The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series

The series I’m highlighting this month for my ongoing project to write something about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery Series is a more recent release, but is nevertheless highly popular if recommendations are any indication. This month we’re covering the first entry in Lynn Cahoon‘s Tourist Trap Mystery Series, Guidebook to Murder. Though Cahoon has only been writing since 2014 (with this book, actually), she’s already released many books over three series, and has several more already scheduled for release both this year and next.

This is one of the most “modern” Cozies I’ve covered for this series, and it’s definitely easy to see the modern Cozy influences. The sleuth, Jill Gardner, is a former lawyer from the big city who decided she needed a change of pace when her marriage and career had both hit low points – the marriage ended, the career stalled in a job she didn’t enjoy. Naturally (for a Cozy at least!) she decided to take this opportunity to follow up her long-running dream of opening a coffeeshop/bookshop in the small town of South Cove, California.

Unfortunately, where a new career goes, murder is sure to follow in a Cozy. In this case, the unfortunate victim is Jill’s elderly friend, Miss Emily, the woman who had originally convinced her to move down to South Cove. Miss Emily didn’t particularly care for her few living relatives, and as a result the death leaves her entire estate in Jill’s hands – much to the consternation of not only the jilted next of kin, but also a potential illegitimate descendant, a sleazy real estate developer, and the town’s unpleasant mayor, all of whom want Miss Emily’s house for its lucrative location. Fortunately, hunky local cop Greg is there for Jill as she endures first threats, then inevitable assaults and attempts on her life. And that’s not mentioning another of Jill’s friends going missing, a load of potentially valuable artwork in the barn, or the possibility of missing Spanish gold!

Though many of the elements of the novel are relatively common in modern Cozies, it’s definitely worth noting that Cahoon’s writing definitely elevates the book above many of the other novels with otherwise very similar themes that you might already have read. One specific element that definitely requires consideration is the romance element – for some readers this might be a plus, for others a negative, but it’s definitely more prominent than in many other similar series this early in.  Either way, this is a very solid beginning to a conventional Cozy Mystery series with a lot of enjoyable modern trappings.

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.

Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael Mysteries

Next in my posts discussing the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series is Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael Mysteries.  I think this series is so terrific that I first discussed it way back in 2006. In that post I talked about the great TV series starring Sir Derek Jacobi. Upon rereading the first Cadfael mystery, A Morbid Case for Bones , first published in 1978, I remembered just how really good the books are and that they are equal to or even better than those great TV productions.

The books tell the story of Brother Cadfael who is a monk in the Benedictine Abbey at Shrewsbury in 12th century England. Brother Cadfael came to the order later in life after having participated in the Crusades. He is a healer and he spends much of his time tending to his herb garden – from which he concocts many healing salves, lotions and potions.

Brother Cadfael is a keen observer of life, and he has great empathy for people. Of course, his observational skills come in handy when the occasional murder comes his way. What he learned in his past life in the wars also comes in handy in that he is a veritable forensic specialist when it comes to examining crime scenes and bodies while searching for the little bits of evidence that help solve the mysteries.

In A Morbid Case for Bones we meet Brother Cadfael as the monks of Shrewsbury are about to send an expedition to a town on the other side of the Welsh border in order to bring back a Welsh saint’s bones to reside permanently in the Abbey. Brother Cadfael, being Welsh by birth, is chosen to go on the expedition to act as a translator.

Naturally, the folks in the little Welsh town where Saint Winifred’s remains are currently buried are not too keen to see her go. So, there is a conflict between the expedition’s leader, Prior Robert, an officious, aristocratic monk, and some of the leaders of the town. Before long, there is a body discovered, and it is left to Brother Cadfael to begin his detective work.

As good as the TV shows are (and they are very good), I think the books, as books often do, allow for more complicated secondary story lines as well as for greater depth of the characters, especially of the secondary characters. But, don’t expect that the books in this series are light summer reading! Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) was a terrific story teller, and I highly recommend these books. However, the books are full of the details of 12 century English/Welsh life, including the monastic life of the time, and the violent politics of the period. Very few Cozy Mysteries provide as much history and background information as these do!

I love this series so much that I have now read them, listened to them on Audible, and of course watched all of the TV episodes more than once. The TV series is currently available on BritBox.

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.

Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot Mysteries

A few weeks ago, I was looking at the list of Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series and was surprised to see that I had never written about any of the series written by Agatha Christie! So, in order to correct that oversight, I picked up the first book in the Hercule Poirot series and re-read, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The Hercule Poirot series preceded the also very popular Miss Marple series by a full ten years. So, although I think that Miss Marple is the prototypical Cozy sleuth, I decided to start with Poirot, who is also one of my favorites. I have written about Poirot a few times before, but never specifically about the books. Among other mentions of Poirot, I wrote about David Suchet’s portrayal of Poirot, I used the first Poirot book as an example of a Cozy with a first person narrator, and I wrote about the Peter Ustinov movies where he played Poirot.

