The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Rich Sleuths Theme Mysteries …

A while ago I got a recommendation from Denise to include a new mystery book theme to the site. Her wonderful title was “Rich Girl Sleuthing” which I have expanded to include the “Rich Men Can Sleuth, Too.” With that said, here is a list of the Cozy site’s authors who have written a mystery book (or more!) which includes sleuths who just happen to be rich:

Bruce Alexander (aka Bruce Cook): Sir John Fielding Mystery Series… Sir John is an 18th century English blind judge.

Margery Allinghan: Albert Campion Mystery Series… Campion is a very upper-crust English sleuth.

Tess Arlen: Lady Montfort Mystery Series… Lady Montfort is an aristocrat in Edwardian England.

Margot Arnold: Penny Spring & Sir Toby Glendower Mystery Series… Sir Toby Glendower happens to be a wealthy Cambridge archaeologist.

C.A. Belmond: Penny Nichols Mystery Series… Penny is a rich American heiress in Europe.

Rhys Bowen: Lady Georgiana Mystery Series… Hmmm… Penniless 34th in line to the throne of England.

Fiona Buckley: Ursula Blanchard Mystery Series… Being a lady-in-waiting for the Queen brings to mind a “moneyed” family.

Cassandra Chan: Phillip Bethancourt & Jack Gibbons Mystery Series Bethancourt is the very rich, college friend of Gibbons.

Leslie Charteris: The Saint Mystery Series… Simon Templar is not only a millionaire, he is also a thief.

Marion Chesney (aka M. C. Beaton): Edwardian Murder Mystery Series… Lady Rose Summer is daughter of an earl.

P.F. Chisholm: Sir Robert Carey Mystery Series… 16th century Sir Robert is a deputy warden in the king’s service.

Joyce Christmas: Lady Margaret Priam Mystery Series… Lady Margaret may be living in New York, but that doesn’t make her any less “vedy British” high society.

Alys Clare: Hawkenlye Mystery Series… Josse d’Acquinis a 12th century French knight who uproots to England.

Amanda Cooper (aka Victoria Hamilton): Teapot Collector Mystery Series… Sophie Taylor works in her family’s Victorian Tea Room in New York.

Julianna Deering (aka DeAnna Julie Dodson): Drew Farthering Mystery Series… stars an English gentleman in the 1930s.

Margaret Dumas: Charley & Jack Fairfax Mystery Series… It doesn’t hurt to be an heiress.

Carola Dunn: Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series… Daisy is the daughter of a viscount.

Kathy Lynn Emerson (aka Kaitlyn Dunnett): Lady Susanna Appleton Mystery Series… Lady Susanna is an English herbalist.

Elizabeth George: Inspector Thomas Lynley Mystery Series… A Scotland Yard inspector with a whole lot of money.

Karen Anne Golden: The Cats That… A wealthy heiress who adopts cats and lives in a Victorian-style home.

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher Mystery Series… Phryne is very, very rich.

Martha Grimes: Richard Jury Mystery Series… While Jury may be the inspector, Melrose Plant is a very rich sleuth/sidekick.

Carolyn Haines: Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series… Being a southern belle won’t stop Sarah from solving crimes.

Karen Harper: Elizabeth I Mystery Series… Just because she is Elizabeth Tudor (daughter of King Henry VIII) doesn’t mean she can’t sleuth with the best of them.

Anna Lee Huber: Lady Darby Mystery Series… Lady Darby is a 1830s Scottish noblewoman.

Abigail Keam: 1930s Mona Moon Mystery Series – Mona receives a huge inheritance from her uncle during the Depression.

Nancy Martin: Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series… Libby, Emma, & Nora have to go to work after their “rich” parents leave the sisters destitute.

Nancy Martin: Miss Ruffles Mystery Series: A very rich woman leaves her estate to her beloved Miss Ruffles, a dog!

Catriona McPherson: Dandy Gilver Mystery Series… Dandy (Dandelion Dahlia Leston) is a Scottish aristocrat in the 1920s.

Amy Patricia Meade: Marjorie McClelland Mystery Series… Creighton Ashcroft, one of the main characters, is a millionaire.

Catherine O’Connell: High Society Mystery Series… Pauline Cook is a widowed socialite living in Chicago.

