The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Making a List and Checking it Twice…

So, it’s that time of year, again…. The large retail stores seem to be absolutely biting at the bit to put their Christmas items out… Yesterday, I saw my first Christmas items out in a store at the mall… and I was absolutely floored! The store in question actually had their Halloween items sitting alongside their Christmas decorations. It appears that each year, the stores are putting things out earlier and earlier with us…. the friendly consumers…. in mind.

I do most of my holiday and birthday shopping on the internet, but my mother likes to have things sent to her house that are wrapped up and ready to put under her Christmas tree. So, even though I may get most of my gifts through Amazon, I have them sent to my home and then I send them out again… once I have color-coordinated the wrapping paper and bows. Yes, the postal service is getting a double duty from me. (While I get a double whammy from the postal service!)

Today, however, I had to make a few stops around town to buy gift certificates. When did they get so popular?!? Aren’t they the absolute best gift for someone who happens to have everything?

My son, daughter, and husband are terribly easy to shop for… They keep up-to-date Amazon wish lists, so that helps me immensely. Although, my daughter has started keeping all of the books that she receives and buys on her Amazon wish list as a sort of catalog of her library. And, since most of her requested books have to do with mathematics, mathematicians, science, and scientists… I am not able to distinguish between them. She now uses the "priority" number so that I am able to determine whether it’s a cataloged book she owns, or one that she wants. (Don’t ask me why she likes this method, but it seems to work very well for her.)

 

Updating Author Lists, Authors by Profession

I have been trying to update my authors’ chronological lists these past few days, and I am also currently trying to sort "my authors" by their main character’s professions. I know that there are already many different sites that have the professions of the main characters already sorted out, but I just decided that I wanted to see what I came up with.  So far, I have a whole lot of professions… there are a lot of characters who are librarians, culinary specialists such as chefs, restaurant owners, caterers, and bakery owners. There are journalist, housewives, and teachers.

But, there are also some very nontraditional professions…  It seems like crafts of all sorts are starting to become very popular in cozy mysteries …  We have knitters, cardmakers, gourd artists, needlecrafters, quilters, soapmakers, candlemakers, beaders, and even milliners!

And, if you are trying to find a way to combine your love for gardening and cozies… you are in luck! We have herbalists, horticulturist, and gardeners of all types! If you love the sight of green grass… but not to tend/nurture it… rather to play on it…. we even have golfing cozies….

If you’re thinking of getting your hair cut…. but not quite sure what book to take with you to the salon…. well, there are even cozies that involve hair stylist with a penchant for solving crimes.

Are you working on your family tree, but want to take a break and read a cozy or two? Well, we have genealogy cozies that will take your mind off of your family searches…

Who doesn’t enjoy a seasonal cozy mystery… October is almost here, and that marks the starting time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, followed of course, by Valentine’s…. right through to Easter…. I’m sure that by now you are aware of the holiday theme mysteries…

Now that I am finishing up on this task, I will start blogging about some of the cozy professions that "my authors" have… I know that I blogged on the Cat Mysteries and the Dog Mysteries not too long ago… but did you know that there are also at least two birdwatcher series? Some of the main mystery characters’ professions might not surprise you, but there are a few that just might! 

Anne George – Southern Sisters Cozy Mystery Series

I posed a question to myself the other day… If I was to try to convince a non-cozy "addict" (I’m afraid that the word "addict" does indeed describe some of us!) that the cozy mystery genre is worth pursuing, what would I do? Hmmm… I could give the person the definition of a cozy mystery novel and then try to convince the person that everyone who tries one goes back for another… sort of like potato chips. OR, I could try to liken cozy mystery books to books that the person had more than likely read. OR, I could pay the person a large amount of money to make it worth his/her while to read a cozy mystery novel, knowing that, again, the analogy with the potato chips. OR, I could give the person the first novel from Anne George‘s Southern Sisters cozy mystery series.

Now, I know that a lot of people prefer the ve-dy British types of cozy mystery series, and a lot of people prefer the cozy mystery series that feature… oh, say an older spinster aunt-type, or an unmarried, cerebral bachelor-type. But, if you haven’t yet tried "Murder on a Girls’ Night Out" (#1 in the series) then you should reserve your comments!

