The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

When a Cozy Mystery Isn’t What You Are Looking For…

I just heard from Alfred, a friend who I have made since I started this website. We exchange letters every so often, and I always enjoy hearing from him. Alfred has been great about sending me recommendations of new Cozy Mystery authors who he thinks really belong on the site. And, he is always right about those authors! He also gives me the heads-up on when some of the Cozy Mystery authors are publishing a new book.

Recently, Alfred started reading his current book and realized that he wasn’t in the mood to read it. With that, he started thinking about hobbies, and thought it might be interesting to find out what other hobbies you all enjoy doing when your latest Cozy Mystery just isn’t cutting it for you!

I’ll start the ball rolling by telling you that one of the things Alfred enjoys doing is Word Search Puzzles. Another thing he enjoys doing is listening to the old radio shows from the 1940s and 1950s. And, since he has subscriptions to two word search magazines and also has CDs of old radio shows, he is able to combine both of these relaxing hobbies. He also enjoys jigsaw puzzles.

(One of my brothers enjoys jigsaw puzzles and word searches, also!)

Now I’ll tell you about some of my hobbies >>> I love my Sudoku Puzzles! I have to admit that I’m not too terribly fast at them, and sometimes I have to put one down and then try coming back to it another day, but I still love them. Also, I enjoy my needlepoint, especially with those little Mill Hill glass beads… even though I am almost sure that they are the reason I have had to up my reading glasses prescription! (Anymore, I feel like Sprite is a “hobby” of mine. Carrying her from room to room, giving her all of her many pills, making sure she doesn’t take certain pills on an empty stomach, ETC!)

Do any of you have some hobbies that you wouldn’t mind telling us about?

(PS>>> Alfred, thanks for the great entry idea!)

3 Pounds of 1264 Pages… That’s a Whole Lot of Reading!

Our daughter came home last week for her spring break. Since she is busy with her classes and papers, she enjoys the “relax time” that she can get during her school breaks, even though she has a lot of class reading to do.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to spend the entire break time at home. She is taking a class which required her to go to Washington D.C. for a few days, which meant that she didn’t get to spend the entire week holiday with us. But since her time at home is quickly becoming shorter and shorter as she grows older, we were just happy she had the amount of time she had.

Whenever she is home, she always includes a talk with her dad about books he is reading, or has recently read. His latest book was William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which he recommended to her. Long story short… she bought a copy of the book and is now reading it in her “reading for fun” allotted time.

She is enjoying the book although it is a bit dated.  Now that she is back at school, she doesn’t have much “reading for fun” time. Good grief! It would take me forever to read a book that long! I can’t even imagine holding a book that heavy during my “reading for fun” time!

Needless to say, my daughter takes after her father… which is a pretty good thing!

Was Mary Higgins Clark the First “Blockbuster Crime Writer to Start a Recurring Christmas Series”…

I received a letter the other day from a site reader asking me this question regarding Mary Higgins Clark:

“… I’m trying to figure out if Clark was the first blockbuster crime writer to start a recurring Christmas series…. wondered if you know of any that predate Clark’s first Christmas book.”

I started writing her back, and then realized that since I haven’t read every single book on the list I came up with, I had better ask you all for help in addressing this question. The authors who I came up with that predate

Mary Higgins Clark…..Still watch   ’84
Silent Night   ’95
My Gal Sunday   ’96
All Through the Night    ’98
Santa Cruise   ’07 (w/Carol Higgins Clark)
Dashing through the Snow (w/Carol Higgins Clark)  ’08

are the following:

Marian Babson…..Murder, Murder, Little Star    ’77(see Judith’s comment below)
The Twelve Deaths of Christmas    ’79
Line Up for Murder   ’80
Murder on a Mystery Tour   ’85
(Babson’s are all Stand Alones)

Charlotte MacLeod…..Rest You Merry    ’78
Murder Goes Mumming   ’81
The Convivial Codfish   ’84
(All three of MacLeod’s Christmas mysteries belong to different mystery series)

Robert Barnard…..Death in a Cold Climate  ’81
The Habit of Widowhood   ’96
(Barnard’s are Stand Alones)

Martha Grimes….The Man with a Load of Mischief   ’81
Old Fox Deceived   ’82
Jerusalem Inn  ’84
(All three belong to the same mystery series)

First of all, since I haven’t read all of the books above, do any of you know if one of the listed books above is not a Christmas mystery? I try to make sure that they are when I update my Christmas mystery book list as best I can.

Also, are there any other “blockbuster crime writers” who you all know about who predate Mary Higgins Clark (other than the ones I have listed above)?

Thank you all for the help!

Some of the Cozy (and Not So Cozy) Mystery Series I Read:

I have been asked to write about some of the authors who I read. I think that I will begin by telling you about the mystery authors I follow – who have been around for many years, and whose works have withstood the test of time. I know that most of you are familiar with these authors, but if you aren’t, then do yourself a favor and check them out. (I’ll write another time about “more current” authors who I follow…)

Agatha Christie: I enjoy both her Miss Marple and her Poirot mystery series, although I am a bit more partial to Miss Marple. (since 1922)

Dorothy Gilman: I love sleuthing and traveling with Mrs. Pollifax. (since 1966)

Martha Grimes: I truly enjoy the Jury & Plant mystery series. (since 1981) (I know that 1981 doesn’t seem like “around for many years” but I went ahead and added her since I have MacLeod on the list, and she was only three years before Grimes…)

Cyril Hare: Hare’s style of writing seems effortless. I know I have mentioned (many times!) how much I enjoy his Christmas mystery called An English Murder.  I also enjoy following his Inspector Mallet series, as well as his (very short) Francis Pettigrew series. (since 1937)

Reginald Hill: There’s nothing Cozy about Dalziel & Pascoe, but what a treat this mystery series is to read! (since 1970)

Charlotte MacLeod/Alisa Craig: I love her Peter Shandy mystery series, followed by her Sarah Kelling series. (I guess I prefer her MacLeod mystery series over her Craig mysteries.) (since 1978)

Ngaio Marsh: Inspector Roderick Alleyn is one of my very favorite inspectors. (since 1931)

Patricia Moyes: Here’s yet another inspector I enjoy. I also love Inspector Henry Tibbett! (since 1958)

Stuart Palmer: His Hildegard Withers Mystery series is another series I follow. (since 1931)

Ellis Peters: Her Brother Cadfael mystery series is one of the best historical mystery series that I know of. (since 1951)

Ruth Rendell: Inspector Wexford is yet another inspector I love to follow. (since 1964)

I know that I have talked about “pacing” myself before. Since most of these series are limited to a number of mysteries, I try not to read the books too often. For example, last year I read one Dorothy Gilman, two Cyril Hare, three Reginald Hill, two Ngaio Marsh, one Stuart Palmer, two Ellis Peters, and five Agatha Christie mysteries. I just don’t want to read through the series so fast that I finally run out of these authors’ books! That’s how good I think they are!

How about you? Do you have a “been-around-for-a-while” mystery author (or two, or three…) who you love to read?

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