The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Mystery Books that Take Place in Texas

Here are some Fun Texas Facts:

Texas is known as the “Lone Star State.”
Texas means friend in Hasinai.
Austin is the capital, but Houston is the largest city
State Motto: friendship.
State Flower: Bluebonnet.
State Animal: Armadillo

Mystery authors who are found on the Cozy Mystery Site and who feature Texas locations in their books:

Jeff Abbott: Jordan Poteet Mystery Series AND Whit Mosley Mystery Series

Rebecca Adler: Taste of Texas Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Herbal Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert: Crystal Cave Mystery Series

Jeffrey Allen: Stay at Home Dad Mystery Series

Robin Allen: Poppy Markham: Culinary Cop Mystery Series

Carolyn Banks: She Rides, He Doesn’t Mystery Series

Nancy Bell: Biggie Weatherford Mystery Series AND Judge Jackson Crain Mystery Series

Melissa Bourbon (aka Misa Ramirez): Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series

Laura Bradley:  Hair-Raising Mystery Series

James Lee Burke: Billy Bob Holland Mystery Series

Susan Rogers Cooper: E. J. Pugh Mystery Series AND Kimmey Kruse Mystery Series

Bill Crider: Dan Rhodes Mystery Series, Sally Good Mystery Series, Carl Burns Mystery Series, AND Truman Smith Mystery Series

Nancy Fairbanks (aka Nancy Herndon): Culinary Food Writer Mystery Series AND Elena Jarvis Mystery Series

Kay Finch: Bad Luck Cat Mystery Series AND Corie McKenna Mystery Series

Louise Gaylord: Allie Armington Mystery Series

Kaye George (aka Janet Cantrell): Imogene Duckworthy Mystery Series

Chloe Green: Dallas O’Connor Mystery Series

Janice Hamrick: Jocelyn Shore Mystery Series

Charlaine Harris: Midnight, Texas Mystery Series

Carolyn Hart: Death on the River Walk (book 5 in the Henrie O Mystery Series)

Honor Hartman (aka Dean James & Jimmie Ruth Evans): Bridge Club Mystery Series

L.C. Hayden: Harry Bronson Mystery Series

Nancy Herndon (aka Nancy Fairbanks):  Elena Jarvis Mystery Series AND Culinary Food Writer Mystery Series

James Hime: Jeremiah Spur Mystery Series

Sharon Kahn: Ruby, the Rabbi’s Wife Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Death and Taxes Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Megan Luz Mystery Series

Mitzi Kelly: Silver Sleuths Mystery Series

Elizabeth Lee (aka Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli): Nut House Mystery Series

Liz Lipperman (aka Lizbeth Lipperman & Liz Roth): Clueless Cook Mystery Series

Lizbeth Lipperman (aka Liz Lipperman & Liz Roth): Dead Sister Talking Mystery Series

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Chili Cook-Off Mysteries

Lee Martin (aka Anne Wingate & Martha G. Webb): Deb Ralston Mystery Series AND Mark Shigata Mystery Series AND Smoky O’Donnell Mystery Series

Nancy Martin: Miss Ruffles Mystery Series

Susan McBride: Debutante Dropout Mystery Series AND Maggie Ryan Mystery Series

Susan McBride: River Road Mystery Series

D.R. Meredith: Murder by the Yard Mystery Series AND  Sheriff Charles Matthews Mystery Series AND John Lloyd Branson Mystery Series

Rick Riordan: Tres Navarre Mystery Series

Aileen Schumacher: Tory Travers Mystery Series

Barbara Burnett Smith: Purple Sage Mystery Series AND Kitzi Camden Beading Mystery Series

Ann Summerville: Stand Alone Storms & Secrets

Leann Sweeney: Yellow Rose Mystery Series

Teresa Trent: Pecan Bayou Mystery Series

Diane Vallere: Mad for Mod Mystery Series

Mary Willis Walker: Mollie Cates Mystery Series

Wendy Lyn Watson: Mystery à la Mode Mystery Series

Livia J. Washburn: Fresh Baked Mystery Series

Martha G. Webb (aka Anne Wingate & Lee Martin):  Smoky O’Donnell Mystery Series AND Mark Shigata Mystery Series AND Deb Ralston Mystery Series

Anne Wingate (aka Lee Martin & Martha G. Webb): Mark Shigata Mystery Series AND Deb Ralston Mystery Series AND Smoky O’Donnell Mystery Series

Please feel free to contact me if you see an author from the Cozy Mystery Site who belongs on this list, or if you have any comments.

