The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Agatha Awards Look Pretty Cozy!

I have a long list of authors who have been recommended to me by either my cozy mystery reading friends, past mystery reading group members, or people who have written to me (through this site) and suggested that I add a page for one (two, or three!) of their favorite cozy authors. I was going to start adding all of these authors…. first looking up each of these authors, and then "doing what I do."

The very first thing that I do when deciding whether to add an author to this site is do some research and see if he/she is someone I would want to read. Once I determine that he/she is indeed someone I will add to my TBR list of authors, I go ahead and dedicate a page to his/her chronological book list and write a short blurp about the author on his/her corresponding alphabet page. 

When I started this website, I tried to only post authors who I could "vouch for." But, as I continue to work on the site, I am finding that since I have already posted "my authors,"  I now have the time to post authors who other cozy readers enjoy, even though I haven’t "tried them" yet. I was a little overwhelmed  when I started doing this, and found  that it would take an enormous amount of time to do each of these many authors.  So, what a pleasant surprise I had in store for me when I started making the links for the Agatha Award  pages.

As I  started typing all of the annual  award winners and nominees, I noticed a reoccurring thing……….. I already had web pages dedicated to these authors. As I made the links, I started actually being surprised by the few authors for whom I hadn’t already made web pages! That meant, that there were very few Agatha Award winners who I hadn’t read.

If you take a few minutes to peruse the lists of nominees and winners, you will find that an interesting thing happens… You can actually follow some authors’ cozy mystery writing successes.

An example of this would be Joan Hess. She won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story in both 1990 and 1992, and was then nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 1995, 1993, and 1988. As one of my favorite cozy authors, I like that  she has been recognized for her many cozy accomplishments.

Another example is Donna Andrews. She won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 2000, won the Agatha Award Best Novel in 2002, and was then nominated for the Best Novel in 2003, 2004, and 2005. That’s a lot of cozy enjoyment for us cozy readers!

So, I have decided that I will start "fleshing out" the Agatha Award winners and nominees. If you are new to the world of Cozy Mystery Reading, the Agathas are an excellent place to start! 

Good Grief! Almost a month later………

I had to actually go back in my blogs to find out when I started reading the first book in the Madoc Rhys series (by Alisa Craig.) I posted the blog entry on March 31, and finally finished the book a few days ago. I simply cannot believe that it took me almost a month to finish that book!

A site-user asked me if there are more than the five novels in the Madoc Rhys series…. No, unfortunately, there are not. I mentioned in my comment back (Yes, I have enabled the comment button, and am going to see how it goes…. the button can be found at the bottom of the blog entry.) Anyway, I told her that my "verdict" on the Craig/MacLeod issue is that Alisa Craig can stand up to Charlotte MacLeod. (The same person, but different series.) Well, I have been thinking about the Craig/MacLeod issue, and after pondering the idea for a few days, I think that I still prefer MacLeod’s two series over her Craig series.

I like Madoc Rhys, but not as much as I like Sarah Kelling or Peter Shandy. I don’t know if my preference stems from the fact that since I have read so many of those books, I have gotten to really know the characters, or if I simply like those books more. Perhaps if I had started with the Craig books and then only read the first two in the Peter Shandy series, I would have preferred the Craig books. (Does this make sense…. I’m not sure I even understand what I am saying?!)

I have all of the Craig books, so I am going to try another one before I firmly decide. And, since I like the Madoc Rhys books that I have read (I read the second one first, and then the first one second…. which is always a mistake!!!— If you have read some of the comments on the site, you will know that I am a firm believer in reading a series in the correct order!…. But, since the second book of the series is a Christmas book, I jumped ahead one holiday season.)

So, I guess that my verdict isn’t firmly in…. I will have to wait and read another Craig book, and then see if I can "firmly" decide. I hope it doesn’t take close to a month! I don’t care how hectic life gets, we should always have time for reading a cozy!

I'll pass on that….book, that is….

Things have been hectic around my house, but I think that we are finally getting back to normal. I am hoping to get more reading done in the near future. I can’t even imagine how I used to be able to read at least one book a week!

When I first joined my online mystery reading groups, I had a lot of books that I "had to read." I remember that when I started participating in the reading groups, I would always buy the books and then proceed to highlight passages and mark them with my comments. I did that for about a year, but then got tired of not being able to pass the book on. At the time, my mother in law enjoyed reading mysteries, so I wanted to send my books on to her. I knew that she would then pass them on to my sister in law, and so on and so on.

So, I stopped writing in/highlighting my books and I started taking detailed notes about my reading groups’ books…….. If I was lucky, I was able to get the audible book so that I could listen to it in the car. But that meant that I would have to find a place to park in order to write down the things I wanted to remember for our group discussions.

I am no longer an active member of any mystery reading groups, which might be why I have become so relaxed about my reading. As much as I love to read a good mystery (preferably cozy, but not limited to that genre) I find that I am going through a phase where I just am not reading as much as I would like. I wonder if this "computer-thing" has anything to do with this lull in my reading. Let’s see, it’s after 10:00 pm, and I am still sitting in front of this "computer-thing"……. Hmmm….. I will have to think about this…………………

 

Rosemary & Thyme…. Thrice is Way Enough!!!!

You may wonder what exactly I mean by the title of this blog. Of course, that is probably not the case if you have watched any of Rosemary & Thyme’s season three shows.

Since my husband and I started watching the Rosemary & Thyme show two years ago, we have invested a reasonable amount of time and money in the series. So, I went ahead and procured the latest season of the show thinking that we were making a wise investment of both time and money…. I have to admit that we have only watched the first five episodes of season three, but I am sure that my husband considers that five shows too many!

One of the things that I most enjoyed about seasons one and two was the beautiful colors that the producers seemed to be able to capture……. not only the flowers in the gardens, but also the clothes of the actresses. It seemed (to me) that the actresses wardrobes would reflect the palette of the flowers they were currently planting. I don’t think that they are at all interested in that aspect of the show anymore. It seems to me that the location of the gardens is now of tantamount importance, rather than the splendour of the flowers.

The last episode that we watched was The Gooseberry Bush. Why the two amateur detectives were not jailed for child abuse/neglect was never dealt with….. Perhaps, since they are such busy gardeners, they have the luxury of leaving a newborn baby in their car all day while they attend to their busy gardening chores, but as a mother of two, I found that part of the plot to be absolutely appalling.  Also, another part of the plot that I found disgusting was the fact that the natural mother of the newborn had left her baby out in the woods so that the father could pick up the baby some time that morning. Unbelievable! Good thing that there were no wild animals…. or even hungry pets rummaging through the underbrush of the “Gooseberry Bush”!!! Was anyone on the set even paying a little attention to these plot developments!?!?

Another question that I have: Why wasn’t one of the amateur detectives jailed for breaking and entering the home of a murder victim? And, here’s yet another question I have: Why weren’t the amateur detectives jailed for deliberately moving a murder weapon because the person who owned it (and who was trying to bury it) said she hadn’t used it to commit the murder… and since they had just met her, they knew she was telling the truth! Need I say more!!!?!!!?!!!?

I was not sure whether I should write this blog or not, but decided to go ahead and write it since I had previously recommended the Rosemary & Thyme series. I still think that the first two seasons are worth  watching, but three times might still mean you’re out….

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