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

Halloween Mystery Books being Released during September 2014!

I have got to say, I can’t get over how many Holiday Mysteries are being released during September 2014. This is great news for those of us who love our holiday Cozy Mysteries!

At first, I was going to list all of them together in one entry. However, there are so many Holiday Mysteries being released during September, that I decided to highlight each holiday separately. Since Halloween is the closest on our calendar, I’ll start with it.

New Halloween Mysteries:

Jacklyn Brady (aka Sherry Lewis) will be releasing Rebel Without a Cake. This will be the 5th in her Piece of Cake Mystery Series. Rita Lucero is a pastry chef in New Orleans. She and Miss Frankie, her mother-in-law (previous MIL), own the Zydeco Cakes bakery. In this Halloween theme mystery, they will be catering a big event. Oh, and if you enjoy your mysteries with recipes, your in luck with this series! (As Sherry Lewis she writes the Senior Sleuth Fred Vickery Mystery Series, which has a retiree as its sleuth.)

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames) is releasing Stirring the Plot, which will be the 3rd in her Cookbook Nook Mystery Series. This Halloween mystery is set in Crystal Cove, California. Jenna Hart is the sleuth, and she has stocked her café and cooking bookshop with all sorts of Halloween-y items. Unfortunately for Jenna, the murder that takes place is not a trick-or-treat prank. (As Avery Aames, she writes the Cheese Shop Mystery Series which takes place in Ohio and has, as its sleuth, the co-owner of a cheese shop.)

If you would like to see more Cozy Mystery Halloween mystery books, click on this link to take you to the Halloween Mystery Book page.

(If you are interested in all sorts of holiday mysteries, click on this link to take you to the Holiday Mystery Book page.)

One New Cozy Mystery Series Coming in September 2014

September is a big month for Holiday mystery book releases this year, but we are only being treated to one NEW Cozy Mystery series. (Starting tomorrow I’ll be posting about all of the new Holiday mystery books that will be released during September.)

Mary Kennedy (who is already on the Cozy Mystery site) will be starting a new mystery series this September. Most of you probably already know Mary Kennedy from her Talk Radio Mystery Series, in which her sleuth (Maggie Walsh) is a talk show radio host in Florida. Maggie turned in her clinical psychologist job in order to host her radio show, and also found time to solve some mysteries along the way.

Well, now Mary Kennedy will have a new mystery series called the Dream Club Mystery Series. This series, unlike her Talk Radio series, will take place in sultry Savannah, Georgia. The sleuth of the Dream Club series is named Taylor Blake, and she is a business consultant who has returned to Savannah in order to help her sister open the candy shop she has always wanted to open. Nightmares Can be Murder is the 1st mystery in this series.

Taylor joins her sister’s dream analyzing club and then is struck by how familiar one of the discussed dreams is to a murder of someone Taylor’s sister dated. Unfortunately, Taylor’s sister becomes a suspect in the murder, and it is left to Taylor to solve the crime.

If you would like to see more New Cozy Mystery Series by authors on the Cozy-Mystery site, please click here: New Cozy Mystery Series

September 2014 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in September 2014:

Victoria Abbott (aka Mary Jane Maffini & Victoria Maffini): The Wolfe Widow (This will be the 3rd in the Book Collector Mystery Series.) (This is a Thanksgiving theme mystery.)

Cathy Ace: The Corpse with the Platinum Hair (This will be the 4th in the Cait Morgan Mystery Series.)

Barbara Allan: Antiques Fruitcake (This will be a Trash ‘n’ Treasures novella.) (This is a Christmas theme mystery.)

Susan Wittig Albert: The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush (This will be the 5th in the Darling Dahlias Mystery Series.)

Margaret Atwood: Stone Mattress (This will be a collection of nine stories.)

Donna Ball: Home of the Brave (This will be the 9th in the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series.) (This is a Fourth of July theme mystery.)

Sandra Balzo: Hit and Run (This will be the 3rd in the Main Street Mystery Series.) (This is a Thanksgiving theme mystery.)

Christy Barritt: Desperate Measures (This is a Love Inspired Suspense mystery novel.)

M.C. Beaton: The Blood of an Englishman (This will be the 25th in the Agatha Raisin Mystery Series.)

Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): Marked Down for Murder (This will be the 4th in the Good Buy Girls Mystery Series.) (This is a Valentine’s Day theme mystery.)

Lawrence Block: Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf (This will be a Stand Alone collection of 12 stories.)

Jacklyn Brady (aka Sherry Lewis) Rebel Without a Cake (This will be 5th the in the Piece of Cake Mystery Series.) (This is a Halloween theme mystery.)

Ali Brandon (aka Diane A.S. Stuckart): Literally Murder (This will be the 4th in the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series.)

Simon Brett: The Cinderella Killer (This will be the 19th in the Charles Paris Mystery Series.)

