Bailey Ruth Raeburn
cozy mystery
Series · cozy mystery
Cackleberry Club Mysteries
The Cackleberry Club Mysteries series by Laura Childs has 9 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Eggs in Purgatory (2008).
- Books
- 9 books
- First published
- 2008
- Status
- hiatus
- Last checked
Start here: Eggs in Purgatory (2008) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Eggs in Purgatory
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Eggs in Purgatory - Book 2:
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Eggs Benedict Arnold - Book 3:
Bedeviled Eggs
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Bedeviled Eggs - Book 4:
Stake & Eggs
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Stake & Eggs - Book 5:
Eggs in a Casket
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Eggs in a Casket - Book 6:
Scorched Eggs
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Scorched Eggs - Book 7:
Egg Drop Dead
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Egg Drop Dead - Book 8:
Eggs on Ice
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Eggs on Ice - Book 9:
Egg Shooters
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Egg Shooters
About the Cackleberry Club Mysteries series
In small-town Kindred, Kansas, three women in their forties who've each hit a rough patch — recent widow Suzanne Dietz, choir-director-turned-cafe-cook Toni Garrett, and retired schoolteacher Petra Capelli — pool their savings to convert an old church into the Cackleberry Club, a combination diner, bookshop and yarn store built around Petra's egg dishes. It's a business built on reinvention, and Suzanne, restless and sharp-tongued, keeps finding bodies wherever the Club's baking, quilting or supper-club events take the trio, dragging Toni and Petra into amateur investigations that usually run well ahead of the local sheriff.
Laura Childs sets this series apart from her Charleston and New Orleans cozies with an unapologetically Midwestern small-town backdrop — county fairs, harvest festivals, church socials and farm auctions stand in for the tourist glamour of her other series. The egg-pun titles (Eggs in Purgatory, Bedeviled Eggs, Egg Shooters) signal the tone: breezy, character-driven whodunits anchored by the three friends' bickering, loyal friendship as much as by the mystery plots themselves. Recipes for the Cackleberry Club's egg dishes and comfort food round out most entries, continuing Childs' habit of folding real recipes into her cozy mysteries.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Cackleberry Club Mysteries series?
There are 9 novels, from Eggs in Purgatory (2008) to Egg Shooters (2020).
What order should I read the Cackleberry Club Mysteries in?
Publication order, starting with Eggs in Purgatory, to follow Suzanne, Toni and Petra's friendship and the Cackleberry Club's story as Laura Childs establishes them.
Is the Cackleberry Club Mysteries series finished?
It's on hiatus rather than formally concluded — no new book has appeared since Egg Shooters in 2020, and no sequel has been publicly announced.
How does this series differ from Laura Childs's Tea Shop and Scrapbooking Mysteries?
Cackleberry Club Mysteries is set in the small Midwestern town of Kindred, Kansas, and centers on three friends running a combined cafe, bookshop and yarn store — a different setting and cast from the Charleston tea shop and New Orleans scrapbooking store of Childs's other cozy series.
Does the series include recipes?
Yes, most entries include recipes for the Cackleberry Club's egg dishes and comfort food, consistent with the recipe-appendix format Laura Childs uses across her cozy mystery series.
If you like the Cackleberry Club Mysteries series
Reading order last verified .