Loved this collection of short stories! I will say that it was a tough challenge to do mystery short stories, so individually they weren't the best, but as a whole it was a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

The Busybodies collection is a compilation of mystery novellas written by various authors, some are long-time favorites of mine and others are new to me. These stories are perfect if you are in need of a quick cozy mystery. I love that Amazon is publishing this mini-series and others like it. This collection is filled with fun hijinks, amateur mystery-solving, and a dash of romance. I love that this is a simple way to sample new author’s work before jumping into their backlog of novels.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

These short stories are adorable.
Because they are short stories, the plots do feel a little hurried and there isn't very much character development. But each of the stories was interesting, and I found them fun to read.

This was a fun collection just in time for Spooky Season! I love these short little stories from some of my favorite mysteries and learning about new authors. Than you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Growing up as an avid watcher of Murder, She Wrote, this collection was right up my alley. I don't read as many short story collections as I maybe should, but when I saw rhe lineup of authors, I knew I had to check this out.

Each story is a completely standalone tale. My favourites were the first 3 stories, Staged, The Reunion Dinner, and Crime of Fashion. I felt like The Nosy Neighbor fell right in the middle. Unfortunately, I felt like One Lucky Subscriber and A Classic Case fell a bit short. I felt like the authors' voice came out more in the first 3 stories and that I got to know the characters a bit better in the short amount of time. The mysteries in the final 2 stories also weren't as compelling to me, but they were still very readable, just not my preference.

I'd recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of Mirder, She Wrote or any one (or more) of the contributing authors.

Cute fun and quirky and a good introduction to some of the authors I have not read. These short stories are perfect to read over my lunch break and while I was in the waiting room at the doctor's office. I recommend.

Staged book- It was cute. I liked the real estate part of it. I wished it was longer.
The reunion dinner was not as good but still shocking near the end.
Crime of fashion wasn’t good.
The nosey neighbor was funny. What a crazy ending, loved it!
One lucky subscriber was hard to follow.
A classic case was so good!! Loved the pen pals, very cute story. I want to read more by Alicia Thompson.

Staged- 5 stars- Super easy mystery read! I loved the staging aspect! It was different and fun! Quick mystery and I was way off on who I thought done it!

One lucky subscriber- 3 stars - This was ok, it wasn't anything shocking. It was different. The twist was an easily guessed. It was all very nice. Not exactly what l was thinking when I think of busy bodies.

Crime of fashion- 5 stars- Fun fashion forward mystery! Thought it was fun and kept good pace. Good mystery! Really enjoyed this.

The Nosey neighbor- 5 stars- Too funny, it was a perfect mystery! Completely embracing the busybodies series. It's one of my favorite from the collection!

A classic case- 5 stars-This one was a cute mystery! I loved it so much! Super easy and fun! Completely never would have guessed that!

The Reunion Dinner-4 stars- This one was interesting and definitely hard to guess who done it! I like how it involved so many people and made it a really good mystery.

I've been loving the collections of short stories that Amazon puts out. It's been fun to get a teaser for authors that I already love and authors that I haven't read before. These mysteries were great! I enjoyed The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose best.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Original Stories and the many authors for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a fun collection! I already loved Elle Cosimano and Alicia Thompson so this was a great intro to some to new to me authors. :)

Often, I find short stories lacking but, with this list of authors, how could you not take a chance? This collection is a fun group of cozy mysteries by some of the best in the business.

