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

Eva Gates: Lighthouse Library Mysteries

July 14, 2020

By Book or By Crook (A Lighthouse Library Mystery 1) This time around, I decided to read a multi-themed Cozy as part of my series about the most popular and recommended mystery series. This book incorporates no less than three Cozy mystery themes – librarians, lighthouses, and cats! Two of these, librarians and cats are among the most popular of all the themes. 

I read By Book or by Crook, the first in the Lighthouse Library Mystery Series by Eva Gates. Eva Gates, you may already know, also writes several popular series as Vicki Delany. (It still mystifies me why such a popular author needs to write under two names — oh well, it is lucky for us that the world is full of mysteries!)

The story follows Lucy Richardson, the new assistant librarian at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. (By the way, in an “Author’s Note” at the beginning of the book, we learn that although the lighthouse actually exists, it is not big enough in real life for a library or much else that the book’s lighthouse contains.)

Lucy has newly arrived from Boston. She has arrived just in time for a very special exhibit — a complete set of Jane Austen’s first editions on loan for a few months. In celebration of the arrival of these special books, the library hosts a small party for staff and board members to see the books for the first time. During the party, as is often the case in Cozy Mysteries, a murder occurs. 

Of course, the person murdered as disliked and/or hated by quite of few of the library staff and board members. So, it is a real mystery that must be solved. Lucy is especially interested in discovering the culprit since one of the prime suspects is Bertie, the head librarian who recently hired Lucy.

Besides the usual long list of suspects, the small town also includes several other characters, including two different men who are interested in Lucy as well as the murder. The first, Connor McNeil, is the mayor of the town and an old acquaintance of Lucy who first met Connor during one of the summer vacations that her family had spent in the area. The second, Butch Greenblatt, a police officer. Before the party is over, both Connor and Butch have asked Lucy out of for a date at the new seafood restaurant in town. (I must have been doing something wrong when I was single. When I moved to a new town, this never happened to me!!)

I forgot to mention another important character, the cat, Charles (Dickens), who spends his time in the library and ends up living with Lucy in the small apartment inside the lighthouse above the library.

The book is a charming delight of a read. I zoomed through the pages trying to solve the mystery before the plucky Lucy could do so. Fun and light (in the good sense of the word), By Book or by Crook is a delightful start to a Cozy series that hits all the right notes.

P.S. If you are interested in reading some of the other entries about highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on the site.

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Three New Cozy Mystery Series Coming August 2020

July 8, 2020

August will have three new Cozy series by established site authors!

First, Lynn Cahoon will be putting out Chili Cauldron Curse, the first in the Kitchen Witch Mystery Series. Mia Malone has taken a week away from her restaurant job to visit her grandmother in Magic Springs Idaho. Both Mia and her Grans are witches, though that isn’t the reason for the visit – rather, she is going to help set up a local food bank. Unfortunately, while visiting, Mia discovers the body, that of her grandmother’s new beau, and she will need to help stick around to make sure her Grans doesn’t end up blamed for the death. Lynn Cahoon is also the author of the Tourist Trap Mystery Series, the Cat Latimer Mystery Series, and the Farm-to-Fork Mystery Series.

Next, Hannah Dennison‘s Island Sisters Mystery Series will begin with Death at High Tide. Evie Mead’s husband has only recently died of a heart attack, and she finds a note in his possessions indicating that she might own the rights to an old hotel on Tregarrick Rock, one of the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. Though Evie isn’t interested in investigating at the moment, her sister Margot has decided that the two should visit the island – but the impromptu vacation will be interrupted by another death, this one a murder. Hannah Dennison also writes the Honeychurch Hall Mystery Series and the Vicky Hill Mystery Series.

Finally, Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan) will be releasing Dead End Detective, the first novel in the Piper and Porter Mystery Series. Darby Piper is one of the members of the Two Girls Detective Agency – but now she’s working alone, as her mentor and business partner Samantha has died in a suspicious car crash – and evidence points toward Darby. Meanwhile, Samantha’s nephew, Tate Porter, a veteran and seasoned traveler, has returned to town when he hears that he has inherited half of the business. Both will need to delve into the mystery of Samantha’s death. Amanda Flower is the author of numerous other mystery series, including the Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series, the Magical Bookshop Mystery Series, the Amish Matchmaker Mystery Series, and the Magic Garden Mystery Series.