Jan Burke: Justice Done (This will be a collection of short stories.)

Ellen Byerrum: Lethal Black Dress (This will be the 10th in the Crime of Fashion Series.)

Harlan Coben: Found (This will be the 3rd in the Mickey Bolitar Mystery Series.) (This is a Young Adult mystery series.)

Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra): To Fudge or Not to Fudge (This will be the 2nd in the Candy-Coated Mystery Series.)

Margaret Coel: Night of the White Buffalo (This will be the 18th in the Wind River Reservation Mystery Series.)

Susan Rogers Cooper: Countdown (This will be the 13th in the Milt Kovacs Mystery Series.)

Bill Crider: Piano Man (This will be a Stand Alone short story.)

Deborah Crombie: To Dwell in Darkness (This will be the 16th in the Kincaid & James Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Christmas in Paradise (This will be the 4th in the TJ Jensen Paradise Lake Mystery Series) (This is a Christmas theme mystery.)

Jeanne M. Dams: Day of Vengeance (This will be the 15th in the Dorothy Martin Mystery Series.)

Jan Dunlap: Swift Justice (This will be the 6th in the Bob White Birder Murder Mystery Series.)

Sharon Dunn: Wilderness Target (This will be a Love Inspired Suspense mystery novel.)

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): A Plain Malice (This will be the 4th in the Appleseed Creek Mystery Series.)

Rosie Genova: The Wedding Soup Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Italian Kitchen Mystery Series.)

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames): Stirring the Plot (This will be the 3rd in the Cookbook Nook Mystery Series.) (This is a Halloween Mystery.)

Jane Haddam: Fighting Chance (This will be the 29th in the Gregor Demarkian Mystery Series.)

Veronica Heley: Murder in Time (This will be the 15th in the Ellie Quicke Mystery Series.)

Carl Hiaasen: Skink: No Surrender (This will be the 7th in the Skink Mystery Series.)

Suzette A. Hill: The Venetian Venture (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Kay Hooper: Haunted (This will be the 6th in the Bishop Special Crimes Unit Mystery Series.)

Iris Johansen: The Perfect Witness (This will be a Stand Alone thriller.)

Jan Karon: Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good (This will be the 10th in the Mitford Series. This is not a mystery.)

Faye Kellerman: Murder 101 (This will be the 22nd of the Decker & Lazarus Mystery Series.)

Mary Kennedy: Nightmares Can Be Murder (This will be the 1st in the NEW Dream Club Mystery Series.)

Annie Knox (aka Wendy Lyn Watson): Groomed for Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Pet Boutique Mystery Series.)

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at Marble House (This will be the 2nd in the Gilded Newport Mystery Series.)

Archer Mayor: Proof Positive (This will be the 25th in the Joe Gunther Mystery Series.)

Susan McBride: Not a Chance in Helen (This will be the 3rd in the River Road Mystery Series.)

Sharyn McCrumb: King’s Mountain (This will be the 10th in the Ballad Mystery Series.)

Leslie Meier: French Pastry Murder (This will be the 21st in the Lucy Stone in the Mystery Series.)

Diane Noble: The Curious Case of the Missing Figurehead (This will be the 1st book in the NEW Professor and Mrs. Littlefield Mystery Series.)

Joyce Carol Oates: Lovely, Dark, Deep (This will be a collection of mysteries.)

Bernadette Pajer: The Edison Effect (This will be the 4th book in the Professor Bradshaw Series.) (This is a Christmas theme mystery.)

James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge: Burn (This will be the 7th in the Michael Bennett Mystery Series.)

James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein: Treasure Hunters: Danger Down the Nile (This is the second Treasure Hunt book for children in the 3 – 7 grades. I am pretty sure that both of my children would have loved these Treasure Hunt books!)

Anne Perry: Blood on the Water (This will be the 20th in the William Monk Mystery Series.)

Leigh Perry (aka Toni L.P. Kelner): Skeleton Takes a Bow (This will be the 2nd in the Family Skeleton Mystery Series.)

Deanna Raybourn: Night of a Thousand Stars (This will be a Stand Alone mystery novel.)

Kathy Reichs: Bones Never Lie (This will be the 17th in the Temperance Brennan Mystery Series.) (Not Cozy)

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Festive in Death (This will be the 40th in the Eve Dallas in Death Mystery Series.) (This will be a Christmas mystery.)

Michele Scott: Perfect Harmony (This will be the 3rd in the Vivienne Taylor Horse Lover’s Mystery Series.)

Denise Swanson: Murder of a Needled Knitter (This will be the 17th in the Scumble River Mystery Series.)

Marcia Talley: Tomorrow’s Vengeance (This will be the 13th in the Hannah Ives Mystery Series.)

