20 Sports-Themed Cozy Mysteries That Are a Winning Combination

Bakeries, bookstores, tea shops, and quaint English villages may be cozy-mystery staples, but sometimes amateur sleuths trade their aprons and teacups for golf clubs, racing helmets, bicycles, and ice skates.

Sports turn out to be surprisingly fertile ground for murder mysteries. Competition creates rivalries, athletes have plenty at stake, and tournaments bring together a convenient collection of suspects—all while giving readers a colorful setting beyond the usual village green. From Wimbledon and professional golf to figure skating, NASCAR, pickleball, and even roller derby, these 20 mysteries put sports right at the center of the crime.

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A Wicked Slice by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins

Struggling professional golfer Lee Ofsted barely qualifies for the Pacific-Western Women’s Pro-Am when something strange begins happening to her drives. But her golf problems become secondary when she discovers the tour’s star player dead in a lake on the course. Rivalries among the competitors give Lee plenty of suspects—and make the world of women’s professional golf integral to both the setting and the mystery.

Three Strikes and You’re Dead by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

While visiting friends in Arizona, Jessica Fletcher attends a minor-league playoff game where their foster son, Ty, scores the winning run. But Ty’s rivalry with the team owner’s son turns deadly when the young man is later found beaten to death with a baseball bat—and Ty becomes the obvious suspect. Jessica soon discovers that professional baseball, family ambitions, money, and murder have become dangerously entangled.

Move Your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland

Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins head to Royal Ascot to watch a champion racehorse partly owned by Eliza’s father compete. The festivities take a murderous turn when one of the horse’s other owners is discovered dead in the stable. Against the glamorous backdrop of Edwardian racing, Eliza and Higgins investigate the horse’s ownership group, jealous spouses, suffragettes, and others who had reasons to want the victim dead.

Strike Out 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

Sophie “Phee” Kimball reluctantly attends a softball game to support a member of her mother’s pinochle club. Things get much more interesting when one of the women spots a body near the field—only for it to disappear before anyone else sees it. When a ballplayer also goes missing and someone tries to kill the witness, Phee realizes there may have been considerably more at stake at the game than the final score.

Game, Set and Murder by Elizabeth Flynn

Wimbledon provides the setting for this classic-style British whodunit. On the first day of the Championships, a beloved two-time Grand Slam winner is found dead on Court 18, leaving DI Angela Costello to investigate the victim’s estranged wife, glamorous girlfriend, fellow players, and an ambitious British tennis star. The investigation moves through Wimbledon, private tennis clubs, and the professional tennis world as Costello looks for the tiny mistake that will expose the killer.

Murder on Ice by Alina Adams

At the World Figure Skating Championships in San Francisco, a controversial judging decision gives a Russian skater the gold medal over America’s favorite. When the judge responsible for the deciding vote is murdered, television skating researcher Rebecca “Bex” Levy begins investigating. Adams uses the intensely competitive world of elite figure skating—including judging, rivalries, television coverage, and national loyalties—as the foundation for the mystery.

A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants by Ann Claire

American expat Sadie Greene owns Oui Cycle, a bicycle-tour company that takes travelers through the picturesque countryside of southern France. A carefully planned nine-day cycling tour goes badly off course when one of Sadie’s difficult guests winds up dead and suspicion falls on members of her group. Sadie must keep pedaling through villages, vineyards, hills—and clues—to protect her company and uncover the killer.

Six Strokes Under by Roberta Isleib

Cassie Burdette is fighting her way through LPGA Qualifying School in hopes of achieving her dream of playing professional golf. Competition is already fierce when a psychiatrist is murdered and Cassie finds herself under suspicion. Isleib, who later began writing the Key West Food Critic Mysteries as Lucy Burdette, created an entire five-book series around Cassie and the competitive golf world.

Killer Run by Lynn Cahoon

Coffee-shop owner Jill Gardner is sponsoring a 5K to raise money for the local preservation society, but the race takes a grim turn when a body is discovered along the route. The victim is one of the people hired to promote the event, and her husband soon needs Jill’s help proving that he isn’t responsible. The charity race that was supposed to bring the community together instead supplies Jill with a starting line full of suspects.

Volleyballs, Vanilla Creme, and Vendettas by Nola Robertson

Hawkins Harbor’s annual volleyball tournament is one of the highlights of the year, and Britney Brubaker is eagerly anticipating the competition. Then a player is discovered dead near the net, and Britney’s aunt’s landscaper becomes the prime suspect. Britney and her friends begin digging into the victim’s past and discover that plenty of people involved with the tournament had reasons to want the player out of the game permanently.

