The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Ellen Byron: Cajun Country Mystery Series

Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery Today I’ll be writing about one of the more popular Cozy Mystery series in recent years, Ellen Byron‘s Cajun Country Mystery Series, and specifically the first entry, Plantation Shudders.

In some ways, it might be a bit surprising to hear that Ellen Byron is one of the more recommended authors in the recent Cozy Mystery recommendations posts. After all, she only has a single series, and it has only had three books released, one per year since the first entry came out Many authors nowadays are putting out three (or more!) books a year, often several different series at the same time, at a pace that personally I can find a bit overwhelming – there’s only so much time in a day after all!

So it can be very refreshing when a quality author is obviously spending their time to “get it right”, releasing one well-written, carefully crafted book per year rather than releasing an endless stream of new series in a hope that something will stick. Looking at Byron’s writing credits, it’s easy to see why she’s gotten so popular so quickly. She might be relatively new to Cozies, but she’s certainly no stranger to comedic writing, with credits to episodes from popular sitcoms such as Wings and Just Shoot Me!.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Plantation Shudders is far more polished than the average debut novel has any right to be. Most authors take a bit of time to really get their stride and discover their writing voice, but the Cajun Country Mystery Series started strong, and it isn’t any surprise that the debut novel (and other entries since) have had multiple award nominations. Indeed, Body on the Bayou, the second entry, won a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel in 2017.

In addition to being one of the better written Cozies that has come out in recent years, Plantation Shudders also benefits from having a great setting in Pelican, a small town in Louisiana, and the Crozat family plantation, now converted into a bed and breakfast. Pelican and the Crozat plantation both give a feeling of the civil gentility of the old south, but the novel doesn’t shy away from addressing some of the darker elements of the old south, which can be a refreshing change from some settings in Cozies that seem to be entirely positive portrayals. (Aside from the surprising murder rates of course!)

The Crozat family, including the sleuth herself, Maggie Crozat, are also enjoyable and likable without becoming “over the top” or “zany” in inappropriate places. For example, Maggie’s Gran is portrayed as a fiesty older woman with plenty of spirit left in her – but she’s also an older woman, and it’s clear that the events of the novel make her more tired than normal, which is a surprisingly realistic and sympathetic reaction to such high stress situations as murder investigations (well, at least to someone else who is finding herself slowing down a bit in recent years…).

If you’re looking for a strong, well-written, modern Cozy with a great setting and interesting characters, I highly recommend giving the Cajun Country Mystery Series by Ellen Byron a try!

PS: For those looking for interesting looking Cajun-inspired recipes, be sure to check out the end of the book, as it has several great looking recipes!

To see others of the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series, click here.

M. C. Beaton: Hamish Macbeth Mysteries

Hamish Macbeth. What a name for a sleuth! A small remote town in the Scottish Highlands. What a location for a mystery series!

I know I’ve mentioned (a whole lot of times!) that M. C. Beaton has been one of my very favorite Cozy Mystery authors for many years. She writes not one, but two series which I considered my very favorite series. Quite a while ago, I started reading the Agatha Raisin books, and I loved them. Then I discovered the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series, the first books of which were published way back in the mid 1980s (even before the Agatha Raisin series), and I loved them even more!

Even though both of these series began so long ago, M. C. Beaton continues to write new books and both series are often still recommended by site readers.

I recently re-read the first of the Hamish books, Death of a Gossip as part of my quest to read or re-read the first books of some of the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series. In Death of a Gossip, we are introduced to the red-haired, laconic and seemingly lazy Hamish Macbeth, the only constable in the small Scottish village of Lochdubh.

The setup for the story is that of a very classic Cozy Mystery: in this case, a small number of strangers are thrown together in a small group to spend a week learning how to fish in the Scottish Highlands. Before you know it, one of the party is murdered, and just about everyone else is a potential suspect with at least a plausible motive to have hated the victim enough to kill. Of course, big town detectives are called in the try to solve the crime, but Hamish is able to outwit the killer and beat the police detectives to the solution — even though Hamish was told not to work on the case.

The book also introduces a potential love interest for Hamish (the daughter of the local rich land owner), Hamish’s beloved dog Towser, and a number of other people who live in the small town.

This is a short (less than 200 pages) and fun read with a tight plot, interesting characters and very little extraneous material. It is the kind of book that leaves me wanting more, and luckily, there are 27 more books in the series so there is, indeed, a lot more! I highly recommend the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series by M. C. Beaton.

