The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Mystery Book Series with a Music and/or Musician Theme

Ksenija just asked me if I had a Music/Musician mystery book theme on the site, and I responded that I don’t. Actually, I started putting all of the mystery authors I could think of with Music/Musicians, and came up with this list, which I wrote as a comment, but just decided to post as a theme.

Amanda Carmack: Elizabethan Mystery Series, starring Kate Haywood (musician in Elizabethan England)

Joelle Charbonneau: Glee Club Mystery Series (high school choir coach)

Alisa Craig (aka Charlotte MacLeod): Inspector Madoc Rhys Mystery Series (Trouble in the Brasses)

Sarah Fox: Music Lover’s Mystery Series

Sara Hoskinson Frommer: Joan Spencer Mystery Series (orchestra manager)

Kaye George (aka Janet Cantrell): Cressa Carraway Mystery Series (musician conductor)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: Bill Slider Mystery Series (young violin player girlfriend)

Morag Joss: Sara Selkirk Mystery Series – Sara is a world renown cellist.

Beverle Graves Myers: Baroque Mystery Series (18th Century Castrati)

Mark Scheweizer: Liturgical Mystery Series (choir director and organist at his Episcopal church)

I don’t know how I missed these authors, but here are some more authors who have been recommended by some of you:

K. K. Beck: Jane da Silva Mystery Series (lounge singer)

Meg Cabot: Heather Wells Mystery Series (ex teen pop star)

Church Choir Mystery Series: (church choir)

Carole Nelson Douglas: Irene Adler Mystery Series (French opera singer)

Sarah Fox: Music Lover’s Mystery Series (Dead Ringer, book #1) (violinist)

Kinky Friedman: Kinky Friedman Mystery Series (country western singer)

Andrew M. Greeley: Nuala Anne McGrail Mystery Series (singer)

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher Mystery Series (Ruddy Gore)

Kate Grilley: Kelly Ryan Mystery Series (radio station manager)

Lucille Kallen: C.B. Greenfield Mystery Series (musicians)

Barbara Paul: Opera Mystery Series (tenor)

Mary Saums: Willie Taft Mystery Series former (singer )

Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series (pianist)

And, here are some authors who aren’t on the Cozy Mystery site:

Deborah Grabien: J P Kinkaid Mystery Series (Rock & Roll Never Forgets)

Phyliss Knight: ‘Lil Richie’ Series (Switching the Odds  and Shattered Rhythms)

Val McDermid: Kate Brannigan Mystery Series (Dead Beat)

Karen Sturges: Music Lover’s Mystery Series (Death of a Baritone and Death of a Pooh-Bah)

Please remember that I have only included the authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery Site. Feel free to post a comment if you know of any other mystery authors from the site who write Music/Musician themed mystery books. Thanks!

♦ To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link ♦

Simon Brett: Christmas Crimes at Puzzle Manor

Now that Halloween is a thing of 2012’s past, I thought I would share this letter I received about a Christmas mystery book that looks like it might be a lot of fun. I haven’t read the book, but from what Kerryn told me, it’s sort of a fun book that you can read chapter by chapter, solving the mystery along with its author, Simon Brett. (Kerryn, thank you for telling us about this pretty novel Christmas mystery novel!)

Kerryn:

“A number of years ago I bought a second hand copy of Simon Brett’s Christmas Crimes at Puzzle Manor. I noticed it listed on your website but unsure if you’ve read it. Basically each chapter ends with a puzzle to solve of various types (crossword, anagram, music etc). Solutions are given in the following chapter, if you don’t wish to do it yourself. However, I was very determined when I read the book not to continue with the story until I had solved each puzzle (some which took me several days before it clicked into place and worked out the solution). I loved the puzzles, and the fact that they were not basic, simple ones. I have never come across a book like this before or since and wondered if you possibly knew of any other books similar to this? Would be great to hear from you if you could point me in the right direction.”

This sounds like a lot of seasonal, holiday fun to me, and I think Kerryn has a great question. Do any of you know of any other mystery books that have the same ‘solve-the-puzzle’ as this Simon Brett The Christmas Crimes at Puzzle Manor? If so, please post us a comment. Thank you!

(Cozy) Mystery Book without a Murder (?!?)

I have received a few comments and letters asking for help in coming up with mystery books that don’t focus on murders. I know, I know, the first thing I also think of when thinking of a mystery novel is… death, and that’s death – as in not natural! But when you think of it, there are all sorts of things that could be the basis of a mystery book: stealing, forging, cheating, cooking… well not really cooking as in the culinary theme sense – but definitely poisoning – but that usually ends in murder, which this theme is NOT about!

