The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Sparkle Abbey, Barbara Burgess, Alyse Carlson, Diane Kelly, Blanche Day Manos, & Earl H. Smith – Five of the Newest Author Additions to the Cozy Mystery Site

I just added five new-to-the Cozy Mystery site authors, but there are actually seven people who write. (It gets quite confusing to me when I add these types of pages to the site!) One of the series is co-written by two authors under one pseudonym and another of the series is written by two authors, both with their own names on the books.

Sparkle Abbey: Abbey is a pseudonym that Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter came up with, in honor of their two pets. As Abbey, they write the Pampered Pets Mystery Series. This series features two sleuths: Mel Langston is an ex-beauty queen who now owns the Bow Wow Boutique and Caro Lamont, who is an ex-psychologist who now works as a pet therapist.

Alyse Carlson: Carlson writes the Garden Society Mystery Series, which is set in Virginia. This series features Camelia Harris, a P.R. promoter for the very exclusive Roanoke Garden Society.

Diane Kelly: Kelly is an ex lawyer and tax accountant who writes the Tara Holloway Death and Taxes Mystery Series. It is set in Dallas, Texas, where Tara works for the Internal Revenue Service. Tara is a criminal investigations agent.

Blanche Day Manos & Barbara Burgess: Manos (an ex-teacher) and Burgess (a retired trial court administrator) coauthor the Darcy / Flora Mystery Series. This series is set in a friendly, small town in Oklahoma. Darcy Campbell and her mother Flora Tucker are the two sleuths in this mystery series.

Earl H. Smith:  Smith was both a professor and a Dean at a college in Maine before he decided to write fiction. He has written a humorous murder mystery set in a small town in Maine.

A Little of This and a Little of That… (A Few Updates)

I have gotten some letters and/or comments with updates that I missed on some of “my” authors on the Cozy Mystery site. Thanks to those of you who sent me corrections/additions. Here are the pages I recently fixed:

Arlene Sachitano: I have added the mystery books I was missing from her Harriet Truman / Loose Threads Mystery Series. I try to stay on top of it with “my” authors, but every once in a while, I don’t!

Debbie Macomber: Yes, yes, I know Macomber doesn’t write mystery books, but I had several people suggest I add her “good feeling” books to the site, so I did. Every once in a while I have to remember to check and see if she has new books out. Lucky for her readers, she usually does! (Some of you know her from the fact that both of her Mrs. Miracle books were made into Christmas movies for the Hallmark channel.)

Edward Marston (aka Keith Miles & Conrad Allen): I had forgotten to add a few of his mystery books in the Redmayne & Bale Mystery Series. I think I have his page correct now.

I don’t sew, but I always look forward to watching the PBS Sewing with Nancy shows – especially the last ten minutes of each show – where she highlights a unique style of sewing or a person with special sewing abilities. One of the recent shows I watched had Jennifer Chiaverini on, talking about her Elm Creek Quilts Series of books. That reminded me that I had to update her page, which I did.

Barb (who was so fantastic about keeping me in the loop for Guidepost’s Patchwork Mystery Series) has just started telling me about Guidepost’s new series: Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop. Thank you, Barb!

Also, Edie Claire‘s seventh Leigh Koslow mystery is out. (I don’t know how I missed this book, since Claire is one of my favorite authors.) The e-book format of Never Haunt a Historian is already out, and the Never Haunt a Historian paperback will be following very shortly.

Let’s see, I’m trying to remember if there is anything else I have been working on that I need to tell you all about. I have gone through all of my notes, and I think this should do it.

P.S. >>> I just found one more note to myself. I also updated Suzanne Adair‘s page to include her second Revolutionary War Mystery Series.

Mystery Authors Akin to Elizabeth Peters…

This comment is from Amy. She is looking for suggestions of authors she might enjoy reading next, based on her previous mystery book encounters. Amy asks:

“I am looking for new authors to read. I really enjoyed Elizabeth Peters’ stand alone books and the Vicki Bliss series but I have finished them. I also really enjoyed some of Mary Stewart’s books. The settings are so well described that they make me want to travel. I am tired of spending money on what seems like a good mystery but it ends up being a smutty romance or has really horrible crime details. I like a romance as part of a mystery but I want mostly mystery and I don’t want explicit sex, gory murders, graphic violence or lots of bad language. (I can take a bit of sex and a bit of bad language, it just needs to be sparse.) I’m not into multiple partners. That’s not romantic. Any advice from others readers?”

Do any of you have any ideas as to whom Amy might enjoy reading next?

(By the way, Elizabeth Peters list is on my site here.)

Thank you for your help!

Cozy Mystery Book with a Touch of Paranormal, and a Whole Lot of Sweeping!

It’s that time again! I have a “notepad” called “Blog Entries” that I keep a list of questions and/or comments from some of you, so that I can get input (usually help!) from you all. This latest letter is from Adele. She writes:

“… I have been perusing your web site and trying to find a book that I read a few years back. Ok…I bought it in paperback from a local book dealer (not Amazon, so no record of purchase). The book is now long gone, but I would like to read more of this author. And silly me, of course I forgot to write down the author’s name.

I think it was a cooking cozy mystery. I’m pretty sure it took place somewhere in Boston – New England in general, definitely not Georgia. There is magic involved as one of the characters kept trying to make the shop broomstick fly and eventually did and it chased the culprit down the street. The broomstick always comes back to the owner. The owner of the shop is the protagonist. I don’t remember if it was a pie shop, muffin shop or bakery shop.

… Thanks for any clue or hint you can give me.”

I wrote to Adele and told her I would ask you all for your help in identifying the author of this book. (I also told her that we have a pretty good success rate!)

Thank you for your help!

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