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

May 2009 Mystery Book New Releases

The following mystery books will be released in May 2009:

Robert Barnard: The Killings on Jubilee Terrace (This will be the 10th in the Charlie Peace Mystery Series…)

C. S. Challinor: Murder in the Raw (This will be the 2nd in the Rex Graves Mystery Series…)

Michael Connelly: The Scarecrow (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Lindsey Davis: Alexandria (This will be the 19th in the Marcus Didius Falco Mystery Series…)

Denise Dietz: Strangle a Loaf of Italian Bread (This will be the 4th in the Ellie Bernstein/Lt. Peter Miller Diet Club Mystery Series…)

Sally Goldenbaum: Patterns in the Sand (This will be the 2nd in the Seaside Knitters Mystery Series…) (Actually April 28…)

Beth Groundwater: To Hell in a Handbasket (This will be the 2nd in the Claire Hanover Mystery Series…)

Charlaine Harris: Dead and Gone (This will be the 9th in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery Series…)

Laurie R. King: The Language of Bees (This will be the 9th in the Mary Russell Mystery Series…) (Actually April 28…)

Victoria Laurie: Oracles of Delphi Keep (This will be Laurie’s 1st Children’s Book…)

Joyce & Jim Lavene: A Corpse for Yew (This will be the 5th in the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series…)

Mary Jane Maffini: Death Loves a Messy Desk (This will be the 3rd in the Charlotte Adams Mystery Series…)

Tamar Myers: Poison Ivory (This will be the 15th in the Den of Antiquity Mystery Series…)

Robert B. Parker: Brimstone (This will be the 3rd in Parker’s Western Series…)

Robert B. Parker: Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel (This will be a prequel to the Spenser Mystery Series written for young adults…)

Iain Pears: Stone’s Fall (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Cynthia Riggs: Death and Honesty (This will be the 8th in the Martha’s Vineyard Mystery Series…) (Actually April 28…)

Kate Sedley: The Dance of Death (This will be the 18th in the Roger the Chapman Mystery Series…)

Leann Sweeney: The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse  (This will be the 1st in the NEW Cats in Trouble Mystery Series…)

Elaine Viets: Killer Cuts (This will be the 8th in the Dead-End Job Mystery Series…)

Kathryn R. Wall: Covenant Hall (This will be the 9th in the Bay Tanner Mystery Series…) (Actually April 28…)

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

Bill Crider, Gail Fraser, Josi S. Kilpack, Lynda S. Robinson : What Do These Authors Have In Common?!?

Hmmm…. The title of this blog asks what the four following authors have in common >>> Well, the easiest answer for me to post is that all four of them have been recommended by several Cozy Mystery Site Readers for me to add to the site. Other than that… let’s see… They are all authors! But, they are not all mystery authors.

Bill Crider is a best-selling author who wrote his PhD dissertation about the hardboiled detective novel. He recently retired from being an English professor so that he could spend more of his time writing novels. He has several mystery series, including the Dan Rhodes Mystery Series. He co-authored the Stanley Waters Mystery Series with Willard Scott, the weatherman from the Today Show. And, Crider even authored a Wishbone book… a favorite for children.

Gail Fraser has her MBA and worked in corporate America before writing her Lumby Series. If you like Jan Karon’s Mitford Series, you might enjoy Fraser’s Lumby Series… which is not a mystery series.

Josi S. Kilpack  just started her Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series, which includes recipes. (She writes inspirational books.)

Lynda S. Robinson (aka Suzanne Robinson) has her PhD in Anthropology and writes the Lord Meren Series, which is set during ancient Egypt’s reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Lord Meren is the main investigator in the kingdom. (She also writes ancient Egyptian, Elizabethan, Victorian, and Civil War historical romance novels as Suzanne Robinson.) Because of her studies and field work, her historical novels (both her mysteries and her romances) are said to be very accurate portrayals of their given eras.

Edie Claire, Elizabeth Dearl, Shelly Fredman, Paul Magrs… Four New Authors to the Cozy Mystery Site

I am trying to “play catch-up” and get more authors who you all have recommended posted onto the Cozy Mystery Site. Here are the latest four authors who readers of the site have suggested. Hopefully you will be able to find a few who you think match your reading preferences!

Edie Claire: The Leigh Koslow Mystery Series also seems like it could be named the “Never…” series. Each book’s title starts with the word “Never” and is about an advertising copywriter in Pennsylvania who also sleuths… 

Elizabeth Dearl: Dearl is an ex-policewoman who writes the Taylor Madison Mystery Series which features a Texas author/sleuth…  

Shelly Fredman: Fredman is an elementary teacher who writes the Brandy Alexander Mystery Series features a journalist who lives in Philadelphia, who is able to solve mysteries while covering the story…       

Paul Magrs: Magrs, a British professor of Creative Writing, writes the (British) Brenda & Effie Mystery Series. The series involves two best friends who involve themselves in supernatural investigations…

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