Warning: This is not about mysteries,  although it does involve a mystery of sorts.

Let me start by telling you that I am 5’9″ tall. Invariably when I find myself in a line (like at the grocery store) I am one of the tallest women. There may be a few others who are taller, but usually there aren’t. I don’t wear high heels EVER – I can usually be seen wearing my New Balance walking sneakers.

Given all that information, can you imagine why I now have to buy my black jeans in a “petite” length?!? Are there so many women these days who wear stilettos while wearing their jeans? (A mystery to me, sort of…)

This wouldn’t annoy me if I hadn’t just bought two pair of my regular brand jeans in my previous size >>> “medium” length.  I have been buying the same brand and cut jeans for years, so when I bought my two new “medium” jeans this time, I didn’t bother to try them on. I quickly went home and washed them. That’s how sure I was they would fit. Long story short: I am currently waiting for them to be taken up. They are quite long, actually very long. And of course with the price of the alterations, I no longer feel like they are the best jeans I can buy for the lowest price around.

OK! I feel much better now that I’ve gotten the rant part out of the way!

My husband pointed out that my “Rants & Raves” entries seem to only be the negative “Rant” portion. Yikes! He’s right. Am I really that negative?!?

So it is at this time that I will finally do the “Rave” portion. (I may revert to just the “Rant” part, but I’ll try to be a little more positive in the future.)

I know I have mentioned how much my husband and I like our Keurig coffee maker (from my These Are a Few of My Favorite Things… entry, and how I fill my Ekobrew refillable K-Cups with my favorite tea blends so that I don’t have to keep paying the high prices for tea K-Cups.

My husband, however, insists on using the already made K-Cup coffee pods, which I find to be pretty expensive. I just found these San Francisco Bay K-Cups that my husband likes a lot. Even though they look different from the regular K-Cups, they fit and work perfectly in the K-Cup coffee maker, and are substantially cheaper. Since I had never seen these before, I thought those of you who might be interested in finding a cheaper alternative to the regular K-Cups might want to know about these. (My husband likes his coffee very strong, so he likes this particular blend – Fogchaser. As for me, I’m pretty sure I’d prefer the Breakfast Blend, which is always smoother to me.)

Mission accomplished! I managed to not just focus on the negative side of my “Rants & Raves”. That doesn’t mean I’m not still annoyed at having to alter my “medium” (in my opinion “tall”) jeans!

I have gotten quite a few letters and comments asking for me to add a Cozy Mystery theme that includes Romantic Cozy Mysteries. I have thought quite a bit about how long this list of romantic mysteries could end up being.

Should this list include every series of mysteries that has two characters who are clearly made for each other?

Should this list include only the mysteries you think of when you think of the Gothic romance mysteries?

Should this list include all authors who have a sleuth who just can’t seem to make up her mind between two (or more!) suitors?

Should this list include mysteries that have sleuths who are married couples?

Should this list include mysteries that I think are romantic, but that perhaps you wouldn’t?

I just keep coming back to the fact that romance is so subjective. Clearly some authors make it very easy to identify. Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt are two such examples. But they are both Gothic Romance Mystery authors, making it very easy to label them as Romantic Cozy Mystery authors.

However, how about  a series like the Leigh Koslow mysteries by Edie Claire? I think of those as romantic. Yep, Leigh and  Warren may not be as “romantic” as a Charlotte Brontë’s Jane and Rochester, but they are a very interesting couple to me.

I started to have this discussion with my husband because I told him I was at a loss as to how to proceed and he suggested that I ask you all. So I’m left with this dilemma: How would we define Romantic Cozy Mysteries when making up a list, keeping in mind that the list has to have some reasonable boundaries or else it won’t be a useful list for anyone?

If you have any ideas on how to define Romantic Cozy Mysteries for the purpose of this list, please post a comment. At this point I’m not asking for you to provide authors for inclusion to this hypothetical list. If you need to mention an author as an example for the point you are making, that would be fine. Once we determine if this list is even feasible (i.e. doesn’t include almost every author under the sun) then we’ll proceed to making the list.

Happy Fourth of July to all the USA Cozy Mystery readers!

I am hoping that all of you (including non USA Cozy Mystery readers) have a wonderful day and that it is safe.