The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

New Favorite Cozy Mystery Author with a Whole Lot of Mysteries: Back-to-Back OR Spaced?

Yow! How exciting is this? You’ve just found a new-to-you Cozy Mystery author who you absolutely adore reading. How can things get better than this? Oh my gosh, this author has a whole back-log of books for you to read before you catch up with his/her current releases! How terrific is this?

Hmmm… Not so fast, leave it to me to find a negative side of this pretty phenomenal scenario. Should you “space” the mysteries with other books >>> the way it would have happened naturally if you had found the author right when he/she started publishing the books OR should you hurry up and play “catch-up” with the author by reading all of his/her mysteries back-to-back? (I told you I could see this book shelf half empty!)

The reason I’m asking this particular question is that I recently broke my spacing system with a new favorite author (Conrad Allen – aka Edward Marston & Keith Miles). He is still on my favorite authors list, but from now on I am going to space his books with my other TBR mysteries. Usually I never read two mysteries by the same author back-to-back. But in this case, since my husband started reading the second mystery in the series, I decided – why not?

Whereas Conrad Allen‘s fans from the beginning of his series had to wait a full year until they could again sail with George Dillman, my husband and I jumped right on to the Mauretania’s deck immediately after disembarking from the Lusitania. But here’s something I discovered: it was just a little too quick after our Lusitania cruise to be able to fully enjoy travelling with Dillman so soon. You’ve heard of the expression “too much of a good thing”, right? Well, I think that’s sort of what happened to both my husband and me.

While both of us enjoyed the second Dillman mystery, we felt that we should have taken a little time before embarking on another mystery cruise. Allen’s writing was still excellent, his descriptions, characters, and plot were all still very good. However, the village was a ship, which meant that Allen couldn’t keep the same “villagers”. So, because most ships in a line are going to be very similar, yet the characters couldn’t be the same people, it posed the problem of having the same village (ship) with a whole new cast of characters. (As I said earlier, Allen is still on my favorite authors list but I’m going to read a few other books before I go on to his third mystery in the series.)

When you discover a new-to-you Cozy Mystery author with a lot of mysteries already written, do you space them out or do you read them back-to-back? And if you do read them back-to-back, has this ever back-fired on you? [As usual, I ask that you don’t name an author/series if you are negative.]

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Mary Kay Andrews Writing As Kathy Hogan Trocheck

I should start out by telling you that I actually remember back in the early 2000s, when I figured out that Kathy Hogan Trochek had finished writing her Callahan Garrity Mystery Series. I was bummed … royally bummed! I had come to look forward to spending time with Callahan, Edna (her mother), and the rest of the House Mouse company’s cleaning group.

I was given Strange Brew as a gift, when it was just published in 1997. Even though it was the sixth book in the mystery series, I decided to go ahead and read it. Sure, I don’t like to read my books out of sequence, but since it was a Halloween mystery and I had received the book during October, why not? (I can be flexible sometimes…)

After I finished Strange Brew, I quickly read Every Crooked Nanny, the first in the series. Hmmm… This Kathy Hogan Trocheck was equally good in her first mystery book. How neat was that? You know how sometimes a new author takes a few books to reach a really good level of writing? Not so with Trocheck, she started out really good, and just kept going!

By the time Trocheck’s seventh mystery came out in 1998, I was all caught up with Callahan, Edna, and the rest of the gang. I couldn’t wait to read about Callahan’s Christmas season in Midnight Clear.

Oh, oh… I had to wait two years for Trocheck’s eighth mystery, Irish Eyes, a St. Patrick’s Day mystery. Well, that’s OK. I can certainly wait two years for one of my favorite authors to release another mystery.

Hmmm… Then two more years passed, three years, doggone it, what’s going on here?

It was at this time that I finally found out what was going on. Kathy Hogan Trocheck was releasing her Weezie & Bebe Mystery Series as Mary Kay Andrews. (Andrews was also publishing non-mystery stand alones.) Trochek was finally back on my radar!

Imagine how happy I was to find that she is now writing more Callahan Garrity mysteries. Andrews/Trocheck has released three stories in the mystery series, and I am hoping she will be writing more book-length Callahan Garrity mysteries.

So I guess it just goes to show that sometimes you have to be a detective just to be able to follow your favorite Cozy Mystery authors!

