The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Thirteen New Recommended Authors…

Last weekend, I heard from someone who gave me the names of thirteen new authors for the site. I know that thirteen is an unlucky  number in the mystery book business, but, since I don’t write the cozies that I tell you about… then I consider thirteen to be a very lucky number… AND am hoping that of the thirteen new authors she recommended, a few of them fall right into the cozy mystery book style for which you are searching.

But, since I haven’t started working on these particular authors, let me take the time to tell you about a few new authors who I just posted. All of them were recommended by readers of the site… I haven’t been able to try out their books, but they sure do look interesting!

Sharon Dunn: Dunn (who describes herself as a Christian author) writes two series, both of which are set in Montana. The Ruby Taylor Mystery Series features a feed-store employee/sleuth, and the Bargain Hunters Mystery Series features a garage sale junkie. (I have included Dunn’s series in the Antiquing Theme, although, technically…)

Kaitlyn Dunnett: A lot of you are familiar with Kaitlyn Dunnett, but just might not be aware of the fact that Dunnett and Kathy Lynn Emerson happen to be the same author… with different series “between them.” As Dunnett, she is starting a new series which is quite different from the “Emerson series.” It is the Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series, which features a member of a Scottish Dance Troupe in Maine. As Emerson, she has the very popular Lady Susanna Appleton Mystery Series, which features a 1600s herbalist.  (That series is found in both the Historical Theme page and the Gardening Theme page.) She also writes the Diana Spaulding Mystery Series, which features a descendant of Lady Appleton as an1800s reporter. (Also found on the Historical Theme page.)

Lisa Lutz: Lutz writes the Izzy Spellman Mystery Series, which features a P.I. in San Francisco.  Her first novel was nominated for three prestigious mystery awards: the Anthony, the Barry, and the Macavity Awards.

Hope McIntyre (aka Caroline Upcher):   McIntyre (the pseudonym for her crime fiction) writes about something she knows first-hand… ghostwriting. Having been a ghostwriter (as well as several other professions—including editor) she now writes the Lee Bartholomew Mystery Series featuring a ghostwriter…

August 2008 Mystery Book New Releases:

The following mystery books will be released in August 2008:

Jo Bannister: Closer Still (This will be the 8th in the Brodie Farrell Mystery Series…)

Linda Barnes: Lie Down with the Devil (This will be the 12th in the Carlotta Carlyle Mystery Series…)

Nancy Bell: Paint the Town Dead (This will be the 3rd in the Judge Jackson Crain Mystery Series…)

Cordelia Frances Biddle (aka 1/2 of Nero Blanc): Deception’s Daughter (This will be the 2nd in the Martha Beale Mystery Series…)

Simon Brett: Blood at the Bookies (This will be the 9th in the Fethering Mystery Series…)

Edna Buchanan: Legally Dead (This will be the 1st in the NEW Michael Venturi Mystery Series…)

Barbara Cleverly: Folly du Jour  (This will be the 7th in the Joe Sandilands Mystery Series…)

Kate Collins: Shoots to Kill (This will be the 7th in the Flower Shop Mystery Series…)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): One Bad Apple (This will be the 1st in the NEW Orchard Mystery Series…)

Kaitlyn Dunnett (aka Kathy Lynn Emerson): Scone Cold Dead (This will be the 2nd in the Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series…)

Charles Finch: The September Society (This will be the 2nd in the Charles Lenox Mystery Series…)

Sally Goldenbaum:  Death by Cashmere (This will be the 1st in the NEW Seaside Knitters Mystery Series…)

Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino):  Mayhem in Miniature (This will be the 2nd in the Miniature Mystery Series…)

Ann Granger: A Mortal Curiosity (This will be the 2nd in the Lizzie Martin Mystery Series…)

Faye Kellerman: The Mercedes Coffin (This will be the 17th in the Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Mystery Series…)

Margaret Maron: Death’s Half Acre (This will be the 14th or 15th in the Deborah Knotts Mystery Series…)

Cricket McRae: Heaven Preserve Us (This will be the 2nd in the Home Crafting Mystery Series…)

Kaye Morgan: Sinister Sudoku (This will be the 3rd in the Sudoku Mystery Series…)

Elizabeth Peters: Laughter of Dead Kings (This will be the 6th in the Vicky Bliss Mystery Series…)

Kathy Reichs: Devil Bones (This will be the 11th in the Temperance Brennan Mystery Series…)

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

Ruth Rendell… Barbara Vine, Inspector Wexford, Stand-Alones…

The title of this blog should give you an idea of just how much Ruth Rendell has contributed to the world of fiction. I have read less than a dozen (but more than half a dozen) of her works, and have enjoyed each book immensely. As Barbara Vine, she writes incredibly detailed, three-dimensional fiction… I have to admit to a bias for mysteries, but I love Vine’s work outside of the mystery genre.

As Ruth Rendell, she writes two types of books… anyway, based on the more than half a dozen books that I have read by her, that’s what I think…

She has the wildly popular Inspector Wexford series (of which the 21st was published in 2008) and she also has her stand-alone novels. I am more familiar with the stand-alones, and  still remember getting totally hooked on Rendell’s style after reading Live Flesh. YOW!!!!! Rendell’s stand-alone mysteries are psychological studies… I hate to say psychological thrillers because, on this COZY site, that might put off a lot of potential readers… But, I am going to go ahead and say it… they are just that… but PLEASE don’t let that put you, the Cozy reader off… Rendell is simply fantastic at her craft!!! She seems to know the minds of the psychotic people who inhabit her books. (Note that I didn’t say “characters”… She is so good that they become “people” rather than characters!)

If you don’t think that you’re up to a psychological thriller, then the Inspector Wexford novels are probably the way you should “try” Rendell (if you aren’t already a fan of Rendell’s work.) I have decided to start her Inspector Wexford novels at the very beginning, and read them all the way through… I have all 21 books beckoning to me, so here goes… I am delighted with my choice of Ruth Rendell, an author with whom I will be spending a considerable amount of time reading and enjoying… (And, this time, I am going to read the books in the correct chronological order!)

Four (or is that Five?) New Authors to the Cozy Mystery Site…

Seems like it was just yesterday when I added the last four new authors to the site… Actually, I added them some time ago… up to a week or two ago, but I just “officially” added them by introducing them to all of you. Today I have four (or five) new authors to introduce:

James D. Doss: Doss (a retired engineer from Los Alamos National Laboratory) writes the Charlie Moon Mystery Series which features a Ute investigator who is also a Colorado rancher…  

Donna Leon: Leon lives in Venice and writes the Guido Brunetti Mystery Series which features a Venetian police commissario…Friends in High Places    ’00

Janice A. Thompson: Thompson writes the Bridal Mayhem Mystery Series. She describes herself as a Christian author. She home-schooled her four daughters and has done her part in planning several weddings…

Aimée & David Thurlo: David and Aimée Thurlo live in New Mexico where their three mystery series are set: the Ella Clah Mystery Series, the Sister Agatha Mystery Series, and the Lee Nez/Leo Hawke Mystery Series…

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