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Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – October 2015

I have been busy reading Halloween Cozies. Even though I rarely re-read my Cozies, I decided I would read some of the Halloween Cozies I have read (and enjoyed) in the past, two of Leslie Meier‘s Cozies were amongst them (Trick or Treat Murder and Wicked Witch Murder). Right now I am reading (not re-reading!) Krista Davis’ The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer. This is a Halloween themed Cozy that was released last December which has sat in my TBR Kindle queue since then. As much as I wanted to read it, I made myself wait until this month.

I think of the Paws & Claws Mystery Series (by Krista Davis) as an equal opportunity pet Cozy. You can be a devoted dog lover or a cherishing cat owner, and still there is a little something for you. Krista Davis sets this series in Wagtail, Virginia >>> and with a name like that, you know the town is a pet-friendly community.

As with her Domestic Diva Mystery Series, Krista Davis has developed her Paws & Claws characters in a way that makes you feel like you’re visiting with your friends. (I hope that makes sense!) I’m never quite sure where the mystery will end up, and sometimes the red herrings have fooled me completely! (I especially like it when a Cozy author does that >>> rather than the other way, when I can guess who the culprits are within the first fourth of the book.)

If you’re looking for a Halloween themed Cozy Mystery, I’d definitely recommend The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer. Now I’m going to go read some more to find out what Holly, Trixie, and Twinkletoes are up to!

How about you? Would you please tell us about the really good Cozy Mysteries you read this month, and please tell us why you liked them so much more than the other Cozies you read? These should be the Cozies you think are even better than the others you read this month. The rest of us are always interested in finding Cozy Mystery authors who write great Cozies  who we don’t yet read. Please list the ones you liked the most at the very top of the list, that way we’ll know those are the ones you liked the most.

As usual, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery book did you read during October 2015 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Herbal Mystery Series

Connie Archer: Soup Lover’s Mystery Series

Tessa Arlen: Lady Montfort Mystery Series

Donald Bain & “Jessica Fletcher”: Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series

M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Agatha Raisin Mystery Series

Carrie Bebris: Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series

Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): Good Buy Girls Mystery Series

Cindy Blackburn: Cue Ball Mystery Series

Kate Borden (aka Kate Grilley): Peggy Jean Turner Mystery Series

Maia Chance: Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Series

Blaize & John Clement: Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series

Kate Collins: Flower Shop Mystery Series

J.J. Cook (Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mystery Series

Deborah Crombie: Kincaid & James Mystery Series

Waverly Curtis: Barking Detective Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Paws & Claws Mystery Series

Carola Dunn: Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series

Dawn Eastman: Family Fortune Mystery Series

Janet Evanovich: Lizzy & Diesel Mystery Series

Shelley Freydont: Celebration Bay Mystery Series

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames): Cookbook Nook Mystery Series

Elly Griffiths: The Zig Zag Girl (not Cozy)

Janice Hamrick: Jocelyn Shore Mystery Series

Sherry Harris: Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery Series

D.E. Ireland: Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Southern Ladies Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Mystery Series

John J. Lamb: Bear Collector’s Mystery Series

Joyce and Joe Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Retired Witches Mystery Series

Colette London: Chocolate Whisperer Mystery Series

Susan McBride: Debutante Dropout Mystery Series

G.A. McKevett: Savannah Reid Mystery Series

Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone Mystery Series

Angela Pepper: Stormy Day Mystery Series

Leigh Perry (aka Toni L.P. Kelner): Family Skeleton Mystery Series

Lora Roberts: Liz Sullivan Mystery Series

Michael Robertson: Baker Street Letters Mystery Series

Jeff Shelby (aka Jeffrey Allen): Moose River Mystery Series

Denise Swanson: Scumble River Mystery Series

Lea Wait: Shadows Antique Print Mystery Series

Donna Glaser White: Letty Whittaker Mystery Series

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

Killer Nashville Conference 2015

I want to tell you all about a type of mystery convention. This one is called Killer Nashville Conference. And, what a perfect time of year for a mystery convention: All Hallow’s Eve, Allhalloween, Day of the Dead, Halloween!

The Killer Nashville Conference is a convention that is held every year that draws some of the most thrilling authors. Their list of past guests of honors include authors like Donald Bain, Carol Higgins Clark, J.A. Jance, Anne Perry, Jeffery Deaver, Michael Connelly, and William Kent Krueger. That’s quite a who’s-who type of list! The 2015 Killer Nashville Conference will be taking place from October 29 to November 1, at the downtown Omni Hotel. What a perfect place to be on Halloween night!

As it is with all of these mystery conventions, lots of us cannot attend. The good news is that there will be an anthology that will include many mystery stories from some of the biggest mystery-writing names out there!

Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, edited by Clay Stafford
Featuring these stories:

  • Donald Bain: The Hunt for Skippy Walker
  • Jeffery Deaver: Repressed
  • Catriona McPherson: Kissin’ Don’t Kill
  • Anne Perry: Shutter Speed
  • Maggie Toussaint: High Noon at Dollar Central
  • Jefferson Bass: In Plain Sight
  • Paula Gail Benson: A Matter of Honor
  • Baron R. Birtcher: Ripple
  • Mary Burton: The Keepsake
  • Dana Chamblee Carpenter: Lullabies and Lightning Storms
  • C. Hope Clark: Rich Talk
  • Daco: The Virgo Affair
  • Robert Dugoni & Paula Gail Benson: A Matter of Honor
  • Blake Fontenay: The Coal Torpedo
  • Heywood Gould: He’ll Kill Again
  • Steven James: Second Thoughts
  • Jon Jefferson: Giving Blood
  • Eyre Price: Sad Like a Country Song
  • Clay Stafford: Savage Gulf
  • Jonathan Stone: Mailman
  • Jaden Terrell: Peace, Sometimes

If you happen to be in Nashville, and you happen to enjoy mysteries, you might want to check out the Killer Nashville Convention this weekend!

