The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

To Kill, OR Not to Kill, That Really Is the Question!

I received a really good idea for an entry from one of you, who wishes to remain anonymous. Actually, I think it’s a really, really good idea, and would have loved to give credit to the person posing the question, but will go with what he/she asked.

“I was having a conversation with a mystery writer whose books feature an amateur sleuth. He mentioned he was thinking of killing her off a few books in, and having another younger (more interesting) character take over the crime solving business. Now my instinct as a reader was “No! Don’t do it!”, but I was really curious whether you or your readers knew if a mystery writer has gotten away with this successfully, or did it destroy the series. I don’t mean spin-off series, but out-and-out remove the main sleuth permanently and replace with a whole different lead sleuth. What do you think?”

I don’t know of any mystery series where the author has killed off the main sleuth and brought in a more “interesting” sleuth to take his/her place. I wonder just how boring (my word, not anybody else’s) this particular author’s main sleuth is. Is she/he boring to readers? (The sleuth, not the author!) Is he/she boring to just the author? Is this particular author’s mystery series a well-known and well-established mystery series?

If this particular author’s series is popular, my advice would be to: “Get over it! Don’t tamper with success! Go get yourself a pseudonym and start another series with a more interesting (to you) main sleuth.” (Many other authors are going the pseudonym route, so just join them. It makes it more difficult for the readers to keep the particular authors with pseudonyms straight, but apparently that doesn’t seem to bother the authors. And, let’s face it, with pseudonyms, if people don’t like one of your series, they may still give another one of your series a try.)

I am one of those people who missed Captain Hastings when he moved to Argentina. Yes, I know he wasn’t the main sleuth in Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot Mystery Series, but he sure was a great secondary character. And as such, he added a lot to the series. Imagine, though, that Christie has gotten rid of Hercule instead, and made Hastings the sleuth. So much more exciting: a military hero and a gaucho, to boot! Can’t get more “interesting” than that! Good thing Christie didn’t, or we would be reading the Captain Hastings Mystery Series!

So, although I don’t know of any successful mystery authors who have managed to pull the old bait and switch routine, I will agree with the person who sent me this entry’s subject:

“No! Don’t do it!”

Getting back to the actual topic of this entry:

“I was really curious whether you or your readers knew if a mystery writer has gotten away with this successfully, or did it destroy the series. I don’t mean spin-off series, but out-and-out remove the main sleuth permanently and replace with a whole different lead sleuth. What do you think?”

Three Cozy Mystery Authors, and No More…

I got a letter this week from Alfred suggesting a topic that sounds really interesting for a lot of us Cozy Mystery readers. Thank you, Alfred, for this great entry idea!

“The reason I am writing is that I had a column idea for you and thought it might be a good one to do. What if you asked the readers if they could only choose 3 or 4 authors to read, who would they choose and why? I gave this some thought and my three would be Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries and Emily Brightwell, of course I really like her. For my third one I would have to say Lorna Barrett’s Bookshop series. But what really takes center place on my bookshelf is my entire run of Tales of Grace Chapel Inn – this is an excellent series and you can’t wait to read each book to see what happens next.”

I’m going to start by telling you who my three Cozy Mystery authors would be:

Agatha Christie – She’s simply one of the best story tellers, her sleuths are great characters, she writes classic stories/plots with phenomenal settings, the mysteries are difficult to guess – yet make sense in the end because they are character-driven mysteries.

Ngaio Marsh – Her mysteries are really good classic stories that make sense, yet they are complicated. They (again) are character-driven. The characters are three dimensional, not caricatures. Marsh is a another truly good story teller. The sleuth and his team are a comfort to read about, there are no wild changes in the characters’ personalities. Her stories usually open with very long exposition of the crime setting and the characters, but the pay-off is well worth the wait – once the sleuth and his team arrive, the unfolding investigation of the crime makes interesting reading.

As for my third Cozy Mystery author, I’ll have to continue to think about this. There are so many other authors who I enjoy reading. I cannot imagine having to limit myself to only one out of all my favorite authors.

So, if you only had three Cozy Mystery authors who you could read, who would they be AND why?

(Here are all of your answers in list form: Three Cozy Mystery Authors, and No More – Part 2

The Cozy Chicks Kitchen

Have you ever read a Cozy Mystery culinary themed book and thought you absolutely HAD to try a recipe? Have you ever listened to a Cozy Mystery culinary themed book and thought that a recipe being described sounded wonderful,  but alas, since you didn’t own a hard copy of the book, you couldn’t try the recipe?

Well, seven Cozy Mystery authors have gotten together and decided to do something about those types of “problems”.  The book is called The Cozy Chicks Kitchen, and the seven authors are:

Ellery Adams/J. B. Stanley (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series & Supper Club Mystery Series),

Deb Baker/Hannah Reed (Yooper Mystery Series & Beekeeping Mystery Series),

Lorraine Bartlett (Victoria Square Mystery Series),

Kate Collins (Flower Shop Mystery Series),

Maggie Sefton (Knitting Mystery Series),

Leann Sweeney (Cats in Trouble Mystery Series), and

Heather Webber (Lucy Valentine Mystery Series).

In the book’s description, it says they cover all types of food categories: appetizers, entrées, vegetable sides, soups and salads, desserts, and even drinks.

Several people have written to tell me about the book, so that I could tell you all. It sounds like a really cute premise for a cookbook, and I’m hoping that authors who typically include several recipes at the end of their Cozy Mystery books (like Diane Mott Davidson) take up this great idea and put out cookbooks of their own. (Actually, with my cooking skills, I doubt I could replicate any of Goldy Bear’s recipes!)

If You Get PBS on Channel KQED: Midsomer Murders Marathon

Alfred sent me a letter telling me about a special “marathon running” of Midsomer Murders on the PBS channel KQED. It starts June 1:
“Danna Just wanted to give you an early warning that the entire month of June starting  June 1st Midsomer Murders will be on KQED plus from 8 to 10pm The first one they will be showing is Tainted Fruit, part one at 8pm and part 2 at 9. Just wanted to let you know so you can do some research on it.”
Thank you, Alfred! I did do some research, and found that Midsomer Murders will be airing on the PBS station KQED during the months of June and July of this year (2012).
Lucky you if you get this PBS channel in northern California! (Takes me back to when the A&E channel ran these types of shows!)
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