You may wonder why I have such authors as
Joseph Wambaugh, Minette Walters, R. D. Wingfield, and
P. G. Wodehouse on my "W" list of cozy mystery books. The reason is this: these are authors who, although they don't write cozy mystery books, do write good books. Some of you may think that they are not familiar with
R. D. Wingfield.... until they find out that he is the author who writes about Inspector Frost, from the wonderful "A Touch of Frost" BBC shows. Those of you who are familiar with the TV shows, know why I have included Wingfield on my list of favorite (mystery) authors.
Another author who most definitely doesn't write cozy mysteries is
Minette Walters. Her novels are gritty, hard-hitting, but exceptionally good. Thus, I include her on my favorite (mystery) authors list.
Most of you are probably very familiar with the antics of Bertie Wooster. His valet Jeeves is forever getting him (and his bungling friends) out of scrapes with both the law and high society. These books, although written many years ago, are timeless. If you haven't tried reading about Bertie and Jeeves, you might want to try one of Wodehouse's novels. You may, like me, find them
addictive!
I just added an author whose last name begins with Y!
Lea Wait
Wait not only writes a mystery series for adults, but she also writes historical
novels for children. As if that isn't enough, she has her own antique print
business
Noreen Wald
aka
Nora Charles... It's nice to have a senior sleuth... from Florida, no less!
Thank you, Ms. Charles, for remembering that all heroines of cozies don't
have to be in their late twenties/early thirties!
(Has anyone seen Nick and Asta?!)
As Wald, she pens a series about a ghostwriter.
Ayelet Waldman
Mommy Track series... The main character in Waldman's series
is a stay-at-home mom who was a public defender in her "previous life." The
character decides that staying at home and taking care of the children can be
even more fun while solving crimes.
Ann Waldron
Waldron writes a series that is set in the academic world of Princeton,
featuring a transplanted Pulitzer Prize journalist from Florida. Waldron has
also written biographies, and several children’s books, both fiction and non
fiction, and also .
Mary Willis Walker Her
reporter Mollie Cates series is set in Texas...
Kathryn R. Wall
Wall worked as an accountant, so it is no small wonder that her main
character is a financial planner. The Bay Tanner Mystery Series is set in
the beautiful Hilton Head Island area...
Marilyn Wallace
aka Maggie Bruce.... Bruce writes a mystery
series that features "gourd crafting."
Jill Paton Walsh
Walsh writes the Imogen Quy Mystery Series, which features a nurse in Cambridge. What an honor it was to be
asked by the Dorothy L. Sayers estate to finish some of Dorothy's books!
That's a testament to her writing skills.... Walsh also writes the new
Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery Series.
Minette Walters
Not Cozy... Very good, very British...
Joseph Wambaugh
Not cozy! Very good... An
ex-policeman, he is able to use his knowledge to write both fiction and true
crime.
(On the
Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time)
Penny Warner Warner writes the Connor Westphal Mystery Series which features a
California newspaper publisher. Warner has her Master's in Special Education,
and has won several awards for her mysteries... including the Macavity Award for
Best First Mystery and the Agatha and Anthony Awards for Best Juvenile Mystery
(Mystery of the Haunted Caves.) Warner also writes the Party Planning Mystery
Series...
Livia J. Washburn
Washburn has written historical, western, fantasy and
romance novels. And, of course, mysteries. She is the author of the Fresh
Baked Mystery Series, which is set in Texas, and features a retired teacher.
The second book in the Fresh Baked series is a Halloween-themed book and the
third, which will come out in 2008 is a Christmas-themed novel. I have not
read any of her books yet, as I was just told about her by a very "cozified"
and helpful librarian.
Wendy Lyn Watson
Watson teaches American Government and Constitutional Law at
the college level and writes the Mystery à la Mode Mystery Series which is set
in Texas and has, as its sleuth, the owner of an ice cream parlor...
Betty Webb Webb, an ex- journalist, teaches creative writing and does some of
her own, as she writes
two mystery series. The Gunn Zoo Mystery Series is set in California and the
Lena Jones Mystery Series is
set in Arizona.
Martha G. Webb
aka
Lee Martin &
Anne Wingate... "All
three" write a series that is set in Texas, Wingate's has a police chief,
Martin's series features a police detective and Webb writes about a police
on the narcotics squad.
Peggy Webb
Webb writes the Southern Cousins Mystery Series, as well as many other
novels. The Southern Cousins series features Callie and Lovie Jones, cousins
who sleuth - with the help of Elvis, Callie's Basset Hound. Webb has written
many other novels.
Heather Webber (aka
Heather Blake)
Webber writes a cozy mystery series that features a landscaper who
specializes in "surprise garden makeovers" but who is sometimes surprised by
murders, which she solves, not commits! Webber has also penned several
romance novels. As Blake, she writes the Wishcraft Mystery Series.
Charlene Weir
Weir's series is set in Kansas, where Police Chief Susan Wren solves all sorts
of mysteries...
Mary V. Welk
A Nurse/sleuth in Illinois....
Chris Well
Well writes Christian crime thrillers with a lot of humor thrown into the
mysteries. Well also includes both writing and/or editing for such
publications as the Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine...
Melinda Wells
(aka Linda Palmer) Wells writes the Della Cooks Mystery Series which, as the
name suggests, is a culinary mystery series.
As Palmer she writes the Daytime Mystery Series which features a young widow/sleuth
who is a writer for a New York soap opera...
Patricia Wentworth
Wentworth's Miss Maud Silver series
features a retired teacher/governess who becomes a private investigator in
London.
Valerie Wilson Wesley
Wesley has two masters degrees, writes books for children and non-mystery
novels for adults, and also writes the Tamara Hayle mystery series
which , features a single mom who turns in her police woman's badge to
become a private investigator.
