The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

2014 Agatha Award Winners (presented in 2015)

teapotFirst of all, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE AGATHA AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES!

I know the title may sound a little confusing with both 2015 and 2014 in it, but that’s because the Agatha Awards for the mystery books published in 2014 were just announced at the Malice Domestic convention in May 2015.

Here are the 2014 Agatha Award Winners:

Best Contemporary Novel: Truth Be Told by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Historical Novel: Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

Best First Novel: Well Read, Then Dead by Terrie Farley Moran

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel: The Code Buster’s Club, Case #4: The Mummy’s Curse by Penny Warner

Best Non-Fiction: Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey by Hank Phillippi Ryan, Editor

Best Short Story: The Odds are Against Us by Art Taylor

Lifetime Achievement: Lifetime Achievement: Sara Paretsky

Again, Congratulations to ALL!

If you would like to see some of the past Agatha Award winners and nominees, click on this link to go to my Mystery Book Award page.

P.S. The Agatha Awards are actually teapots! You can’t get much Cozier than that!

June 2015 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in June 2015:

Kathy Aarons: Truffled to Death (This will be the 2nd in the Chocolate Covered Mystery Series.)

Sparkle Abbey: Downton Tabby (This will be the 7th in the Pampered Pets Mystery Series.)

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer Seeley): A Batter of Life and Death (This will be the in the Bakeshop Mystery Series.)

Lorna Barrett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & L.L. Bartlett): A Fatal Chapter (This will be the 9th in the Booktown Mystery Series.)

Christy Barritt: Random Acts of Deceit (This will be the 2nd in the Holly Anna Paladin Mystery Series.)

L.L. Bartlett (aka Lorna Barrett & Lorraine Bartlett): Eyewitness (This will be a Jeff Resnick Mystery series story.)

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Casey Mayes, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Sugar Coated Sins (This will be the 20th in the Donut Mystery Series.)

Jenna Bennett (aka Jennie Bentley & Bente Gallagher): Unfinished Business (This will be the 10th in the Savannah Martin Mystery Series.)

Nancy Bush: You Can’t Escape (This will be the 4th in the Nowhere Mystery Series.)

Lynn Cahoon: Dressed to Kill (This will be the 4th in the Tourist Trap Mystery Series.)

Janet Cantrell (aka Kaye George): Fat Cat Spreads Out (This will be the 2nd in the Fat Cat Mystery Series.)

Kate Carlisle: Ripped from the Pages (This will be the 10th in the Bibliophile Mystery Series.)

Vannetta Chapman: Murder Freshly Baked (This will be the 3rd in the Amish Village Mystery Series.)

Edie Claire: Never Steal a Cockatiel (This will be the 9th in the Leigh Koslow Mystery Series.)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Privy to the Dead (This will be the 6th book in the Museum Mystery Series.)

Lesley Cookman: Murder in the Blood (This will be the 15th book in the Libby Sarjeant Mystery Series.)

Maya Corrigan: Scam Chowder (This will be the 2nd in the Five-Ingredient Mystery Series.)

Elizabeth Craig (aka Elizabeth Spann Craig & Riley Adams): Tying the Knot (This will be the 5th in the Southern Quilting Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Heavenly Honeymoon (This will be the 15th in the Zoe Donovan Mystery Series.)

Jeanne M. Dams: The Gentle Art of Murder (This will be the 16th in the Dorothy Martin Mystery Series.)

Krista Davis: The Diva Steals a Chocolate Kiss (This will be the 9th in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series.)

Carola Dunn: Superfluous Women (This will be the 22nd in the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series.)

Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton: Wicked Charms (This will be the 3rd in the Lizzy & Diesel Mystery Series.)

Elizabeth George: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy (This will be a Stand-Alone novella.)

Susanna Gregory: A Poisonous Plot (This will be the 21st in the Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew Mystery Series.)

Sherry Harris: The Longest Yard Sale (This will be the 2nd in the Garage Sale Mystery Series.)

April Henry: Blood Will Tell (This will be the 2nd in the Point Last Seen Mystery Series.)

Heather Horrocks: Inn the Family Way (This will be the 3rd in the Who-Dun-Him Inn Mystery Series.)

Victoria Houston: Dead Rapunzel (This will be the in the 15th Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series.)

Annie Knox (aka Wendy Lyn Watson): Collared for Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Pet Boutique Mystery Series.)

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): A Watery Death (This will be the 7th in the Missing Pieces Mystery Series.) (This is a Fourth of July themed mystery.)

Laura Levine: Death by Tiara (This will be the 13th in the Jaine Austen Mystery Series.)

Jeanne Mackin (aka Anna Maclean): A Lady of Good Family (This will be a Stand Alone novel.) (not a mystery)

Edward Marston (aka Conrad Allen & Keith Miles): Timetable of Death (This will be the 12th in the Railway Detective Mystery Series.)

Nancy J. Parra (aka Nancy Coco): Bodice of Evidence (This will be the 2nd in the Perfect Proposals Mystery Series.)

James Patterson & Howard Roughan: Truth or Die (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

James Patterson & Chris Tebbetts: Just My Rotten Luck (This will be the 4th in the Middle School Series.)

Penny Pike (aka Penny Warner): Death of a Chocolate Cheater (This will be the 2nd in the Food Festival Mystery Series.)

