Rick Carnes Cozy Mystery Books in Order

Rick Carnes brings a slightly different flavor to David Bishop’s universe. Where many of the other series live in big city departments or federal agencies, the Rick Carnes Cozy Mystery books step into a smaller community and a somewhat gentler tone, while still keeping the stakes personal and real.

Rick is a former U.S. Army captain who has spent years doing serious work in uniform. His life changes in an instant when Sergeant Edmund Jones dies saving him and uses his final breath to ask for one thing: help my family, they have troubles. Rick cannot let that promise go. A few weeks later he musters out of the service and heads to Angels Camp, a historic gold rush town in the California foothills.

Angels Camp looks picturesque from the outside, all local gossip, old storefronts and scenic hills. The chief of police half jokingly calls it Peyton Place West, a hint that under the surface lie secrets, grudges and affairs that everyone prefers not to talk about. Rick arrives as an outsider but quickly finds himself drawn into the web of Jones family problems and the town’s own unfinished business.

In A Promise Kept, the first Rick Carnes mystery, Rick sets out simply to honor a dying man’s request. That leads to questions about missing money, bad choices and at least one suspicious death. He works alongside the local police rather than against them, using the investigative instincts he honed in the Army to sort rumor from fact. Along the way he begins to imagine that helping people untangle their troubles might be more than a one time favor.

The atmosphere in this series stays on the cozy side of crime fiction. Violence happens mostly off the page, and the focus rests on character, community and the slow reveal of who is trustworthy. At the same time, Bishop brings in many of the elements that define his other work: a protagonist with a strong sense of duty, an ensemble of quirky supporting players and mysteries that turn on human motives rather than simple puzzles. If you like your whodunits with heart, Rick Carnes is a good place to start.