Favorite Authors

Kylie Logan: A League of Literary Ladies Mystery Series

May 16, 2016

Kylie Logan’s League of Literary Ladies Mystery Series is the next in the series of entries that I am doing about the most recommended Cozy Mystery series on our monthly recommendations lists. Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels) has written four books in this series with the last coming out this year (2016). Mayhem at the Orient Express, begins this series on a very strong note.

“Mayhem” introduces us to Bea Cartwright who has just opened a Bed and Breakfast (the Bea & Bees) in the small town of Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island which is twelve miles from the Ohio shore of Lake Erie. As the name implies, Bea hopes to have beehives in the backyard of her six-suite huge Victorian bed and breakfast.

The story opens with Bea and her two neighbors, Kate and Chandra (who are all 30-something), arguing in Mayor’s court about their various disputes. Bea is upset that Chandra allows her cat to run free to ruin Bea’s flower bed; Kate is mad at Chandra for playing music too loudly and chanting in her backyard. Chandra, who changed her name from Sandra, is somewhat of a free spirit. Kate also is complaining about Bea’s construction vehicles clogging up the small lane that runs to all of their houses.

Alvin, the mayor, finally decides to force the three women to learn to cooperate by ordering them to meet weekly in a book group. (This is an example of one very terrific community service!) This also conveniently saves the mayor’s wife’s public library that is in danger of losing funds from a bequest that required there be an active book group for the funds to continue.

Naturally, at the group’s first meeting, the neighbors are joined by an older woman, Luella (who actually wants to be a part of a reading group), they decide to read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, which foreshadows what will happen soon at the island’s new restaurant, the “Orient Express”. By the following week’s meeting, a blizzard has begun that had already closed the airport and the ferry. As expected in a murder mystery story, soon there is a murder (I guess I mean “mayhem”) at the “Orient Express” restaurant. And, everyone is stuck on the island with a murderer on the loose!

The blizzard leads to a power outage that knocks almost everybody’s lights and heat out on the island. Except, Bea’s bed and breakfast has an emergency generator (that works for a remarkably long time). So, before you know it, all the potential suspects and what will become the members of the “League of Literary Ladies” are all staying at the Bea and Bees.

This book is written in the first person from Bea’s point of view. It’s what I would call an old-fashioned page-turner. The setting (the island on the lake) is picturesque and unique, and the characters are different but not too zany. (You may know by now that I am not a fan of over-the-top zany.)

As is normal in a modern Cozy, there is a hint of romance that presumably will continue into the other books in the series. (No spoilers here!) The story is full of interesting twists, and it includes a secondary mystery about Bea’s past that is not solved fully in the first book. So, it creates a need to get going on reading book two!

If you’re interested in seeing more highlights of some of the most recommended or popular Cozy Mystery authors/series, visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Anne George’s Southern Sisters Mystery Series

February 15, 2016

Among the often recommended mystery series on the Cozy Mystery blog’s monthly recommendations, is the delightful “Southern Sister” series by Anne George. This series features the very amusing sisters – Patricia Anne (“Mouse”) and Mary Alice (“Sister”). The eight books in this series follow the adventures of some of our favorite sleuths, Mouse and Sister.

Mouse and Sister are quite different in appearance and personality. In the first book, we meet Mouse who is 60 years old and a retired school teacher. Sister is her elder by five years. Sister is the opposite of Mouse in most ways. Sister is quite large and Mouse is very skinny. Mouse has been married to one man for nearly 40 years while Sister has been widowed three times >>> and all of her husbands were rich, as in rich! Sister is the type of woman who dresses and acts flamboyantly. When she enters a room she gets attention. Mouse is a more quiet woman, but much of the humor in the books is due to Mouse’s sharp tongue and quick wit. Despite their differences, the sisters obviously love each other very much.

At the beginning of the first book in the series, Murder on a Girls’ Night Out, Sister has just bought a dance hall >>> the “Scoot & Boot” where she and her current boyfriend have been line dancing once a week. When Sister takes Mouse to see the place, they discover a body and the mystery begins.

The books are set in and around Birmingham, Alabama which is not exactly a small town, but the sisters and their families provide a Cozy atmosphere. Each has several children, with the travails of their unmarried daughters featuring prominently.

This series is a fun read. The only thing wrong with the series is that there are only eight books, released from 1996 through 2001. Unfortunately, Anne George passed away before she could give us more Mouse and Sister sleuthing adventures.

I can say without hesitation that Anne George is one of my favorite authors. If you are looking for a Cozy full of lots of fun and a great funny-but-warm relationship between the main characters, I highly recommend you try this series. I like this series so much that way back in 2007 I featured it in another post! And, this series is so popular that a few years ago we created an entry “Authors Similar to Anne George” which has a number of good recommendations. However, Anne George, was truly one of a kind.

P.S. If you’re interested in other entries about some highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Mystery Series

January 15, 2016

The Hannah Swensen Mystery Series (sometimes called the Cookie Jar Mystery Series) by Joanne Fluke is another of the most recommended series by Cozy Mystery site readers on the monthly Cozy recommendation lists. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (published in 2000), is the first in what now extends to more than 20 mystery novels and novellas.

