the only way to catch the bee wrangler’s killer is to set up a sting...

Author: Nancy Coco
First Release: 2022
ISBN: 978-1496735621
Publisher: Kensington