The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Gardening Cozy Mysteries…

This Cozy Mystery Gardening Theme includes  authors who can be found on the Cozy Mystery site who write Cozy Mysteries with sleuths who are gardeners, botanists, horticulturalists, florists, or even people who simply love gardens.

Susan Wittig Albert (aka “half of” Robin Paige) writes the China Bayles Herbal Mystery Series which features an ex-attorney who lives half-way between Austin and San Antonio, Texas.

Alyse Carlson writes the Garden Society Mystery Series, which features a PR promoter of the exclusive Roanoke Garden Society.

Kate Collins writes the Flower Shop Mystery Series that is set in Indiana, with Abby Knight (the owner of Bloomer’s Florists Shop) as the sleuth.

E. V. Cunningham (aka Howard Fast) is the author of the Masao Masuto Mystery Series which features a Beverly Hills homicide sergeant who loves his rose garden.

Anthony Eglin‘s English Garden Mystery Series has a British professor of botany as the main sleuth.

Kathy Lynn Emerson has the Lady Susanna Appleton Mystery Series which features an herbalist in England during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Mary Freeman‘s Gardening Mystery Series features Rachel O’Connnor, an Oregonian landscaper.

Ann Granger writes the Markby and Mitchell Mystery Series, which although not a gardening mystery series, all of her fans know about Inspector Markby’s fondness for beautiful gardens.

Joan Hadley (aka Joan Hess) wrote the (short-lived) Theo Bloomer Mystery Series which revolved around a florist who used to be a spy. (I remember enjoying the novels and hoping that she would continue with the series.)

Rosemary Harris writes the Dirty Business Mystery Series. Paula Holliday is a master gardener and an amateur sleuth!

Janis Harrison pens the Bretta Solomon Gardening Series which features a floral shop owner from Missouri.

Julie Wray Herman‘s Three Dirty Women Landscaping, Inc Mystery Series is set in the south, and features three friends who don’t just get their hands dirty planting marigolds.

Vicky Lane pens the Elizabeth Goodweather Mystery Series which features a sleuth who owns a flower/herb farm in North Carolina…

Joyce & Jim Lavene write the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series which is set in North Carolina… in the “Potting Shed”.

Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig) writes the Peter & Helen Shandy Mystery Series which feature a professor of horticulture and his wife, a librarian, in Massachusetts.

Ann McMillan: McMillan writes the Civil War Mystery Series set in Virginia, and featuring an herbalist.

Ellis Peters has the Brother Cadfael Mystery Series which takes place in Medieval England with a monk/herbalist as the sleuth…

Ann Ripley‘s Gardening Mystery Series takes place in Virginia and features an organic gardener/TV hostess as the sleuth.

Lora Roberts writes the Liz Sullivan Mystery Series which features a California sleuth who both writes and gardens… all from the comfort of her VW van.

John Sherwood writes the Celia Grant Mystery Series set in London, with a botanist/horticulturalist who looks for clues in places other than his microscope slides.

Susan Sleeman pens the Garden Gate Mystery Series which takes place in Oregon, and features a landscaper.

Dorothy St. James writes the White House Gardener Mystery Series which features an organic gardener.

Rex Stout‘s Nero Wolfe loves his orchids in New York!

Nancy Jill Thames writes the Jillian Bradley Mystery Series which features a gardening  columnist and her Yorkie.

Maggie Toussaint writes the Dreamwalker Mystery Series. The sleuth is both a landscaper and a pet sitter.

Heather Webber‘s Nina Quinn Mystery Series revolves around the “Taken by Surprise” landscaping company in Ohio which specializes in “surprise garden makeovers”.

Marty Wingate: Potting Shed Mystery Series

Suzanne Young writes the Edna Davies Mystery Series which features an amateur herbalist in Rhode Island.

Here is my Florist, Flower Shop, and Flower Farm Cozy Mystery Series entry.

If you know of any other authors from the Cozy Mystery site who write gardening-related mysteries, please post a comment.

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

What Do Tim Myers, Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Elizabeth Bright, and Melissa Glazer Have in Common?

So, you may ask, just what DO they have in common?

Tim Myers is the author of three series: the Soapmaking Mystery Series, the Candlemaking Mystery Series, and the Lighthouse Inn Mystery Series.

Elizabeth Bright is the author of the Card-Making Mystery Series.

Melissa Glazer is the author of the Clay & Crime Mystery Series.

Chris Cavender is the author of the Pizza Lover’s Mystery Series.

Casey Mayes is the author of the Math Puzzle Mystery Series. (I have yet to make the Mayes page…)

The above information is very well-known. But, did you know that all three of these authors are one in the same person? While I was vacationing in beautiful Colorado I was sent an e-mail by a trusty, well-informed source (yep, the librarian I spoke about in at least one other blog)  who let me in on the latest disclosure: Melissa Glazer could be added to the pseudonym list for Tim Myers!

So, for all of you Tim Myers fans: You now have more books to enjoy by your favorite author! Actually, the same goes for all of you Elizabeth Bright fans, as well as all of you Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, and Casey Mayes fans!

Again, I have to thank Janet (my special source of all types of cozy mystery news) for letting me know that Melissa Glazer could be added to the list of Tim Myers pseudonyms.

***** And now you can add “Jessica Beck” to the list of pseudonyms!

Adaptations of Agatha Christie's Plays…

While I was on vacation last week, I got an interesting request from a site reader:

"I have a book entitled Black Coffee which is an adaptation of something by Agatha Christie by Charles Osborne.  Do you know of any other authors who have adapted her work into books?  I’ve found two more he did and ordered them, but would like to know if there are any more by other authors. 

Thank you."
 
Black Coffee was a play written by Christie which was adapted into a novel by Charles Osborne. To be honest, I didn’t know that even one author had adapted one of her plays. When I looked at Amazon, I found the two other books that Osborne adapted from two other Agatha Christie plays: The Unexpected Guest and Spider’s Web.
 
Does anyone out there in Cozy Mystery cyberspace know of any other authors who have adapted one of Christie’s plays into novels? If you do… We would love to hear from you!

The 2008 Edgar Awards:

I finally got the 2008 Edgar Awards listed. The winners were announced the first week of May. I am sorry that this has taken me so long to post… It feels like I just posted the Agatha Awards! Well, I did… Since these awards are given (roughly) one month apart.

As the names of the awards imply, the Agatha Awards are for books that definitely lean more toward the Cozy Mystery Book genre… the Agatha Christie types of books. However, the Edgars should appeal to even the most devoted cozy readers. I think that if you take a look at the different Edgar Award categories, you will see that there are lots of really great mysteries, written by really terrific mystery authors.

I have tried to highlight all of the nominees and winners who have a page on the Cozy Mystery Site… If you do a comparison between the Agatha Award pages and the Edgar Award pages you will see that most of the Agatha winners and nominees have pages on this site. For example, a quick look at the Agatha Award Best Novel page and the Edgar Award Best Novel page will show you what I mean.

MENU