First, let me say that although the Poirot books do not meet all the characteristics that I describe in my definition of a Cozy (since Poirot is usually a paid private investigator and not an amateur sleuth), I do believe that the Poirot books are Cozy Mysteries since most of the features of Cozies are present.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the start of Poirot’s career in England. Poirot had been a detective with the Belgian police before the war (First World War), but in this first book, we learn that Poirot is living as a refugee from the conflict in England in the village of Styles St. Mary which is near the country house of Styles Court. Arthur Hastings, who had met Poirot in Belgium, is convalescing after being wounded in the war in the country house as the guest of John Cavendish, the step-son of Mrs Inglethorpe. Mrs. Inglethorp who had formerly been married to John’s father has recently remarried Alfred Inglethorp who is either or despised by most of people living in Styles Court. Before long, as expected in a mystery story, there is a murder and Poirot is brought in to help find the culprit.

This first book of the series has many of the hallmarks of Poirot’s finest adventures. Hastings is the narrator. Hastings fancies himself as something of a sleuth himself, but of course he is always several steps (if not miles) behind Poirot. Nevertheless, Hastings is one of my favorite Agatha Christie characters and I have to say that his absence in some of the later Poirot books makes them somewhat less enjoyable to me. Here we also meet Inspector Japp (later a Chief Inspector), who has a deep respect for Poirot. And, all of the characteristics of Poirot, including is egg-shaped head, his mustache, his insistence on “order and method” and his “little grey cells” are introduced here.

And, the plot has twists and complications that would have kept me guessing had I not read the book before and seen the story on the Suchet television series. Even knowing what was going to happen in the end did not diminish my enjoyment of the book. For such an early book by Christie (1920), her style and narrative ability are already clearly present. I really enjoyed re-reading it!

Click here to read more posts about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series.

P.S. Some of the available editions do not contain the original sketches of the crime scene and reproductions of some of the evidence that is collected. I think it is worth the time to find an edition that does.

Also, some reproductions of the early editions have a (very) few words are considered offensive and inappropriate (and rightly so) today.

Ali Brandon: Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series

Today I’ll be writing about another Cozy mystery series that has had a number of recommendations from readers, the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series by Ali Brandon, and specifically the first book, Double Booked for Death.

Former Dallas resident Darla Pettistone has recently moved from Texas to New York City to take over her deceased great-aunt’s bookstore. As in many Cozies, this business was inherited with a collection of eccentric employees and residents, including live-in security Jake, a retired female cop, Professor James St. James (and the name there really says it all), nervous middle aged college student Lizzie, and mean-tempered, surprisingly intelligent black cat Hamlet. Darla’s been setting in well for about six months when the story begins, but the store is always on the verge of falling out of the black and into debt, so she’s definitely looking forward to an upcoming book signing with a big-name supernatural romance writer, Valerie Baylor, with a mixture of trepidation and hope.

Well, it doesn’t take much to guess that Valerie Baylor’s visit will end in disaster rather than financial success, as the author dies unexpectedly during the signing. The death is quickly ruled a probable accident – she had apparently stepped into traffic while taking a brief smoke break.

Still, there were an awful lot of very good suspects, considering it was supposedly an accident. Valerie’s own employees seemed to dislike her, there was a lone protester who claimed Valerie had stolen her story, and a band of religious fundamentalists believing that her works were evil had sent a semi-threatening letter to Darla. Even one of Darla’s own employees felt insulted when Valerie failed to recognize her from a class that the two had attended together years before. So, when Hamlet turns up unexpected evidence that there might have been more to the case than first seemed evident, Darla feels obliged to investigate herself.

In many ways, Double Booked for Death feels like a classic example of a modern Cozy. With its cast of quirky characters and a sleuth just entering early middle age set out to put an unfulfilling career and an unreliable spouse behind her, Darla’s cozy little independent bookshop is certainly setting worthy of its quirky characters. The addition of a hunky detective and a semi-magical cat help finish the picture. Still, there are enough unusual elements present that the formula doesn’t quite enter into cliche territory yet remains comfortable and familiar. Taking place in New York City helps make the mystery feel a bit more metropolitan than many Cozies, and the fact that Darla has already been in place for long enough to establish herself means that the cast only needs to be introduced to the reader, not the sleuth, while still being fundamentally an outsider in a relatively insular community.

The book is also very well written, so the act of actually reading it is very easy – an unsurprising fact, considering Brandon has a degree in journalism. If I did have to express a complaint, however small, it is that at over 300 pages, it could be a slight bit “tighter” – and even that is apparently at least a bit addressed in the sequels, as each is about 30-40 pages shorter than Double Booked for Death.

Ali Brandon also wrote the Leonardo da Vinci Mystery Series as Diane A. S. Stuckart, so if you’re a fan of Ali Brandon, be sure to check it out as well!

PS: Unfortunately I’ve heard that this series has likely ended after six books, but the good news is that several new series by Ali Brandon/Diane A. S. Stuckart may be coming out soon, possibly under the name Anna Gerard. For more information on, check out the news articles I posted in August and September!

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