The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Are You a Holiday Cozy Mystery Fan? If So, When (and Which!)?

halloween1111111560780We have finally had our second cool day here in San Antonio! Of course, this doesn’t mean it will continue to be cool, which is why I am so ready for holiday Cozy Mysteries! Those of you who have been with me for a while know that I read Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Cozies only during their corresponding holidays. And since I’m a stickler for reading my Cozy Mysteries in their chronological order >>> I’m way behind with some of my favorite Cozy Mystery authors. Sometimes this means I have to wait almost a whole year to read the next book in a favorite Cozy Mystery series!

thanksgiving1111116878990-0With this in mind, I thought I would ask: How early do you start reading the holiday Cozy Mysteries in your ToBeRead pile/queue? What I mean is: Do you wait until the beginning of December, mid-December, or (if you’re an especially fast reader) the end of December to start reading your Christmas Cozies? (You can substitute Christmas/December with Halloween/October or Thanksgiving/November.)

christmas333346997Also >>> which holiday Cozy Mysteries do you prefer: Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas? And, (Good grief! I’m making this into a 3-part question which is much more complicated than it needs to be!) would you tell us about one or two favorite Cozy Mysteries that are set during that holiday?

Thank you! (I’m really looking forward to reading your comments!)

Cozy Mystery Site’s Questions…

question1I thought that I would answer some questions that several of you have sent to me AND I also have a question for you ALL.

Why do you capitalize the words Cozy and Mystery?

I know it seems strange to some of you but since my website is called Cozy Mystery, I just do. I started the website in 2006, and am not sure when I started capitalizing the words, but it has become a habit now.

Why don’t you accept ARCs (Advance Reading Copies)?

I have talked about this before, so some of you already know, but I don’t accept ARCs because if I did, I would feel like I had to say something nice about the book, even if I couldn’t find something nicer to say than “It has a lovely cover.” I have a terrible guilt complex. Also, I have to admit that when I read a glowing review of a Cozy Mystery and then find out the reviewer received an ARC, the review doesn’t mean that much to me. (I figure there’s a chance the reviewer felt like he/she HAD to write a really positive review, since he/she could have my guilt complex.) It’s almost as if the reviewer was paid for the terrific review. (I know, this probably sounds pretty silly to a lot of you!)

When you do the FREE and Cheap Kindle/Nook lists, why don’t you add all of the authors you know have free or cheap e-books?

When I get those FREE and Cheap lists together, I compare my list of authors to the last five of my Free and Cheap posts to make sure I’m not repeating any of those authors. (On a few occasions, I have heard from authors who ask me to include their books again, which I have done.) I have been adding “Also, if you take a look at some of the older Free and Cheap Kindle/Nook mysteries, you may find some that are still under $5.00.” >>> that way I don’t post the same identical authors over and over.

So now for my question to you ALL:

When we do the monthly Cozy Mystery recommendations lists, would you prefer if I ask you to put your top five recommendations at the top of your lists, so that I only add those top five recommended authors/books to the list?

(Here’s is an example of the monthly recommendation lists as I have been doing them.)

You would still recommend as many books as you think are really, really good, but your top five would be the ones I add. Someone (only one person) wrote to me telling me she thought the length of our lists had gotten out of hand. I replied that I still enjoy reading all of your reasons why you post the books and that I have found several new-to-me authors who I now consider favorite authors.

So, would you prefer I keep the recommendations list as is, or should I ask you to tell me the top five books you recommend (and I put those on the list) although you could still list as many other books as you wish in your comment (but I wouldn’t put the others on the list)?

Hope this makes sense!

We’re Home in San Antonio

alamoWe got back from New Orleans last night, and as vibrant and picturesque as that city is, it’s nice to be home! Of course, we didn’t do any sight-seeing or fun things; we will be doing those types of things in the future when we visit our daughter. And we’ll be scheduling those visits in cooler months of the year.

So, things will get back to normal for me, which means I will be posting the August mystery movies and the September new releases >>> starting tomorrow.

It Looks Like We Know When Enough is Enough!

loveFirst of all, let me tell you ALL how much I have enjoyed reading all of your comments to the last entry posted! Donna, you certainly had a great idea! (When Is Too Much Romance Not a Good Thing?) Usually, I try to answer all of your comments (other than the monthly recommendations entry), but this particular entry seemed to just take off. So I’m going to address the general impressions I got from your comments:

I just re-read all of your comments, and it looks like the majority of us don’t mind a little romance, but we don’t want it to become a major component in our Cozy Mysteries. We don’t mind it, but it’s not a definite requirement. Most of us agree there is a definite difference between a Cozy Mystery and a Romance novel with a little mystery in it. We are reading Cozy Mysteries because they are, indeed, mysteries!

Several of the comments reflect that one of the reasons we like the Cozy Mystery genre is because of the fleshing-out of the characters and their relationships with other characters, whether they are romantic interests, or not. We want our characters to interact with each other; to be like the type of people we know in “real life”.  (After all, not all of the people we know “in real life” have significant others.)

I love that some of you were able to cite some really iconic sleuths who have loving, committed relationships. Those of us who are Ngaio Marsh fans can remember how smitten Roderick Alleyn was with Agatha Troy; however none of us was privy to their “romantic” life. It wasn’t a subject which took up a lot of the books. Same goes for Dorothy L. Sayers’ Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. We see the same thing with Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence. The authors focused on the mysteries, not the couples’ courtships and/or marriages. The authors’ abilities to write good mystery novels with engaging mysteries is what keeps us coming back for more.

P.S. As an aside to love triangles, which were brought up a few times:  It looks like a lot of us agree that you should be able to decide on one suitor. It’s realistic that you would have a few doubts, and that it might take you a little time to find the person who is right for you, though here’s a thought >>> If you can’t decide between two potential love interests, then neither of them is probably right for you! (Maybe I’m just jealous, though. I don’t remember any time in my life where I had two men who desperately wanted to be with me, and who didn’t mind that I was dating the other!)

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