Katherine Hall Page: Faith Fairchild Mystery Series… Faith “comes from” money.

Robin Paige (aka Susan Wittig Albert & Bill Albert): Kate Ardleigh Sheridan & Sir Charles Sheridan Victorian Mystery Series… quite rich.

Joanne Pence: Angi Amalfie Mystery Series… Angie is a food critic who happens to be rich.

Sharon Kay Penman: Medieval Mystery Series… Justin de Quincy is an English, 12th century son of a bishop.

Deanna Raybourn: Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series… Lady Julia is a Victorian England sleuth.

David Roberts: Lord Edward Corinth Mystery Series… 1930s “vedy” British Lord Edward does his sleuthing with Verity Browne.

Lynda S. Robinson: Lord Meren Mystery Series… The main sleuth of this series which is set in ancient Egypt is the main investigator in the kingdom.

Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series… Early 20th century Lord Peter is an extremely rich English nobleman who teams up with Harriet Vane.

Cynthia Smith: Emma Rhodes Mystery Series… Emma charges her super rich clients $20,000 per case she guarantees to solve in one week.

Leann Sweeney: Yellow Rose Mystery Series… Houston’s Abby Rose is a private detective with a big bank account.

Ashley Weaver: The Amory Ames Mystery Series features a wealthy, young woman in 1930s Britain.

Patricia Wynn: Blue Satan Mystery Series… Gideon St. Mars is an aristocrat (viscount) who becomes a highwayman during the 1700s.

Authors on the Cozy Site with Non Mystery Book Series which Feature the VERY Rich:

E. F. Benson: Make Way for Lucia Series… By far my favorite series of all time! Although this is not a mystery book series, it is very Cozy and very English.

Alexander McCall Smith: Isabel Dalhousie Series… I truly enjoy books by Alexander McCall Smith. I would not describe the Isabel Dalhousie Philosophical novels as being mystery books, although some people believe that they are.

♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link.♦

Christmas Mystery Books before Thanksgiving?!?

Laura just posted a comment (Thank you, Laura!) for my last entry that reminds me a lot of what I am doing:

“Danna: It’s already on your Christmas cozy list, but I just finished Emilie Richards, “Let There Be Suspects” and really enjoyed it. I have to read my Christmas books now, because I usually don’t have time when the holidays roll around!”

Isn’t that the truth! With all of the hustle and bustle associated with the time of year we are approaching, I have to admit that I do the same thing. Whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa (and there are probably more I’m not listing…) we are quickly nearing a time when family, memories, and/or activities may put our mystery book reading on the back burner.

I just started my new holiday mystery book and am really enjoying it. (Just started it… as in page 35… really just starting it!) You may think that it is a Thanksgiving mystery book, but I’m with Laura>>> It’s the first of the Special Christmas Pennyfoot Mystery Series: No Clue at the Inn by Kate Kingsbury.

I decided to take a (very short) break from my current favorite mystery book authors and try someone new (to me) and I do believe that Kate Kingsbury was a very good choice to get me started on my holiday mystery book reading.

I know that I have said MANY, MANY times before that I never start a series in the middle, but this time I took a chance since I thought the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series had actually been “wrapped up” (Do they say “that’s a wrap” only for movies?!?) I hoped that I would be able to start the Special Pennyfoot Hotel mystery series (or should that be Pennyfoot Country Club mystery series?) at book 13, which as it has turned out, is book #1 of a “new” Pennyfoot Mystery Series… thus the “Special” >>>

I have been very pleased with what Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent and Doreen Roberts) does at the beginning of the book. She has gives the reader an introduction (of sorts) to the characters… supplying who they are and what roles they played in the “regular” Pennyfoot mystery books. But, be forewarned… there will be “spoilers” for those of you who plan on reading the “regular” series any time soon…

Lucky for me, when I finally start reading the series from its beginning, my memory, being what it is, won’t serve me well… and while the characters may seem familiar to me, that will only be “vaguely familiar”>>> Even if I start reading the Pennyfoot Hotel “regular” books next year at this same time!

