Please tell us about a few of your very favorite Cozy Mystery reads of January 2013. This should be authors who you think the rest of us absolutely have “got to know” about, so that we can also enjoy their Cozy Mystery books. Please include WHY you enjoyed these authors.
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I’m going to start by recommending Margaret Grace. She writes the Miniature Mystery Series, of which I am a fan. I have to admit that I am not all caught up with the series. There are six mystery books in the series, and I am currently reading the fourth. I consider Grace’s Miniature Mystery Series a truly Cozy series. Grace has a vocabulary that is rich enough for her to be able to convey, let’s say anger, without having to rely on graphic language. Her characters are more like people to me, people who I would enjoy hanging out with.
Gerry (Geraldine) Porter is the main sleuth. She is a retired English teacher, who primarily does her sleuthing when her granddaughter (Maddie) is visiting. They have a terrific relationship, which seems very real to me.
I find the writing to flow very easily. Grace has a lot of secondary reoccurring characters, who she weaves into each book’s plot. Grace also gives us red herrings which make sense, and are not just plopped into the story line.
Margaret Grace is also known as Camille Minichino and Ada Madison. I have read (and enjoyed) all eight of Minichino’s Periodic Table Mystery Series. As a matter of fact, since I enjoyed this series so much, I thought I probably wouldn’t enjoy Grace’s Miniature Mystery Series. I find that I usually only like one series an author writes, but this time I was wrong. In fact, since I enjoy Grace’s and Minichino’s Cozy Mystery series so much, I’m planning on trying Madison’s Sophie Knowles Mystery Series.
I will add the recommended authors to this entry as they come in. (Please do not tell us about the authors you did not like.) Thank you!
What Cozy Mystery book (or author) have you read during January 2013, and why did you enjoy it (or him/her)?
Here are the current authors who some of you have read this past month, and wanted to tell the rest of us about:
Barbara Annino: Stacy Justice Mystery Series
Donald Bain (w/ “Jessica Fletcher”): Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series
Maggie Barbieri: Murder 101 Mystery Series
Lorna Barrett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & L. L. Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series
Ella Barrick (aka Lila Dare & Laura DiSilverio): Ballroom Dance Mystery Series
Jessica Beck: Classic Diner Mystery Series
Janet Bolin: Threadville Mystery Series
Ali Brandon (aka Diane A.S. Stuckart): Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series
Duffy Brown: Consignment Shop Mystery Series
Karen Cantwell: Barbara Marr Mystery Series
Elizabeth Lynn Casey (aka Laura Bradford): Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series
Bailey Cates (aka Cricket McRae): Magical Bakery Mystery Series
Erika Chase: Ashton Corners Book Mystery Series
Laura Childs: Tea Shop Mystery Series
Patricia Cornwell: Kay Scarpetta Mystery Series (not cozy)
Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffee House Mystery Series
Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Craig): Myrtle Clover Mystery Series
Philip R. Craig: Martha’s Vineyard Mystery Series
Kyra Davis: Sophie Katz Mystery Series
Monica Ferris: Needlecraft Mystery Series
Shelley Freydont: Celebration Bay Mystery Series
Erle Stanley Gardner: Perry Mason Mystery Series
Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino & Ada Madison): Miniature Mystery Series
M.K. Graff: The Blue Virgin
Sue Grafton: Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series
Elly Griffiths: Ruth Galloway Mystery Series
Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series
John Dunning: Cliff Janeway Mystery Series
Sophie Kelly: Magical Cats Mystery Series
Alice Kimberly (aka Cleo Coyle): Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series
Mary Lou Kirwin: Librarian Mystery Series
Jill Marie Landis: Tikki Goddess Mystery Series
Victoria Laurie: Psychic Eye Mystery Series
Amanda Lee (aka Gayle Trent): Embroidery Mystery Series
M. Louisa Locke: Victorian Mystery Series
Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter & Helen Shandy Mystery Series
Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series
G. M. Malliet: Max Tudor Mystery Series
Lorena McCourtney: Ivy Malone Mystery Series
Jenn McKinlay (aka Lucy Lawrence & Josie Belle): Library Lover’s Mystery Series
Wendy Roberts: Latte, Espresso, Cappuccino & Murder Mystery Series
Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series
Rochelle Staab: Mind for Murder Mystery Series
Teresa Trent: Pecan Bayou Mystery Series
Elaine Viets: Mystery Shopper Mystery Series
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
Ay! 2012 is on its way out! I can barely believe a whole year has passed since this very calendar day of last year! Where has the time gone?!? I have been so lucky to have both of my adult children living so close to my husband and me. Our son is here in San Antonio, and our daughter in Austin, 75 miles away. Perhaps that is why the year seems to have flown. I truly believe that while our daughter lived in Cambridge, the years seemed to just drudge on and on. I wish they would go by faster when the goings are good, and slow down when we are content!
Last month for the 2012 Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations listings. I can barely believe this year is will be over in just a matter of days!
Most of you know that I have a very long list of 