What I’m Reading Now >>> Conrad Allen is a New-to-Me Author Who I Just Added to My “Favorite Authors” List

OK, I know this is a little early, but here is the book/author who I will be recommending for my February 2014 Cozy Mystery Book Recommendation. I am enjoying my current mystery so much that I just have to tell you about it now.

I’m currently reading the first mystery in Conrad Allen‘s (aka Edward Marston & Keith Miles) Dillman Mystery Series. The first book in the series is Murder on the Lusitania. We are introduced to George Porter Dillman, the main sleuth in this series. He hails from a family of yacht builders, but has decided on a different career path. He is a detective on a ship, which, from the titles of Allen’s books must change to different ships in the line’s fleet.

The series takes place in the very early 1900s, so it’s not a “cruise” ship as they are known today. This ship is the mode of transportation for people going from Europe to North America. Don’t expect the “Las Vegas glitzy shows” or the many planned activities that one might expect on a cruise ship today. A major source of fun is walking on the decks, and socializing with others before, during, and after each meal.

So, is this a Cozy Mystery? I am 63% through this book, and I would say that I definitely would call it a Cozy Mystery. Hmmm, you may say. How can you do that? The main sleuth is currently a detective (after being a Pinkerton agent for a while) >>> not an amateur detective. My answer is this: Let’s not lose sight of Hercule Poirot, a police-trained detective, who is among the Coziest of Cozies.

This mystery (as I said I’ve only read 63% of it) takes place on a cruise ship, where everyone seems to become familiar with each other. It’s like a small, contained “village” – so to speak. Allen has been able to make the characters into a small community of sorts.

While reading this Conrad Allen mystery, I have been struck several times by how much it reminds me of an Agatha Christie mystery. It is well written; the words seem to flow seamlessly.  The writing is crisp. Allen doesn’t make the reader wait to get answers. He actually moves from one puzzle piece to the next. (I get quite annoyed by authors who make you wait two or three chapters to get an answer to a question that has been posed!)

The characters, of which there are quite a few, are very well-developed. They are “identifiable” >>> I didn’t find myself having to scan back to try to remember who is who. I think that’s pretty significant, because to me, when I can “remember” a character, it’s like that character has been fleshed out and has become a person, rather than a “character.” (I sure hope that makes sense!) Allen treats us to a few quirky people amongst the “normal” ones.

Also, (again based on the first 63% of the first mystery in the series) there has been no gratuitous/superfluous violence/sex/profanity. (That’s a lot of “/”!) This is not to say that there isn’t implied violence/sex/profanity. Allen gets his point across when he tells one character to “lock the door” to another. A lot of us can get the drift as to what is going to be happening behind those locked doors.) Also, when the “bad guy/gal” (No spoilers here!) is hit several times and stabbed, we don’t actually need a blow-by-blow description of all of his/her injuries, do we? Also, Allen mentions when one of his characters uses “expletives” without us having to hear (read) them.

I would not have found Conrad Allen‘s Dillman Mystery Series if some of you Cozy Mystery readers hadn’t mentioned him. I thank you! I get so very excited when I find a new-to-me author who I can add to my list of favorite authors. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Our Visit to Laredo to See Our Daughter

My husband and I just visited our daughter in Laredo, Texas. She has been living there for about half a year, and since she has been so busy, this is the first time we have been down to visit. (She will be working there until this summer when she will be moving to New Orleans for a year. Ever since college, her life has been pretty nomadic. We are hoping that after next year she will return to live in Texas permanently.)

My husband and I have visited Laredo twice before. Both times were while looking for an apartment for her. It just seemed easier for both of us to go down and scope things out for her, rather than for her to take time off from her (then) job in Austin.

We really enjoyed our three days in Laredo. While our daughter was at work on Friday, my husband and I spent the day walking around. We went to Casa Blanca State Park and North Central Park, as well as Laredo’s absolutely beautiful mall. The weather cooperated during our visit. It was gorgeous!

She took us to some local restaurants, which was a nice change for us. (We tend to go to chains.) She has found out about some great places from her co-workers. We had really good breakfast tacos at Pano’s Bakery Internet Café and absolutely delicious panini sandwiches and salads at Caffe Dolce. (I am not exaggerating when I say “absolutely delicious”!)

She is enjoying her job a lot, and I think she is going to miss it (and her co-workers) when she leaves. Laredo is about three hours from San Antonio, and her job last year in Austin was about 1 1/2 hours from our house. I am definitely not looking forward to next year’s day-long drive to New Orleans! I wish my husband and I were more positive about flying!

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