Leslie Meier, Jill Churchill, Kate Borden… Mystery Book Authors with Similar Flairs…

I just finished my most recent Halloween mystery book by a rather new author (to me, that is!) >>> I read Death of a Trickster and must say that it is definitely a Halloween Cozy… small New England town, amateur sleuth, everybody-knows-everybody feeling, eccentric personalities with hidden personal secrets, and to top it off, the most wonderful feeling of autumn/fall that you could possibly find in a book… I felt like autumn was actually one of the characters during the first half (or so) of the book… 

As I read Death of a Trickster (which is written by Kate Borden – aka Kate Grilley) I was struck by Borden’s similarity with two other Cozy mystery book authors who I follow… Leslie Meier and Jill Churchill. All three of them have strong, female main characters who have children… These children are actually written into their plots. The children aren’t just backdrops in their novels, they are woven into the novels’ story lines. There are times when the main characters/sleuths have to find someone to watch their offspring, times when their offspring disappoint them, times when their offspring are actually like >>> children!

For some reason, Jill Churchill’s Jane Jeffrey mystery series, Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone series, and Kate Borden’s Peggy Jean Turner mystery series just seem to have the same Cozy feeling strewn throughout the book. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone series is set during major holidays of the year, while Jill Churchill really doesn’t “focus” on holidays… although she has several Cozies that are set during Christmas. Borden, I’m not quite sure of… She has only written three Cozies in this particular series, two of which are holiday-themed… Death of a Trickster and Death of a Turkey (Thanksgiving theme cozy mystery.) I guess we will find out if Borden will become an exclusively holiday-themed mystery author when her next Peggy Jean Turner mystery is published!

November 2009 Mystery Book New Releases

The following mystery books will be released in November 2009:

David Baldacci: True Blue (This will be a Stand Alone…) (Actually Oct. 27…)

Lorna Barrett (aka L. L. Bartlett): Bookplate Special (This will be the 3rd in the Booktown Mystery Series…)
 
Simon Brett: The Poisoning in the Pub (This will be the 10th in the Fethering Mystery Series…)

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings (This will be the 26th in the Mrs. Jeffries Victorian Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Holiday Grind (This will be the 8th in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)

Clive Cussler & Justin Scott: The Wrecker (This will be the 2nd in the Isaac Bell Mystery Series…)

James D. Doss: The Widow’s Revenge (This will be the 14th in the Charlie Moon Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)

Carole Nelson Douglas: Vampire Sunrise (This will be the 3rd in the Delilah Street: Paranormal Investigator Mystery Series…)

Christopher Fowler: Bryant & May on the Loose (This will be the 7th in the Peculiar Crimes Mystery Series…)

Sue Grafton: U is for Undertow (This will be the 21 in the Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series…)

Charlaine Harris: Grave Secret (This will be the 4th in the Harper Connelly Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: The Fourth Bill Slider Omnibus (This will contain the novels Gone Tomorrow & Dear Departed…)

Ellen Hart: The Mirror and the Mask (This will the the 17th in the Jane Lawless Mystery Series…)

Sue Henry: The End of the Road (This will be the 4th in the Maxie & Stretch Mystery Series…)

Reginald Hill: Midnight Fugue (This will be the 24th in the Dalziel and Pascoe Mystery Series…)

Susan Kandel: Dial H for Hitchcock (This will be the 5th in the Cece Caruso Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)

Diana Killian: Dial Om for Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Mantra for Murder Mystery Series…)

Kate Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent): Decked with Folly (This will be the 17th in the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)

Paul Magrs: Hell’s Belles (This will be the 4th in the Brenda & Effie Mystery Series…)

John Mortimer: A Rumpole Christmas (A Collection of Five Rumpole Holiday Stories…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery book…) (Actually Oct. 29…)

James Patterson: I, Alex Cross (This will be the 16th in the Alex Cross Mystery Series…)

J. D. Robb: Kindred in Death (This will be the 30th in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series…)

Peter Tremayne: The Council of the Cursed (This will be the 19th in the Sister Fidelma Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)

Elaine Viets: The Fashion Hound Murders (This will be the 5th in the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper Mystery Series…)

Joseph Wambaugh: Hollywood Moon (This will be the 3rd in the Hollywood Station Mystery Series…)

♦To go back to the Cozy Mystery Book New Releases page click here♦

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