The Busybodies - Amazon Original Stories

By Elle Cosimano - Jesse Q. Sutanto - Emma Rosenblum - Nita Prose - Kellye Garrett - Alicia Thompson

✔️ The Staged by Elle Cosimano
Oh my! She just needed to sell the house, but a dead body? I don’t know if that’s going to make it! Maybe the staging will work!
✔️ The Reunion Dinner Jesse Q. Sutanto
After all, it was going to be the perfect reunion! She was going to prove herself as the perfect host! But, surprise! My fiancée, mom… And that’s when the reunion dinner really started!
✔️ Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum
How I enjoyed this story! Not everting is what it seems and sometimes you need to look the other way to get what you really want from life! So well played!
✔️ The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose
Hilarious! This one was bittersweet but all too real. We’ve had that neighbor, the one who “wears purple” and we don’t quite understand. But the thing is, we need to be careful as you really never know what people are capable of…
✔️ One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett
Social media, followers and subscribers; a whole new world! Oh I’d definitely want to win so much money just by simply hiding! But this time, the game was different. What if it’s not about the money? What if something else happens? Stay tuned and hit the bell!
✔️ A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson
What’s not to love about old movies? Rent, watch and return. This used to be the Mr Hoffman’s routine up until Audrey noticed he didn’t come back to return his movie. Where is he? Did something bad happen? Audrey will set herself in a journey to discover the truth. However, this may be simply, a classic case!

I loved each one of the stories and it got me thinking of how many little details we keep in our minds about everything that surrounds us! We know so much about the others and the other way round! It’s impressive to realize how nosy we really are! Such a great collection of short stories!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The “Busybodies Collection”, a series of short stories written by Elle Cosimano, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Emma Rosenblum, Nita Prose, Kellye Garrett, and Alicia Thompson.
I’m not generally a fan of short stories, as I find them lacking in detail and character development, but these were entertaining if you like a good quick mystery. They are each short enough to read in one sitting.
Staged - I love a good Elle Cosimano story, and this one had a similar vibe to her other books. This was probably my favourite in the collection. 4 stars
The Reunion Dinner – This one was good, kept me guessing until the end. 3.5 stars
A Crime of Fashion – I couldn’t really get into this one, maybe it was the setting (fashion magazine) or the writing style, but I guessed the ending at the beginning and it didn’t hold my attention. 2 stars
The Nosy Neighbor – I also liked this this one, unreliable narrator and a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming! 4 stars
One Lucky Subscriber – This was my least favourite, I found it had a lack of description and setup at the beginning and I was just confused through most of it. 2 stars
A Classic Case – This story was cute, it turned out to be more of a lighter storyline but it could have gone darker and I didn’t foresee the ending. 3 stars
Overall 4 stars for the collection!

I love a good short story collection.

Particularly, when there’s a good theme throughout.

While I don’t think that’s how anaphylaxis works, The Nosy Neighbour by Nita Prose was tight, funny, and DARK.

I generally have a No Murders rule, when it comes to friends, I’d definitely have got along better with Doris, over Marge.

A Crime of Fashion had some good points. I liked the whodunnit vibe, the quirky main character, and the twisty bit at the end. I didn’t love the casual use of OCD, or the False Accusation plotline.

Family Reunion Dinner does well with the whole, Everybody’s A Suspect! Thing. Is it the jilted business partner? Or the jilted lover? Or the OTHER jilted lover? I also loved the Chinese New Year dinner setting. It’s amazing what a good writer can do with only 50 pages.

A Classic Case – Love a good grumpy-sunshine trope. There was just enough mystery and just enough romance to make this a satisfying read.

One Lucky Subscriber was the most ‘modern’ of the short stories. Influencers, YouTubers, and Views. I was expecting more of a twist at the end, but I still enjoyed it.

Staged was my least favourite of the bunch, which is weird, as I love Elle Cosimano’s stuff. I didn’t find the romance interesting, and the two main characters were strangely ambivalent over their friend’s death.

Thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Original Stories, and Brilliance Publishing for this collection.

A collection of short mystery stories from Elle Cosimano, Jesse Sutanto, Emma Rosenblum, Nita Prose, Kellye Garrett, and Alicia Thompson. Each of these stories follows a fun female main character and has a cozy, humorous vibe. My thoughts on the collection as a whole: Absolutely worth the read, a great collection to pick up in between longer novels to mix things up. It is the perfect season to give these a go and you might find a new author to explore (I definitely did!)

