The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Librarian Is Starting a Cozy Mystery Book Club…

I just got a really interesting letter from a librarian  in New York who is planning to start a Cozy Mystery book group at her library. (What fun!) She asks for suggestions, and I thought our blog area would be a great place to come up with some possible ideas.

Christine says:

… I absolutely love the Cozy Mystery genre, so much in fact, I am going to be running a Cozy Mystery Book Group at my Library. I had a question for you, as a person who enjoys the genre, and has most likely read more of them, than I.

If you were going to be attending a Book Group on the genre, what type of things would you want to happen? I have the basic, talk about the genre/pick a book,/an author/ have a person lead a discussion – but I was wondering — what else could I add to make it more than just a regular book club?

Any input is appreciated! …

Christine, it might be fun to compare the classic Cozies to the new types of Cozies out there. Maybe read a classic by Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh one month, and then a Cozy by someone who is releasing books now. Also, since there are so many Cozies now that feature recipes (even in non-culinary series!) maybe it would be fun for people to try out some cookie recipes and bring them to the club.

Keeping in mind that this is a book club which will meet in person, not an online book group >>> do you have any ideas that would make this “more than just a regular book club?” If so, please post a comment. Thank you!

New Series Vs. Old Series – Which Do You Prefer?

A while ago, the following question was asked by Margaret StashEmpress as part of a longer comment:

Am I the only one that’s getting a bit tired of seeing so many new series (instead of continuations of favorite old series?) I think at this point a new series has to have a REALLY unique “hook” that grabs me before I’m interested enough to try it (the upcoming Kensington Palace Chef series is one whose premise “grabs” me).

-Margaret StashEmpress

It feels like this has been a more regular occurrence lately than it was in years gone by, so I’ve had some time to think about it more frequently, and thought I’d ask what everyone thinks.

Sometimes there just isn’t any alternative to starting a new series, and that’s understandable. For example, when an author is discontinued by their publisher, they don’t generally have the option to continue writing the same series under a different publisher or as a self-published author as the publisher has significant rights to the series. So they don’t get a choice on whether they want to start over again as it were – if they want to continue writing, they need to come up with a new series.

However, there are other times when it seems like an author just wants to start something new. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing – if classic authors just stuck with the one series they began with, we wouldn’t have many of the classic sleuths they came up with in their later writings! There’s also the issue that some series just get old with time – that sometimes there are only so many stories that can be told about a given cast before books begin to feel very “same-ey”. The unfortunate side effect is that series that we already love can feel side-tracked, ignored in favor of the new favorites.

So, what do you prefer? New series and fresh starts? Or the continuation of tried and true favorites?

Question – Are There any Cozy Series Set in the Same Town, But Starring Different Sleuths?

questions-clipart-question-guyHey folks! Not long ago I got a question by email that I hoped some of you might be able to help answer!

I have a cozy question for you! Are there any series that you are aware of that are all set in the same town but have a different protagonist in each one? (Like Debbie Macombers Cedar Cove books for example but cozy instead of romance)

I know on one hand that defeats one of the purposes of the cozy, but I’m doing NaMoWriMo and had the best idea for a series based around my fictional town!

The only answer that popped into mind for me was Dani Pettrey‘s Alaskan Courage Mystery Series, which stars various members of the McKenna family in Yancey, Alaska… though like Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Books, it isn’t necessarily a strictly Cozy series. So can anyone think of more series that are set in the same location, but star different sleuths?

Can Anyone Name These Cozies?

clipart_questionLately I’ve gotten a number of questions in the comments by people looking for the name of a Cozy novel or series that they read at one point, but can no longer remember the name of the book or of the author. Many of these have easy answers, but a few have stumped both me and the readers who have seen them. Since the front page gets more visitors than anywhere else, I thought I’d try again to get an answer to what series these people are looking for!

From Kathy:

I read a beginning sample of a book and do not know the title or author, I was hoping someone would help me locate and read the entire thing! beginning synopsis: A female character just got home, upon checking her messages-or her secretary had messages – I recall a work situation – a husband of a dog show competitor called to say his wife had passed away, would she go and get the woman’s dogs to find homes for them. He had put them in the garage in crates. I believe they were welsh corgis, she went to get the dogs and all the files, fed them and took them to go to a vet for boarding the next day. thanks all I read – would love to find the book and finish the story – Thanks, (I love your site, it gives me more books to look forward to reading)

EDIT: The general consensus is that this is probably the Melanie Travis Mystery Series by Laurien Berenson. Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

From Pam:

Hopefully, someone who knows the book and author I am looking for will read this and help me with my quest.

(cut part here for a book series I’m pretty sure I answered)

The second book is about a wedding planner in Washington DC who has a male friend, a caterer, I believe, prone to funny comments and histrionics and a female friend who owns a florist! Murder claims the life of a member of the mother of the bride, I believe!

If anyone recognizes these descriptions in the above synopsis’ please let me know! They were really enjoyable reads that I would like to read again!

EDIT: Most people who have written in have suggested that this is probably Laura Durham‘s Anabelle Archer Mystery Series. Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

From knightshift:

Very happy to have stumbled upon this site today. I love books which feature dogs and I was hoping some-one maybe able to identify this book, for a query posted on a different forum that I too would like to read.

The heroine is a dog trainer. She has 3 dogs. She is asked to go on an undercover mission with some kind of government agent. I remember them escaping on a boat and I think the mission was on an island. She took one of the dogs with her, I think it was because “what kind of government operation would have a dog on a boat?”. I know that the bad guy comes after them at the end, after you think everything is going to be cleared up by other government types. And I do believe that the bad guy kills two of her dogs, which really upset me at the time. I think one of the dogs was named Sweet Pea.

There is a part at the end where she is calling her dog (Wiley???) to jump onto the boat. But she is using a hand signal to tell him to stay. So he is going back and forth, kind of dancing around. And then the guys who work for the bad guy are even telling him to “jump”.

Thanks for your help.

For this last one, I suggested Deadly Tides by Susan Holmes, which is NOT the correct answer unfortunately. So that’s definitely not it!

So, if you’ve got a suggestion for any of these readers, please chime in! I’d love to be able to reunite these visitors with their favorite Cozies that they have unfortunately forgotten the name of!

PS EDIT: Naturally I put up these questions then walked away from the computer all day >>> big mistake on my part! Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions!

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