I have a real problem! I can usually tell if an author is going to make my “Favorite Authors” list after I have read the first book in his/her Cozy Mystery book series. Yep! that’s usually all it takes. If the author can keep my interest, provides well-rounded characters, slips in enough red herrings, doesn’t keep important facts from me, and, in short, writes a really good Cozy Mystery >>> I’m hooked!

My “problem” then begins! I immediately feel this sense of urgency: I NEED to acquire all of the books in the series. I can’t “take my time” and get one book at a time. What if I can’t find the next book in the series when I want to start reading it?!? That’s when the “panic” sets in… Of course, I have to admit to being “somewhat” of an OCD (Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder) type of person, but if you’ve visited the Cozy Mystery Site you can probably already tell that!

I think that the reason I had to buy a new bookshelf recently is that my obsession doesn’t stop there! Once I have acquired all of the mystery books in my new favorite author’s series, I read the first few books, and then I stop! When I am really enjoying an author I don’t like the idea of not having any more books to read by him/her, so I simply stop reading the books, and keep the rest of the series’ books in my bookshelf so that I can read them later.

Do any of you do this? Do you try to prolong your enjoyment of an author by simply shelving the last few books in his/her series so that you can read them “later?” I’m not sure this is normal, and I guess that’s why I’m writing this entry. I either want to “come clean” about this particular peculiarity, or find out that it’s not as strange as it seems to some of the members in my family. (I should probably say “all” of the members of my family… or at least the ones who are aware of this behavior.)

When you discover a new “favorite author” do you read right through the series or do you “take breaks” so that you can look forward to some really good Cozy Mystery reading?

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday… Actually, I should say that it would have been his birthday.  My father passed away ten years ago, and I still occasionally have “pangs of a deep loss.” I miss him a lot, but most of all, I miss the grandfather he was to my children.

I was lucky to have my grandmother until a month before I graduated from college. I was able to take advantage of the proximity of her home to my college. Since my parents lived in “two states over,” I visited my grandmother very often. I loved my time with her.

But, my children lost their grandfather (my father) when they were quite young. They have only distant memories of him, and stories that I have passed on to them.

When I miss my father, I think of the importance of making each day count. I try to remind myself not to take loved ones for granted. Every once in a while, when I find myself getting upset with one of my loved ones, I think to myself… Why am I not treating him/her as well as I would treat a stranger? It seems like we treat the ones we love with “less respect” than we do people we bump into while waiting in the grocery store line. “Excuse me.” or “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you.” for complete strangers and “Move.” or “Watch out.” for our loved ones. (These are silly examples, but you probably can get my drift.)

I guess that if there is a moral to this entry it would be : Enjoy your loved ones and don’t take them for granted. When you look back with the “pangs of a deep loss” you might wonder why you didn’t/couldn’t find the time…

You may wonder why I have two authors listed as “What I’m Reading Now”… since I am always talking about having to keep lists of events, times, books, ETC. How in the world can someone like that be reading two books at a time?!?

I go nowhere without listening to my “book on tape” (even though it isn’t a tape.) And I mean nowhere! I listen to my book while driving and then take it in to the appointment I am driving to and use an earphone while waiting for my given appointment. I even take it into my local post office… since I can now count on waiting half an hour to get to the ONE open counter.

I started reading all of Susan Rogers Cooper‘s mystery series years ago. I just checked to see when that could have been >>> and am shocked to see that it is twenty (plus) years ago! I have watched as Milt Kovak struggled with dating, I have “been with” E. J. as her family grew, and I laughed along with Kimmey.  Cooper is not a Cozy author, but I do enjoy her mysteries.

As for the “hard copy” book that I am reading… the actual paper-bound book that I am enjoying right now >>> one of Hazel Holt‘s. I cannot believe that I hadn’t tried her books years ago. Holt had been highly recommended to me by a Cozy Mystery reading friend of mine before I started this site. I don’t know why I never “got around” to reading her. I think that I felt like I had so many other authors who I enjoyed, and that there was always tomorrow.

I’m glad that I finally “found the time” to read her. I just started making my way through her very British Mrs. Mallory series, and I have to say… there is absolutely no question in my mind that Holt is a Cozy Mystery author. I am really enjoying the first book in her series, and am (almost) ready to find out the who, why, and how of the mystery!

I know that I have said this several times: When I first began the Cozy Mystery site, I really had something very different in mind. I only included authors who I had read… authors who I enjoyed and thought that a few of my Cozy Mystery book friends would enjoy.

Actually, my first version of the site was simply a list that I kept for my own use. I used this list every time I bought a new book. Since I kept the list on my computer’s desktop, I had easy access to it every time I ordered a book online. I also printed out my list so that I could take it with me every time I went to a bookstore. My list was pages and pages in large-font print. I marked off each book as I bought it and read it, and also added each book as soon as one of “my” authors published a new book.

A friend of mine asked if she could take a look at my list, so I tidied it up and sent it to her. When I told my husband about sending it to her, he asked me to think about putting my list online as a site. Since I am not the most computer-savvy person, I quickly thought about it, and then promptly said “NO!” I just wanted my list of books so that I could have access to “my” authors, and most importantly, I wanted somewhere to annotate each time I bought or read a book.

Whenever I complained about not having a “universal list” of Cozy Mystery authors with their books listed chronologically, my husband would (again) ask if I might want to create just that. I was tired of clicking on someone’s “Cozy Mystery Books List” thinking that I would magically see all sorts of authors from whom I could pick. Most of the lists consisted of a handful of authors with a smattering of their books. I wanted more!

So, a few years ago I slowly started constructing the site. I have to admit that most of the computer functions I do by rote memory… I don’t know why I click, drag, double-click, “control A C,” or “control V” >>> I don’t need to know why or how, as long as it works.

And, thanks to a whole lot of site readers, I have added a whole lot more Cozy Mystery authors to the site and I have  discovered many new Cozy Mystery authors who I now consider “my authors.” These are authors who I include on my personal “Must Read” list… authors who have given me crime-filled hours of enjoyment. THANKS!