Robbery at the Roller Derby by Ellen Jacobson

Mollie McGhie joins a roller-derby team expecting bruises, sore muscles, and the challenge of learning a new sport—not a criminal investigation. When something valuable disappears from the locker room, however, Mollie starts questioning her teammates and looking for the thief. The deeper she digs between skating practices, the clearer it becomes that someone would very much like the nosy new skater to stop asking questions.

Snowcaps, Skiing & Sabotage by Tonya Kappes

Normal, Kentucky, is hosting the Southeast Olympic ski trials, bringing competitors and visitors to town and giving campground owner Mae West a chance to enjoy some snowy fun of her own. But the Olympic excitement takes a deadly turn when a body is discovered in the snow. Mae and her Laundry Club Ladies soon trade the bunny slopes for another investigation.

Swapping Paint by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Ruby and Glad Wycznewski travel the NASCAR circuit in their RV, following the races and cheering on Ruby’s rookie-driver brother, Bobby. When another driver is found murdered during race week and Bobby becomes the prime suspect, retired homicide detective Glad is dragged back into investigative mode. The murder grows directly out of the rivalries, crashes, teams, and personalities surrounding the racing circuit.

Skating on Thin Ice by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

Olympic hopeful Christine Allen is training in pairs figure skating in Cabot Cove with a former gold-medalist coach and a promising Russian partner. A disturbing series of “accidents” threatens the skaters before one member of the group winds up dead. Jessica Fletcher suspects the accidents weren’t accidents at all—and that someone is willing to kill to alter the competitors’ path to Olympic glory.

Fire at the Track by M.J. Evans

A devastating fire destroys a barn at Liberty Racetrack and kills 28 Standardbred horses. Authorities determine the blaze was arson, sending insurance investigator Callie Oaks—who grew up in the harness-racing world—undercover at the track as an exercise driver. She soon uncovers suspicious insurance claims, financial motives, and secrets among the tight-knit racing community, putting herself directly in the arsonist’s sights.

Labradored to Death by C.B. Wilson

Baseball meets canine cozy mystery when a valuable baseball card disappears and the collar belonging to a celebrity “bat dog” turns up at the crime scene. With stolen sports memorabilia circulating around town and a baseball museum being sabotaged, amateur sleuth Cat Wright must unravel a decidedly sporty conspiracy—with some four-legged assistance.

A Murder at the Country Club by Jessa Archer

The Canterbury Golf Club is holding its first glow-ball tournament when Lady Captain Beatrice Yates publicly quarrels with the thoroughly disagreeable Ruddy Agani. Naturally, Ruddy is soon found murdered on the seventeenth hole—and Beatrice becomes the prime suspect. To clear herself and protect the struggling club she loves, Beatrice has to investigate her fellow golfers and discover who wanted Ruddy permanently removed from the scorecard.

Serving Up Hex by Tara Lush

A friendly game of pickleball ends rather abruptly when Amelia Matthews’s opponent drops dead on the court. With one of Amelia’s friends in danger of being blamed, she and her coven sisters investigate the murder using a mixture of traditional sleuthing and supernatural assistance. Pickleball, poison, psychic abilities, and small-town secrets make for an unusual paranormal sports cozy.

Fondant Fumble by Jenn McKinlay

Professional football stars Keogh Graham and Tyler Matthews have an unusual plan for life after the gridiron: they want to open a Fairy Tale Cupcakes franchise. Their team owner strongly objects—and after a heated confrontation with Keogh, the man turns up dead inside the new bakery. With the football players suddenly prime suspects, Mel and her friends must investigate a murder involving athletes, agents, fans, team politics, and the enormous financial pressures of professional football.

The Game Is Afoot by Elise Bryant

Mavis Miller is already juggling motherhood and a complicated personal life when the director of her daughter’s youth soccer program suddenly dies on the field. Police discover evidence suggesting the popular coach was murdered, and Mavis begins looking at the people surrounding the program—including highly invested parents who weren’t always happy about who played, who sat on the bench, or how their young athletes were treated. Youth soccer provides a wonderfully fresh—and surprisingly competitive—setting for a cozy murder investigation.

Murder Is a Whole New Ball Game

From the hushed greens of a country club to the roaring engines of a racetrack, sports offer mystery writers something they love: competition. Wherever people desperately want to win, there are bound to be rivalries, jealousies, money problems, bruised egos, and closely guarded secrets. Add a murder, and suddenly everyone on the roster is a suspect.

These 20 mysteries also prove that you don’t have to be a sports fanatic to enjoy a sports-themed cozy. Readers can bicycle through the French countryside, experience Wimbledon from behind the scenes, visit Royal Ascot, peek into the world of professional figure skating, or brave the NASCAR circuit—all without leaving their favorite reading chair.

Just remember, in a cozy mystery, winning isn’t everything. Catching the killer is.