If you know of an author who prefers his/her mysteries without a requisite corpse, please tell us about him/her via a comment. Also, if you know of an author who generally deals with death, but has one or more mystery books that don’t require a mortician, please post a comment as well.

Mystery Books without Murders:

Susan Wittig Albert: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert: The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose.

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey

Kathleen Bacus: Tressa (Calamity) Jayne Turner Mystery Series (books 2,3,4,& 5)

Baxter Black: Ride, Cowboy, Ride: 8 Seconds Ain’t that Long

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

Dorothy Cannell: The Thin Woman

Erskine Childers: The Riddle of the Sands

Carol Higgins Clark: Regan Reilly Mystery Series

Beverly Cochran: The Housekeeper AND The Visit

Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone AND The Woman in White

Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series

Frances Devine: Miss Aggie’s Gone Missing

Alice Duncan: Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery Series

Janet Evanovich: Lizzy & Diesel Mystery Series

Monica Ferris: A Stitch in Time

Earlene Fowler: Mariner’s Compass & Steps to the Altar

Dick Francis: Decider (“Accidental deaths but no Murder.”)

Dorothy Gilman: Mrs. Pollifax Mystery Series

Jan Gleiter: A House by the Side of the Road

E.W. Hornung: Raffles, the Gentleman Thief Mystery Series

Laura R. King: Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series

Virginia Lanier: Death in Bloodhound Red

Maurice Leblanc: Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar Mystery Series

Lisa Lutz: Izzy Spellman Mystery Series

Peter Mayle: Chasing Cezanne, Anything Considered, AND The Vintage Caper

Donna McLean: The Butterfly Caper

Gladys Mitchell: Mrs. Bradley Mystery Series

Elizabeth Peters: Borrower of the Night

Ellis Peters: An Excellent Mystery

Ellery Queen: only some

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Ellen Raskin: The Westing Game (“Technically a Children’s/YA novel, but suitable for adults.)

Patricia Rockwell: Bingoed

Ann B. Ross: Miss Julia Mystery Series

Ian Sansom: Mobile Library Mystery Series

Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night

Maria E. Schneider: Sedona Mystery Series AND Haven Mystery Series

Alexander McCall Smith: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Mystery Series

Josephine Tey: The Franchise Affair

Edgar Wallace: The Black

Donald E. Westlake: John Dortmunder Mystery Series

Mildred A. Wirt: Penny Parker Mystery Series

(When I have the names of the authors without a specific book listed, this means that generally, their books don’t include murder. This is not to say that they absolutely never include a body, or two.)

Main Sleuth on Vacation…

Just yesterday, Mary Joy wrote a comment with this question:

Mary Joy:

“Does anyone find they do not enjoy the books in series that go “off site” for that particular story? In all the series I read, I never enjoy the ones that take place on vacation or in a foreign country, etc. Instead of being more interesting for me, I usually end up skimming lots of pages. I think I enjoy the familiar surroundings and reading about their everyday routines. I sound dull, don’t I? Is it just me – do others out there enjoy the change of venue?”

Mary Joy, I will say, “No, No” to the two questions you posed (you don’t sound dull and it isn’t just you), and “Yes, Yes, Yes” in agreement with her sentiment. (Obviously, this doesn’t apply to series that feature touring/traveling of some sort.)

I do NOT like it when my main sleuth leaves her town to go on holiday. Yes, I know that everyone deserves a little vacation now and then, but I’d rather my main sleuths take their vacations while “on hiatus” (between books). I want my main sleuths back in their familiar town/village (which has become “my” familiar town/village) – with their familiar friends and the eccentric busybodies.

I would much prefer hearing about their vacation in the past tense, perhaps when my main sleuth is having her/his morning cup of coffee (or cuppa) while telling her/his friends about all the fun things (i.e. murders, no doubt!) she/he encountered while on vacation. (And, by this, I don’t mean an “I-remember-when” retro mystery book that takes place in another location.)

So, I guess I should pose a new question: Is it just us (Mary Joy and me) – do others out there enjoy the change of venue?”

PS>>> I just remembered I wrote an entry about this very same thing about a year ago. (I searched for it, and found it: Cozy Mystery Sleuths Who Leave Their Cozy Towns, Villages, “Worlds”…)

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