These mysteries are so popular with Cozy readers for good reasons, which is why the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel chose to feature Hannah in their rotating series of mystery movies. Hannah is a classic Cozy Mystery character. Hannah is an (almost) thirty-ish woman who moved back to her hometown, Lake Eden, after her father who had owned the town’s hardware store passed away. Hannah came back to Lake Eden at the request of her younger and more glamorous sister, Andrea, who along with her even younger sister Michelle, could not cope with their mother who was a “basket case” when their father died. Moving back to town was okay with Hannah since she was tired of pursuing her PhD in English (maybe because of at least one failed romance!).

Lake Eden is a small town in Minnesota which borders on Eden Lake. The distinction between Lake Eden and Eden Lake confuses visitors to the town, and there are a lot of visitors because the lake is a vacation draw in the summer. The town swells in the summer months to nearly four times its normal population of 3000.

All of the elements of a great modern Cozy series are here. After Hannah moved back to town, she opened a bakery/coffee shop at the suggestion of her sister, Andrea. Andrea is conveniently married to a police officer (hopefully soon to be a detective), Bill. With her frizzy red hair, ultra casual dressing style, and 20 pounds or so to lose, Hannah considers herself frumpy and unsophisticated next to her glamorous sister (who sells real estate); and yet, the eligible men in Lake Eden seem to circle around Hannah like bees around flowers. To Hannah’s annoyance, her mother frequently interferes in Hannah’s life. Her mother is especially concerned with what her mother considers Hannah’s lack of a love life. And, Hannah has a half-blind 25 pound tomcat, Moishe, who features prominently in her home life.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is a fun read. Hannah gets involved in solving the murder mystery because she discovers the body (who was eating one of her chocolate chip cookies when he died) and to help her brother-in-law, Bill, who is trying to make detective. Between her coffee shop, the Cookie Jar, and her catering refreshments to every club, group or meeting in Lake Eden, Hannah has ample opportunity to gather information by talking to what seems like nearly everyone in Lake Eden.

The mystery is the type I especially enjoy because it is fair to the reader; all the clues are given to the reader who has an equal chance with Hannah to solve the case. The main characters are interesting and the setting has the charm of a small town. Finally, the icing on the cake (yes, pun intended!) are the many detailed recipes (cookies and candy in the first book) scattered around the books.

The Kindle edition currently includes a Christmas novella, Candy for Christmas, which is a cute little Cozy Mystery that does not include a murder. I guess the novella is really the icing on the icing!

I know we have lots of other Hannah Swensen readers, so if you’d like to add something to this entry, please post a comment. (Please try not to give away too many things from future Hannah Swensen books >>> since some people will be starting the series.) Thanks!

P.S. If you’re interested in other entries about some highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series

January 5, 2016

I know it’s been a while since I last did one of these, but I thought I’d take the time to discuss another of the most recommended Cozy Mystery series that people really love >>> and for good reason! (I’m amongst the people who love it.)

This time I’ll be discussing a delightful period piece mystery series set in England during the 1920s, the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series by Carola Dunn. Daisy Dalrymple is a young upper-class woman who could be living in her family’s estate supported by relatives. Instead she works for a living, as a journalist >>> at least partially because she doesn’t want to be taking money from said relatives.

Still, she isn’t too proud to trade on her family name to help ensure at least a moderate amount of success >>> as she does in the first book in the series, Death at Wentwater Court, where she uses her family name to arrange an opportunity to begin a series of articles on country manor houses, beginning with a Christmas visit to Wentwater.

Of course, she isn’t the only guest for the holidays – the thoroughly unpleasant Lord Stephen Astwick also makes a surprise visit, half-invited by one of the sons of the household. As with any unlikable guest in a Cozy Mystery, it quickly develops that almost everyone in the house has a reason to dislike Lord Astwick >>> so it’s no surprise when he turns up dead in a tragic early morning skating accident. Of course, not all is as it seems, and when young Chief Inspector Alec Fletching turns up, Daisy is quick to point out that this just might not have been an accident at all.

One thing I particularly like about this series (beyond the setting – I’m partial to British Cozies, regardless of their time period) is that the relationship doesn’t seem particularly forced between Daisy and Alec. Death at Wentwater Court in particular does a fairly good job of working Daisy and Alec into a somewhat believable relationship, where Daisy’s involvement in the case seems to develop almost organically, without her necessarily pushing forward. Instead, pressed by a lack of manpower due to the holiday season and presented with a fellow “outsider” who seems reliable, the pair are forced to work together in a relatively natural fashion.

Since Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series is one of the most recommended Cozies in our monthly recommendations, I know there are lots of other Daisy Dalrymple-readers. If you’d like to add something to this entry, please post a comment. (I know it’s difficult to not add spoilers, but since some people will be starting the series, please try to not give away any of the future books’ action.) Thanks!

P.S. If you’re interested in other entries about some highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

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