The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

July 2008 Mystery Book New Releases:

The following Mystery Books will be released in July 2008:

Jeff Abbott: Collision (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Donna Andrews: Cockatiels at Seven (This will be the 9th in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series…)

L. L. Bartlett: Dead in Red (This will be the 2nd in the Jeff Resnick Mystery Series…)

Rhys Bowen: A Royal Pain (This will be the 2nd in the Lady Georgiana Mystery Series…)

James Lee Burke: Swan Peak (This will be the 17th in the Dave Robicheaux Mystery Series…)

Ellen Byerrum: Armed and Glamorous (This will be the 6th in the Crime of Fashion Mystery Series…)

Stephen J. Cannell: At First Sight (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Mary Daheim: Vi Agra Falls (This will be the 24th in the Hillside Manor Bed & Breakfast Mystery Series…)

Aaron Elkins: Uneasy Relations (This will be the 15th in the Gideon Oliver Mystery Series…)

Lee Goldberg: Mr. Monk Goes to Germany (This will be the 6th in the Mr. Monk Mystery Series…)

Victoria Houston: Dead Hot Shot (This will be the 9th in the Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series…)

Mary Ellen Hughes: Paper-Thin Alibi (This will be the 3rd in the Craft Corner Mystery Series…)

J. A. Jance: Damage Control (This will be the 13th in the Joanna Brady Mystery Series…)

Ralph M. McInerny: Ash Wednesday (This will be the 27th in the Father Dowling Mystery Series…)

James Patterson (written with Michael Ledwidge) : The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Richard North Patterson: The Race (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Emilie Richards: Sister’s Choice (This will be the 5th in the Shenandoah Album Series- not a mystery…)

Michele Scott: A Vintage Murder (This will be the 4th in the Wine Lover’s Mystery Series…)

Heather Webber: Weeding out Trouble (This will be the 5th in the Nina Quinn Mystery Series…) 

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

Lyn Hamilton: the Lara McClintoch Archaeological Mystery Series…

Lyn Hamilton writes the Archaeological Mystery Series which features Lara McClintoch, an antiques dealer. I guess I should restate that: Lyn Hamilton WROTE the series. Hamilton has decided to retire Lara after eleven books in the series. Actually, the final book in the series (The Chinese Alchemist) was released in paperback form at the beginning of 2008. That publication marks Lara’s end.)

I know that Hamilton’s retirement will make a lot of her fans sad… BUT>>> I think that it’s terrific when an author decides to retire a series. Not because I like series to actually end, but because (I feel that) sometimes it appears that an author has lost interest/fresh ideas/a passion for their characters>>> and I think that it’s sad to see that…at least to me it is sad. I know of one cozy author (***NOT Hamilton!***) who is getting reviews on Amazon from her fans saying that they think she is no longer writing the series’ books… but that ghostwriters are being employed to churn out more book$.

I was very grateful when a site reader pointed this tidbit of information out to me. My time perusing authors’ sites is spent on looking at new authors (to the site… not necessarily new authors!) So, I always appreciate hearing from site readers who have an update… as well as possible new authors to the site. (Thank you, Joyce!)

 

Golfing Cozy Mysteries… Summer Fun!

One of the site’s readers asked about books that take place during the summer months… “Summer Fun Cozies.” I suggested that she might find some on the Easter Theme page, as it has Fourth of July, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day mystery books. Then it occurred to me… a Golfing Theme page. Of course, that’s not to say that golfing is only a summer sport… I have known golfers who simply don’t mind pouring-down rain and very cold temperatures. (I have only listed the authors who appear on the Cozy Mystery Site…)

Aaron and Charlotte Elkins write the Lee Ofsted Mystery Series, which features Lee, a woman who wants to master golfing. She and her boyfriend (a police lieutenant) solve a mystery or two… or three…

Roberta Isleib writes the Golf Lovers’ Mystery Series which has, as it’s sleuth, Cassie Brudette. Cassie is a golf pro, who manages to do more than swing a club…

Keith Miles (aka Edward Marston & Conrad Allen) writes the Alan Saxon Mystery Series. Alan, a golf pro, solves mysteries as he travels the world.

Maggie Toussaint writes the Cleopatra Jones Mystery Series which features a golfing-accountant-sleuth and her side-kick, Madonna (a rather huge St. Bernard)…

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

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.***

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