By the way, there was a British TV series produced in the 1990s with some of the same characters, but don’t expect a strong correlation between the two. The location is the same, but Hamish in the shows is not too similar to Hamish in the books. I did enjoy the TV shows but only after accepting that I was not going to see the Hamish that I had always imagined when reading the books. The Hamish Macbeth TV series is available on Acorn TV.

To see others of the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series, click here.

Kerry J Charles: Dulcie Chambers Mystery Series

Kerry J Charles is another Cozy Mystery author who I am adding to the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series page on my site. Charles has worked for some very prestigious places: Harvard University, the Smithsonian, and the National Geographic Magazine. Her duties have ranged all the way from researcher to editor. She has her Master’s degree in Art History and uses her art knowledge when writing this Cozy series.

Dulcie (Dulcinea) Chambers is the main character/sleuth of the Dulcie Chambers Mystery Series, and she is the curator of the Maine Museum of Art. I have read both of the first two Cozies in this series – both of which focused on crimes that involved the art world. However, these are mystery books, not  “how-to, step-by-step” type of books that get bogged down with the details of the art theme.

Dulcie is an unusual sleuth in that she is somewhat of an introvert. She functions well in the nine-to- five duties of her job, but she isn’t crazy about the after-hour functions her job requires her to perform. However, Nicholas Black (police detective) makes some of these after-hour functions more positive for Dulcie – even though these “functions” revolve around murder. (Lucky for Dulcie that Nick needs help with the artistic details!)

Because Dulcie and Nick grew up in the town, they both have some knowledge of the people. Dulcie and her brother, Dan, grew up in the fishing boat area and Nick comes from “across the tracks” (so to speak) and has a very privileged background. So, between them both, they pretty much have the citizens of Portland, Maine covered!

The characters are well-developed and smart; even the very minor characters have backstories. I enjoy Kerry J Charles‘ writing style. Her writing seems polished and smooth.

I appreciate the author writing these Cozies without using the “300 page rule” – which sometimes makes books seem very padded to me. Sorry, I know a lot of you feel like 300 is the ideal page count. (Thank goodness Agatha Christie didn’t have to stretch her books to today’s almost obligatory page count!)

Kerry J Charles interjects a possible love interest for Dulcie – which has its ups and downs. But since this is a Cozy Mystery series and not a romance mystery series, it’s just enough romance for me.

If you’re looking for a new Cozy Mystery series that features smart people and good writing >>>I recommend the Dulcie Chambers Mystery Series by Kerry J Charles.

If you are interested in reading some of the other entries about highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

PS: As several people have mentioned in the comments, the first entry in this series is free on Kindle, so if you have one, that’s definitely a great way to check the series out!

Dorothy Gilman: Mrs. Pollifax Mystery Series

Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax Mysteries is the next in my series of most popular and recommended Cozies. Before I begin, I have to give this disclaimer: this series is not really about a Cozy Mystery sleuth. Rather, Mrs. Pollifax is a woman from New Jersey who while in her 60s is bored after losing her husband and who volunteers with the CIA to be a spy. So the books are really more in the line of spy novels with some strongly Cozy elements.

In The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, the series begins on a strong note with Mrs. Pollifax becoming a CIA courier whose mission was supposed to be a simple job to pick up some information in Mexico City. The book was first published way back in 1966 which was right in the middle of the Cold War, so there are plenty of potential adversaries who could be very interested in the information that Mrs. Pollifax is supposed to bring back home. Needless to say, the mission turns out to be a bit more difficult and complicated than it was supposed to be!

Mrs. Pollifax is a delightful character who is a resourceful person who can talk, charm, and sometimes shoot herself out of jam after jam. She has a way about her that is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, of course because of her age, but also because of her unassuming demeanor backed up by extraordinary intelligence and wit.

I recently finished re-reading this first book of the series, which for me was actually listening to the audio book. I decided to re-listen to it mainly because the Audible version is narrated by the wonderful Barbara Rosenblat. She is one of my very favorite narrators. I know I have talked about her before, but I just have to say that she brings the books she narrates so much to life that listening to them seems like watching movies. (And, as I have mentioned in the past, originally, I listened to all of the Mrs. Pollifax books. My library actually had the cassettes. >>> That’s how long it has been since I listened to them!)

Speaking of movies, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax has been made into two movies, Mrs. Pollifax-Spy in 1970 starring the delightful Rosalind Russell, and The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax starring the also delightful Angela Lansbury in a 1999 made-for-television version >> I don’t believe I have seen this version.

Mrs. Pollifax is one of my very favorite Cozy Mystery characters even while not being a traditional Cozy Mystery sleuth who solves murder mysteries.

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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