Cozy Mystery Book Recipe Finds…

RecipesThe other day we all talked about our Favorite Cozy Mystery Themes, which got me thinking of a comment that MJ posted quite a while back.

MJ:

… a possible future idea for a post on this blog: What is your favorite recipe you’ve made from a cozy mystery?

With so many of us liking the culinary/cooking/recipes Cozies, do any of us try the recipes the authors include in their books? I know I don’t >>> but that’s because I don’t like to cook/bake. Even though I have never tried one of the recipes, I read through them all. That’s right! I read through the recipes, perhaps thinking I will one day cook/bake them.

All of this got me wondering: Have you ever tried a recipes from a Cozy Mystery? Do you try out the Cozy Mystery recipes on a regular basis? Have you tried a recipe that turned out to be fabulous? If so, would you mind telling the rest of us about it, and please be sure to include the author’s name and the book it came from.

P.S. Thanks, MJ, for a great entry idea! I hope to see lots of favorite Cozy Mystery book recipes >>> and perhaps I’ll finally try one!

Also, here’s the Mysteries with Recipes AND Recipe Books by Mystery Authors theme if you want to take a look at it.

Seven New Mystery Series Coming November 2015

Looks like we’ll be able to enjoy not only a lot of new holiday-themed Cozy Mysteries upcoming in November, but also a lot of new Cozy Mystery Series by established Cozy Mystery authors! Seven, in fact!

First will be Elizabeth J. Duncan‘s Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery Series, starting with Untimely Death. This series will follow costume designer Charlotte Fairfax, former costume mistress of the Royal Shakespeare Company and current costume designer of an upstate New York’s resort’s production of Romeo and Juliet. When the leading lady turns up dead, Charlotte’s natural curiosity will lead her to help discover the true killer. Duncan also writes the Penny Brannigan Mystery Series, starring a manicurist in north Wales.

Next up is Jean Flowers‘s Postmistress Mystery Series, which will have its first novel, Death Takes Priority, in November. When her old life turns upside down, former Boston main postal office manager Cassie Miller will return to her hometown of North Ashcot, Massachusetts, to become the town’s Postmaster. When stacks of telephone books go missing, and two days later a body turns up in the woods, she’ll need to help get to the bottom of the case. Flowers also writes the Miniature Mystery Series under the name Margaret Grace, the Sophie Knowles Mystery Series as Ada Madison, and the Periodic Table Mystery Series as Camille Minichino.

Also out in November will be Sadie Hartwell‘s Yarned and Dangerous, the first in her new Tangled Web Mystery Series. This novel will see Josie Blair, newly unemployed designer, returning home to take care of her great-uncle and also to take over her great-aunt’s yarn shop – at least until she can sell off the remaining stock. But when a local troublemaking knitter turns up dead, Josie will be up to her neck in the mystery! Hartwell also writes the Greek to Me Mystery Series under the pen name Susannah Hardy, starring the owner of a Greek restaurant and historic landmark.

Joyce and Jim Lavene will be putting out A Dickens of a Murder, the 1st in their Canterville Book Shop Mystery Series. (I’ve already briefly discussed this novel since it is also Christmas themed…) In this novel, a dead man opposing the opening of the Canterville Book Shop turns up on the roof, forcing Lisa Wellman and Simon Canterville to solve the murder >>> with the help of the ghost of Charles Dickens. The Lavenes write multiple other series, including the Sheriff Sharyn Howard Mystery Series, the Stock Car Racing Mystery Series, the Pet Psychic Mystery Series, the Pumpkin Path Mystery Series, and the Purple Door Detective Mystery Series… among many others. They also write as J.J. Cook and Ellie Grant.

Nancy Martin will be releasing the novel Miss Ruffles Inherits Everything, the first in her Miss Ruffles Mystery Series. When Miss Ruffles, a  Texas Cattle Cur (a type of cattle-herding dog) inherits a large fortune from a woman who dies a suspicious death, Sunny McKillip, Miss Ruffles’s dogsitter, will need to keep her safe. Nancy Martin also writes the very popular Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series starring a trio of sisters and the Roxy Abruzzo Mystery Series, starring an architectural salvager.

Next will be Karen E. Olson‘s Hidden, the 1st in her Nicole Jones Thriller Mystery Series. (Though not a Cozy, I am listing this since her other two series are more Cozy.) Nicole Jones tries to live off the grid, trying to avoid technology because of her past history with hacking. When her old life starts closing in on her again, she’ll need to dust off her old skills to help escape once again from the past. Olson also writes the Tattoo Shop Mystery Series, starring a tattoo shop manager in Las Vegas, and the Anne Seymour Mystery Series, starring a reporter in Connecticut.

Last on our longish list will be Diana Orgain‘s Roundup Crew Mystery Series, which will be beginning with its first entry, Yappy Hour. When non-pet friendly, non-business owner Maggie is asked to run her neighborhood dog-friendly wine bar, Yappy Hour, for her sister Rachel, she arrives to find a dead body and a letter incriminating Rachel nearby. Though Maggie impulsively hides the letter, Rachel still turns up as the top suspect >>> and of course Maggie will need to clear her name. Orgain also writes the Love or Money Mystery Series and the Maternal Instincts Mystery Series.

As always, you can find these new series and many more at the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.

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