Detailed reviews below :)

Staged by Elle Cosimano 4
Exactly the kind of story you would expect from Cosimano but still unique. Funny and fun, a great addition.

The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto 3.75
Great representation (as Sutanto always has) and a classic character for her! I really enjoyed the concept and how the mystery played out.

Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum 2.75
I didn't love the writing style here and just felt like it was a bit lacking compared to other works in the collection.

The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose 2.5
Another one where the writing style and concept didn't really speak to me.

One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett 3.5
A very original concept and a fun one to watch play out.

A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson 4.25
I absolutely loved this one. Definitely more romantic and silly than the others but I appreciate that!

Busybodies Collection

I may not love each story in the short story collections that Amazon puts out, but I do love the concept and often find new authors because of them.

Staged by Elle Cosimano

What I love about Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series is the relationship between Vera and Finlay and the ridiculousness that ensues when they are together. Staged lacked the loveability you find in Finlay, and I never cared about what was happening.

The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutano
I had so much fun with this one. I know readers complained that there were too many characters, but I loved it. The ending shocked me a bit. I was pleasantly surprised.

Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum
This was fine. I typically do not care for stories that involve badly behaving rich people. So this is more of a me issue.

The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose
I love Nita Prose and her quirky characters. I enjoyed how the main characters played off each other. The ending was fantastic.

One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett
Unfortunately, this was my least favorite of the collection. The beginning was compelling, but by the end, I was bored. The ending was a letdown.

A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson
This story was my favorite from the collection. While I know the mystery is lacking, I found the characters interesting and sweet, and the blossoming romance was cute. It made me swoon a little.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

The “Busybodies Collection” is a series of short stories written by Elle Cosimano, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Emma Rosenblum, Nita Prose, Kellye Garrett, and Alicia Thompson. These six hilarious Amazon Original short stories about amateur sleuths are coming to Prime, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible on October 15, 2024.

There’s just nothing better than a cozy mystery—unless there are six of them! Of the six featured authors in this collection, I have read and loved four of them, so I was excited to get to sample the writings of two new-to-me authors. Ranging in length from 24 to 45 pages, these stories are still able to pack a punch. Each author delivered a clever mystery with enjoyable plots and surprising twists. I loved that each story was completely different from the next, but they still felt like a cohesive collection. These cozy mysteries were so fun and the perfect fall reads. Highly recommend all of them!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this series of short stories! I am a huge fan of a few of the authors. But I was excited to discover new ones to follow and check out their other books!

I can’t really break down each synopsis of each short story. But let me tell you, they may be short but they pack a punch. I was thoroughly entertained through each story. I was shocked by how many twists there were in each short read. A few of them even had me laughing out loud. These were so fun and I couldn’t put the read down. I can’t wait to re-read this when they are published.

5 stars out of 5! Thank you Netgalley for the review!!

Need a good Halloween scare or just a taste of the neighborhood busy bodies ?
You’ve found your match ! The busybodies collection will intrigue and terrify you all at once .
What pulled me into each short story was the relatability of the characters. Making the stories feel more real .

Amazon Original Stories eARC
I love these short story collections, and I have read quite a few of these authors before, so I was excited to get to these.
Staged - I liked this one. It was a take on a cozy sort of mystery vibe with staging houses and how the crime was solved. It felt like a Cosimano story, and I knew what to expect from her. Lots of fun,
The Reunion Dinner - This might be my favorite one. I was so surprised by characters in this one. It was so fun to see the mystery unfold.
A Crime of Fashion - My least favorite. Can we please stop using OCD to mean liking organization. There's so much more to it than that.
The Nosy Neighbor - Also pleasantly surprised by this one. While I thought it was going one way, it went a complete different, and just impressed.
One Lucky Subscriber - I liked this original story. It felt like something that could happen, and I liked how the mystery played out in this one. The most fun premise of them.
A Classic Case - This one was so sweet. It surprised me in totally different ways than the rest of the stories. I think it was a great addition for someone who wants a lighter mystery.