Eugenia Lovett West
West writes the Emma Streat Mystery Series which features a
sleuth who was formerly an opera diva. The series is set in Boston...
Patricia Tichenor Westfall
Westfall's books take place in Appalachia, where her sleuth delivers
meals.....
Leslie Wheeler
Wheeler received her Bachelor's degree in both English and history from
Stanford, and then went on to receive her Master's in English from UC/Berkeley.
So, it is no small wonder that she writes the Living History Mystery
series... which features an historian sleuth who writes history textbooks in
the Boston area...
Anne White
White writes a mystery series set in a beautiful resort town on Lake
George...
Phyllis A. Whitney
Whitney writes both juvenile and adult mysteries, novels for teens, and even
books about writing. When I started researching for information about
Whitney, I didn’t think that I had ever read any of her books. But, once I
saw all of her juvenile mysteries and novels, along with her long list of
mysteries for adults, I am convinced that I have read some of her books.
And, if I haven’t…. I will!
Lis Wiehl
New York Times best selling author, Wiehl, a lawyer (Harvard Law) with her
M.A. in Literature, writes the Triple Threat Club Mystery Series (with
April Henry) and the East Salem Trilogy
Series (with Pete Nelson).
Gayle Wigglesworth
Wigglesworth writes the Claire Gulliver Mystery Series which features an
ex-librarian who inherits her uncle's traveling bookshop.
Sharon Wildwind
Sharon Wildwind served as an army nurse in Vietnam and now writes a series
featuring “Pepper” Pepperhawk, a nurse returning from Vietnam.
Lauren Willig Willig is a New York Times bestselling writer with her bachelor's
degree from Yale, and her JD from Harvard Law. She pens the Pink Carnation
Mystery Series, which features Eloise Kelly, a grad student who is working on
her dissertation with an emphasis on a spies during the Napoleonic era.
Barbara Jaye Wilson
A milliner/sleuth in New York
City.....
Karen Ann Wilson
Wilson writes a series that revolves around a veterinary technician...
Laura Wilson
An ex-teacher and editor of books, Wilson writes the Ted Stratton Mystery
Series, Stand Alone mystery novels,
and also, she writes history books for children.
Anne Wingate aka
Lee Martin &
Martha G. Webb..... See
Martha G. Webb (above)
R. D. Wingfield Not cozy.... Terrific books ... I found the books by watching the Touch of Frost shows on TV, and loved them. The books are truly terrific...
(in my opinion)
Jacqueline Winspear
The rights for the Maisie Dobbs novels were bought by a British company.
Hopefully we will soon be seeing Maisie on screen! (The series is set in
London in the early 20th century.)
P. G. Wodehouse Not Mysteries...although Bertie
(as in Jeeves and Wooster) has remained a mystery for decades!
Very entertaining...
Valerie Wolzien
Wolzien has two series: the Susan Henshaw series involves Susan, a
housewife/sleuth and the Josie Pidgeon series is about Josie, the owner of
an all-woman construction company.
Steven Womack Not cozy....
When not writing mystery novels, Professor Womack may possibly be found
teaching screenwriting....
Sara Woods (aka Anne
Burton, Mary Challis, & Margaret Leek) Woods (a pseudonym) had several
aliases, all of whom wrote mystery series which featured British
barristers/attorneys, except for her Richard Trenton Mystery Series, which
featured a banker.
Deborah Woodworth
Woodworth has her Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion, and writes
the Sister Rose Callahan Mystery series. Sister Rose is
an eldress
in a Kentucky Shaker community.
Cornell Woolrich
aka William Irish &
George Hopley…. Woolrich wrote the novel which was later
made into the classic Hitchcock movie “Rear Window.”
Eric Wright
Several series to choose from, all set in Canada...
L. R. Wright Wright
pens two mystery series which feature Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. The first series is the Karl Alberg Mystery Series, in which
Wright introduces Eddie (Edwina) Henderson. The Eddie Henderson Mystery
Series is a continuation (of sorts) of Wright's first series...
Nancy Means Wright
Wright writes the Mary Wollstonecraft Series which features an 18th century
English governess who works in Ireland, and the Ruth Willmarth Mystery
Series which features a single mother/dairy farmer/sleuth in Vermont. Wright
also pens a children's mystery series (the Northern Spy Club)...
Nina Wright
Wright holds a Masters in English Literature and also in Applied
Linguistics, so it is no small wonder that she enjoys writing... both plays
and novels. Her whiskey Mattimoe novels are mysteries for adults, and she
also has written novels for teens. Wright was recommended by a site reader,
and I am looking forward to starting her series.
Sue Owens Wright
Wright pens the Beanie and Cruiser Mystery Series which features
freelance reporter Beanie (Elsie MacBean) and her Basset Hound, Cruiser.
Beanie and Cruiser do their sleuthing in Lake Tahoe, Nevada...
Patricia Wynn Wynn
received her Bachelor's from the prestigious Rice University, and later
completed her Master's. Her Blue Satan Mystery series is an 18th century
British cozy, with romance thrown in as a nice addition!
Don Yarber Yarber writes the Kip Yardley Mystery Series which features an
ex-highway patrol officer who
currently works as a Los Angeles private detective. Yarber states that his books
"do not use a lot of graphic
sex scenes, foul language or deeply disturbed psycho-babble"...
Margaret Yorke
Yorke writes the Dr. Patrick Grant Mystery Series,
along with many Stand Alones...
Suzanne Young
Young has her degree in English, which she parlayed into a very varied
career, which included working as the project director on a National Science
Foundation grant at M.I. T. She writes the Edna Davies Mystery Series. Edna
is an amateur herbalist sleuth who lives in a coastal town in Rhode Island.
Back to "U & V" Authors
| 