I read the first of the eight books of Anne George’s series as a monthly pick for one of my reading groups… I think it was the (now defunct) Mystery in the Morning… It was the chosen book of the month for all of us to read.

I might have "gone into" the book thinking… hmmm… another southern cozy… just what I need! Well, let me tell you, it was just what I needed! I cannot say enough good things about the Southern Sisters series of books.

The books feature Patricia Anne "Mouse" Hollowell, and Mary Alice "Sister" Crane. You can probably tell which one of the sisters is the ex-teacher and which one is the country western tavern owner…by their nicknames… If you guessed that "Mouse" didn’t own the tavern, you are right!

These two sisters actually talk and act like sisters. There is nothing false about their relationship… and, as a sister to my sister, I can vouch for that! Anne George based Mary Alice’s character on her cousin, and Anne shared the fact that she had been a school teacher with Patricia’s character… Hmmm….

The mysteries the two sisters solve involve a whole lot of fun for the reader, and the characters really are three dimensional, not flat cardboard personalities that lay flat on the paper. 

The next book in the series, Murder on a Bad Hair Day ( #2) continues with the fun… as do the rest of the books:
Murder Runs in the Family (#3)
Murder Makes Waves (#4)
Murder Gets a Life (#5)
Murder Murder Shoots the Bull (#6)
Murder Carries a Torch (#7)
Murder Boogies with Elvis (#8)

As I sit here typing this blog, I am smiling to myself as I remember how much enjoyment I got when I read these books. Also, I am thinking about a very good friend of mine who absolutely loves Anne George’s books. This particular friend found out that Anne George had been nominated for a Pulitzer for one of her poetry books. My friend wrote to Anne George and asked her where the book was available to buy. The very gracious Ms. George lost no time in sending my friend a signed copy of the particular poetry book. So, my friend and I found out that "Mouse" and Ms. George had more than just being school teachers in common… they were both very caring and generous.

I'm Just In the Mood to Complain… Think Nothing of It!

I know that I have blogged before about preferring to own a book over checking it out from the library. Years ago, all of my books came from the library, but, now it simply takes me longer to finish a book, and sometimes I am not in the right mood to read a particular book. So, actually owning the book just works out better for me… I can pick and choose what I want, when I want it. My library has provided an endless number of hours of reading enjoyment to me, but, as usual, I can find a few things to complain about….

My library probably does what most libraries do… they put that crinkly plastic cover on the books. I absolutely hate those covers! Since I do a lot of reading in bed, I find that those plastic covers make too much noise. And, since my library doesn’t want the patrons to lose the covers, they actually glue/paste the loud plastic covers onto the actual book.  When I own a book, I take the paper cover off of it while I am reading it, which enables me to read while my husband is asleep.

On to my next point of annoyance… and this is by no means the library’s fault….  Do some library patrons really need to eat spaghetti while reading a book that doesn’t belong to them? And when I say "eat spaghetti" I mean right over the book. It really saddens me when I see a virtually new book from the library with stains all over the pages. I am sorry that libraries don’t have the right to simply charge people when they damage a book… But, I guess that there are enough unscrupulous people out there who would say that the book came to them that way… fully knowing that they had damaged the book, but not wanting to pay for that damage.

Another thing that my library tried (for several years) was to put a white sticker on the back of the book’s cover where they would stamp the due date. That was probably the most effective way for the patrons to be able to see the due date quickly, but I always wondered why the person adhering the sticker to the back of the book (on to the crinkly plastic cover) didn’t use some judgement and not put the white label onto the book’s description.

As I proof read this blog I see one thing is sure… Libraries are great places where we can get hours of entertainment, and people (like me!) tend to look gift horses in the mouth and actually try to find problems! The local libraries of all of the places my family has lived have been pretty terrific, and, I guess that when I can think of nothing bigger than crinkly plastic covers and a few words hidden under a white sticker, then… shame on me!

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