For more new Cozy Mystery Series, check out the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.

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New Releases – July 6 to July 12, 2020

July 6, 2020

Here is the list of new releases for July 6 to July 12!

Jo Bannister: Dangerous Pursuits (This will be the 7th in the Ash & Best Mystery Series.)

Christina Freeburn: Dash Away (This will be the 3rd in the Merry & Bright Handcrafted Mystery Series.)

Leslie Langtry: Macho Man Murder (This will be the 15th in the Merry Wrath Mystery Series.)

Spencer Quinn (Peter Abrahams): Of Mutts and Men (This will be the 10th in the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series.) 

Kirsten Weiss: Stone (This will be the 8th in the Witches of Doyle Mystery Series.)

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August 2020 Mystery Book New Releases

July 4, 2020

EDIT: As some of you have noted, this seems to be missing a number of releases for August… which is good. But it does mean I’ll have to go through my system again and see why it’s missing so many. I know some are delayed releases from previous months due to the lockdown, but I’m not sure in other situations. So this post will be updated soon hopefully!

EDIT 2: OK, looks like this is fixed. I’m still not sure what the all of the problems were (I did figure out why some books were missing, but not all) but it should be more accurate now. And a better looking month of releases as a result!

The following Mystery Books will be released in August 2020:

Donna Andrews: The Falcon Always Wings Twice (This will be the 27th in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series.)

Winnie Archer (aka Melissa Bourbon & Misa Ramirez): Dough or Die (This will be the 5th in the Bread Shop Mystery Series.)

Laurien Berenson: Howloween Murder (This will be the 26th in the Melanie Travis Mystery Series.)

Ginger Bolton: Boston Scream Murder (This will be the 4th in the Deputy Donut Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: The Last Mrs. Summers (This will be the 14th in the Royal Spyness Mystery Series.)

Allison Brook (aka Marilyn Levinson): Checked Out for Murder (This will be the 4th in the Haunted Library Mystery Series.)

Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib): The Key Lime Crime (This will be the 10th in the Key West Food Critic Mystery Series.)

V.M. Burns: Paw and Order (This will be the 4th in the Dog Club Mystery Series.)

Lynn Cahoon: Chili Cauldron Curse (This will be the 1st in the NEW Kitchen Witch Mystery Series.)

Bailey Cates (aka Bailey Cattrell & Cricket McRae): Witches and Wedding Cakes (This will be the 9th in the Magical Bakery Mystery Series.)

Vivien Chien: Killer Kung Pao (This will be the 6th in the Noodle Shop Mystery Series.)

Hannah Dennison: Death at High Tide (This will be the 1st in the NEW Island Sister Mystery Series.)

Peggy Ehrhart: Knit of the Living Dead (This will be the 6th in the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series.)

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Mums and Mayhem (This will be the 3rd in the Magic Garden Mystery Series.)

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Dead End Detective (This will be the 1st in the NEW Piper and Porter Mystery Series.)

Victoria Gilbert: Booked for Death (This will be the 1st in the NEW Booklover’s B&B Mystery Series.)

Debra H. Goldstein: Three Treats Too Many (This will be the 3rd in the Sarah Blair Mystery Series.)

Susanna Gregory (aka Simon Beaufort): The Clerkenwell Affair (This will be the 14th in the Thomas Chaloner Mystery Series.)

Miranda James (aka Dean James,  Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Honor Hartman): Cat Me if You Can (This will be the 13th in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series.)

Victoria Laurie: To Coach a Killer (This will be the 2nd in the Cat & Gilley Life Coach Mystery Series.)

Sara Rosett: An Old Money Murder in Mayfair (This will be the 5th in the High Society Lady Detective Mystery Series.)

Kirsten Weiss: Gourd to Death (This will be the 5th in the Pie Town Mystery Series.)

If you want to see this month’s releases, go to the July 2020 Mystery Book New Releases.

You can find these and many more Cozies scheduled for release soon on the Soon to be Released Mysteries page on my site.

(These are the mysteries by authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery site.)

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