Rebecca Tope: The Coniston Case (This will be the 3rd in the Lake District Mystery Series.) (This is a Valentine’s Day mystery.)

Lea Wait: Shadows on a Maine Christmas (This will be the 7th in the Shadows Antique Print Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas theme mystery.)

Peggy Webb: The Language of Silence (This will be a Stand Alone, and is not a mystery.)

To go back to the Cozy Mystery New Book Release page, click here.

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

Mystery Book Recommendations – July 2014

I just finished a mystery by one of my favorite Cozy Mystery authors: Hazel Holt. It is such a joy to read a book by an author who I love to read. I not only enjoy Hazel Holt’s writing style, but I also like that she writes her mysteries in a way that, if you didn’t know the publication dates, you might think they were written at the same time as Agatha Christie’s mysteries.

By this I do not mean that Mrs. Malory lives without the modern conveniences that we all take for granted. I mean that Hazel Holt’s mysteries are very much in line with the classic Cozy Mystery authors. Mrs. Malory is an amateur sleuth who lives in a quaint and Cozy village where everyone seems to know everyone else, the criminal action takes place “off stage”, there is no profanity/swearing, no gratuitous sex or violence, and strong character development. (I hope I didn’t skip any other characteristics!)

I know I have written about how much I enjoy the Mrs. Malory Mystery Series before, but I hope it’s been long enough so as not to seem too repetitive. I strongly recommend Hazel Holt‘s Mrs. Malory Mystery Series.

Please tell us about a Cozy Mystery series (or a few!) that you read this past month that you think the rest of us should try reading, if we don’t already. And, please tell us why. These should only be the Cozy Mysteries that you think stood out as being even better than the other Cozies you read during the month.

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the mystery books you read that you didn’t like.]

What Cozy Mystery book (or author) have you read during July 2014, and why did you enjoy it (or him/her)?

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

Victoria Abbott (aka Mary Jane Maffini & Victoria Maffini): Book Collectors Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert (aka Robin Paige): China Bayles Mystery Series

Margaret Addison: Rose Simpson Mystery Series (book #1 is Murder at Ashgrove House)

Tasha Alexander: Lady Emily Mystery Series

Barbara Allan: Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mystery Series

Beverly Allen (aka Barbara Early): Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery Series

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

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

Heather Blake (aka Heather Webber): Wishcraft Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Molly Murphy Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Royal Highness Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Blotto and Twinks Mystery Series

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series

Leslie Budewitz: Food Lovers’ Village Mystery Series

JoAnna Carl (aka Eve K. Sandstrom): Chocoholic Mystery Series

Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series

Alyse Carlson: Garden Society Mystery Series

Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot Mystery Series

Agatha Christie: Superintendent Battle Mystery Series

Agatha Christie: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans (Stand Alone mystery)

V.C. Clinton Baddeley: Only a Matter of Time

Sheila Connolly (akaSarah Atwell): Orchard Mystery Series

Shelley Costa: Miracolo Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Dawn Eastman: Family Fortune Mystery Series

Kate Ellis: Wesley Peterson Mystery Series

Female Sleuths Megapack Lady Molly of Scotland Yard Loveday Brooke and Amelia Butterworth

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

Dorothy Gilman: Mrs. Pollifax Mystery Series

Sally Goldenbaum: Seaside Knitters Mystery Series

Celine Grace: Death at the Manor (book # 1 in the Asharton Manor Mystery Series – novella length)

Victoria Hamilton (aka Amanda Cooper & Donna Lea Simpson): Merry Muffin Mystery Series

David Handler: Berger & Mitry Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman:Yarn Retreat Mystery Series

Joan Hess (aka Joan Hadley): Claire Malloy Mystery Series

Lee Hollis: Hailey Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery Series

Hazel Holt: Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

Dorothy Howell: Haley Randolph Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: Manor of Murder Mystery Series

Sue Ann Jaffarian: Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series

Joyce & Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Renaissance  Faire Mystery Series

Donna Leon: Guido Brunetti Mystery Series

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): League of Literary Ladies Mystery Series

Rhett MacPherson: Torie O’shea Mystery Series

Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series

Edith Maxwell (aka Tace Baker): Local Foods Mystery Series

Jennifer McAndrews: Ill-Gotten Panes (book # 1 in Stained Glass Mystery Series)

Sharyn McCrumb: Ballad Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Hat Shop Mystery Series

Karen Musser Nortman: Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mystery Series (book #1 is Bats and Bones)

Nancy J. Parra (aka Nancy Coco): Perfect Proposals Mystery Series

Ann Purser: Ivy Beasley Mystery Series

Heather Webber (aka Heather Blake): Lucy Valentine 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.]

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

P.S. While I try to respond to all of the comments that are made on the Cozy Mystery blog, I generally don’t respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries. I do, however, list the recommended books that come via the Cozy Mystery blog’s comments!

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