Rose Pressey: All Dressed Up and No Place to Haunt (This will be the 2nd in the Haunted Vintage Mystery Series.)

Kathy Reichs: Bones on Ice (This will be the 19th in the Temperance Brennan Mystery novella.)

Peter Robinson: In the Dark Places (This will be the 23rd in the Inspector Banks Mystery Series.)

Carolyn J. Rose: No Substitute for Myth (This will be the 4th in the Subbing Isn’t for Sissies Mystery Series.)

Maggie Sefton: Purl Up and Die (This will be the 13th in the Knitting Mystery Series.)

Paige Shelton: Bushel Full of Murder (This will be the in the 7th in the Farmers’ Market Mystery Series.)

Gayle Trent (aka Amanda Lee & Gayle Leeson): Killer Wedding Cake (This will be the 5th in the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery Series.)

Nicola Upson: London Rain (This will be the 6th in the Josephine Tey Mystery Series.)

Kathryn R. Wall: Jordan Point (This will be the 13th in the Bay Tanner Mystery Series.)

Laura Wilson: The Wrong Girl (This will be a Stand Alone novel.)

I know these are a whole month early, so here are the May  2015 Mystery Book New Releases

If you would like to see lots and lots of Cozy Mystery books that are scheduled to be released, please click on this link to go to the Soon to be Released Mysteries page on the site.

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

Mystery Book Recommendations – April 2015

It’s the end of April already! Where has the time gone. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Easter, and we’re already looking at Memorial Day being right around the corner!

I’m going to try to keep this super short, so we can get right to our April 2015 Cozy Mystery book recommendations. If you read a Cozy Mystery this month that you think far exceeded your expectations, would you please tell the rest of us about it. We’d not only like to see which Cozy you think was the best you read this month, but also why you think it was better than all the rest of the Cozies you read during April.

Also, if you tell us about several great Cozies you read this month (and why you liked them so much) please put the one that you think was the absolute best of the best at the top of your list.

Please do not tell us about the Cozy/Cozies you read that you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery book did you read during April 2015 that you know the rest of us would enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it?

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

Sparkle Abbey: Pampered Pets Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Fethering Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Melita Pargeter Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Consignment Shop Mystery Series

Christina A. Burke & Elizabeth Ashby: Danger Cove Renovation Mystery Series (The Secret of the Painted Lady, book #1)

Jessie Crockett: Sugar Grove Mystery Series

Kathi Daley: Zoe Donovan Mystery Series

Jana DeLeon: Miss Fortune Mystery Series

Laura DiSilverio (aka Ella Barrick & Lila Dare): Readaholics Book Club Mystery Series

Claire Donally: Sunny & Shadow Mystery Series

Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino, Ada Madison, & Jean Flowers): Miniature Mystery Series

Joan Hess: Claire Malloy Mystery Series

Edward D. Hoch: The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch (short stories)

Alan Hunter: Inspector George Gently Mystery Series (Gently Does It is book #1)

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

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

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Mystery Series

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

Josi S. Kilpack: Culinary Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Taxi for the Dead Mystery Series

Anna Loan-Wilsey: Hattie Davish Mystery Series

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Chili Cook-off Mystery Series

Anne Perry: Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Mystery Series

Barbara Ross: Maine Clambake Mystery Series

Mark Reutlinger: Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death

M.L. Rowland: Search and Rescue Mystery Series (Zero-Degree Murder is book #1)

Jane Sevier: Psychic Socialite Mystery Series (Fortune’s Fool, book #1)

Liz Trenow: The Forgotten Seamstress (possibly not a mystery)

Ashley Weaver: Murder at the Brightwell

[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.]

Since everyone is writing why they like the particular Cozy they’re recommending, I encourage you to read the comments below.

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

P.S. I try to respond to all of the comments on the Cozy Mystery blog, however I don’t usually respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries.

Mignon F. Ballard Fans Are In for a Treat: Miss Dimple & Augusta Goodnight Together!

Good news for a whole bunch of Cozy Mystery readers! As the title of this entry says, Mignon F. Ballard‘s Miss Dimple and Augusta Goodnight will be sharing the spotlight in the 5th Miss Dimple (and I guess the 8th Augusta Goodnight) Mystery Series: Miss Dimple and the Slightly Bewildered Angel. It won’t be released until the fall of 2016 so we all have a long wait, but it sure is good to know!

A lot of Cozy Mystery readers were very disappointed back in 2008 when they realized Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed was the last they would see of Augusta Goodnight. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Augusta Goodnight, she started out as a “temp” guardian angel who went from one case to another during the course of the first four Cozy Mysteries in the series. She then became permanently attached to Lucy Nan Pilgrim in Stone’s Throw, South Carolina. I should mention that Augusta isn’t the one who actually solves the mysteries, but she sure helps guide the actions of the people she’s with.

Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, on the other hand, is a teacher at Elderberry Grammar School in Georgia, during World War II. She has a close group of friends, and a younger brother she adores. She loves her quaint town and all of her students. Oh, and she wears purple in honor of her fiancé who died in the Spanish American War.

I can only imagine, looking at the title of this Cozy (Miss Dimple and the Slightly Bewildered Angel) how these two strong personalities are going to mesh!

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