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

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – December 2018

I hope everyone’s been having a great holiday season! December is coming to an end, and with it the end of the year. So now’s a great time to discuss our Cozy Mystery recommendations for the month!

If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read Charlotte MacLeod’s Peter Shandy Mystery Series, an old favorite of mine that I hadn’t read in a while that happened to start with a Christmas book. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!

So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in December? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)

As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery did you read during December 2018 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Jeffrey Allen (aka Jeff Shelby): Stay At Home Dad Mystery Series

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Maymee Bell (aka Tonya Kappes): Southern Cake Baker Mystery Series

Stephanie Blackmoore: Wedding Planner Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Molly Murphy Mystery Series

Anne Celeste Burke: Georgia Shaw Cozy Mystery Series (fist entry Murder at Catmmando Mountain)

Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series

Leena Clover: Meera Patel Mystery Series (first entry Gone with the Wings)

Diane Mott Davidson: Goldy Bear Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Pen & Ink Mystery Series

Carole Nelson Douglas: Midnight Louis & Temple Barr Mystery Series

Kaitlyn Dunnett (aka Kathy Lynn Emerson): Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series

Kay Finch: Bad Luck Cat Mystery Series

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Magic Garden Mystery Series

Sarah Fox: Literary Pub Mystery Series

Jacqueline Frost (aka Julie Chase & Julie Anne Lindsey): Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Series

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames): Cookbook Nook Mystery Series

Sally Goldenbaum: Seaside Knitters Society Mystery Series

Hazel Holt: Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

M. Louisa Locke: Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series

Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter Shandy Mystery Series AND Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn Mystery Series AND Inspector Madoc Rhys Mystery Series

Faith Martin: Hillary Greene Mystery Series (first entry Murder on the Oxford Express)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Joe Grey Cat Mystery Series

Karen Musser Nortman: Mystery Sisters Mystery Series (first entry Reunion and Revenge)

Louise Penny: Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series

Shari Randall: Lobster Shack Mystery Series

Barbara Ross: Maine Clambake Mystery Series

Paige Shelton: Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series

Karen Rose Smith: Caprice de Luca Mystery Series

Lea Wait (aka Cornelia Kidd): Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series

Ovidia Yu: Singaporean Mystery Series (first entry Aunty Lee’s Delights)

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

 

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – November 2018

November is coming to an end, and I hope that all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have had a great holiday season so far!

If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter Mystery Series, a series that isn’t completely Cozy but I feel close enough to it to include in this list. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!

So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in November? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)

As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery did you read during November 2018 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Winnie Archer (aka Melissa Bourbon & Misa Ramirez): Bread Shop Mystery Series

Sandra Balzo: Maggy Thorsen Mystery Series

Bethany Blake: Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery Series

Kathleen Bridge: Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Cycle Path Mystery Series

Ellen Byron: Cajun Country Mystery Series

Maya Corrigan: Five-Ingredient Mystery Series

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Magic Garden Mystery Series

Sarah Fox: Pancake House Mystery Series

Jacqueline Frost (aka Julie Chase & Julie Anne Lindsey): Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Series

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames): Cookbook Nook Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series

Mary Ellen Hughes: Keepsake Cove Mystery Series

G. A. McKevett: Granny Reid Mystery Series

Teresa Michael: Mariposa Cafe Mystery Series (first entry Murder in Mariposa Beach)

Holly Quinn: Handcrafted Mystery Series (first entry A Crafter Knits a Clue)

David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Mystery Series

Dorothy Simpson: Inspector Thanet Mystery Series

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – October 2018

Well, October is ending, and an early happy Halloween to you all!

If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read Nancy Coco’s Candy Coated Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!

So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in October? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)

As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery did you read during October 2018 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Susan Wittig Albert: Darling Dahlias Mystery Series

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Sloan Krause Mystery Series AND Sloan Krause Mystery Series

Mary Angela: Professor Prather Mystery Series (first entry An Act of Murder)

Winnie Archer (aka Melissa Bourbon & Misa Ramirez): Bread Shop Mystery Series

Peter Bartram: Deadline Murder Mystery Series (first entry The Tango School Mystery)

Janie Bolitho: Rose Trevelyan Mystery Series

Ginger Bolton (aka Janet Bolin): Deputy Donut Mystery Series

Julia Buckley: Undercover Dish Mystery Series

Kennedy Chase: Harley Hill Mystery Series (first entry Murder on the Hill)

Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra & Nell Hampton): Candy-Coated Mystery Series

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Victorian Village Mystery Series

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Country Store Mystery Series

Barbara Early (aka Beverly Allen): Vintage Toy Shop Mystery Series

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series

Victoria Gilbert: Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series

Jennifer David Hesse: Wiccan Wheel Mystery Series (first entry Midsummer Night’s Mischief)

Carol Dean James: Quilting Mystery Series (first entry Tie Died)

Kylie Logan  (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): League of Literary Ladies Mystery Series

Colette London: Chocolate Whisperer Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

Louise Penny: Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series

Dorothy St. James: Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series

Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

Nancy Coco: Candy-Coated Mystery Series

This month, as part of my on-going series highlighting the most popular and recommended Cozy mystery series, I’ll be discussing another relatively newer series, Nancy Coco‘s Candy-Coated Mystery Series. Specifically, I’ll be discussing the first book in the series, All Fudged Up.

As is so often the case in Cozies, the series begins with a girl coming home to her small town after getting fed up with big city living. Well… this time, it’s actually more like a long-planned return, as Allie McMurphy has been studying in the big city to earn both a cooking degree and a degree in hotel management so she can take over the old family business, in this case an old run down hotel and fudge shop in Mackinac Island, Michigan, in Lake Huron. Allie may not have been raised on the island, as her father wanted nothing to do with the old family business or small town living, but Allie had spent large parts of her childhood there and fallen in love with both the hotel and community.

Unfortunately, the return is a bittersweet one. She had originally planned to learn from her grandfather over the course of months if not years, as he relaxed in semi-retirement as she took over the business. However, just a few months after her arrival, he suffered from a fatal heart attack. Still, Allie is determined to stay on, despite most of the locals assuming that she’ll be running back to the mainland soon enough.

The book doesn’t start there, though. Instead, it does what more Cozies could probably stand to do, and begins right from the beginning with a dead body – in this case, the dead body of one of Allie’s rival hotel owners she locates in one of her storage rooms. The deceased was also a very beloved member of the community, and increasing questioning from the community if Allie had something to do with his death further increase Allie’s woes regarding her tight schedule to renovate the hotel before the beginning of the busy tourist season.

One interesting thing about All Fudged Up is that Allie doesn’t seem to consider solving the murder the first and foremost thing on her mind for most of the novel. Indeed, it often feels like she’s actually… assuming that the police will catch the killer! As a result, she does spend significantly less time sleuthing out the murder than is often the case in Cozies, and instead more of the novel seems to focus on her efforts to both deal with her hotel’s renovations as well as deal with the community of Mackinac. And as is usually the case in more modern Cozies, there are a number of potential romance interests involved in the case in one way or another.

Though this series may be the only mystery series under the name Nancy Coco, Coco also writes several others under different pseudonyms. Under the names Nancy J. Parra, she writes the Wine Country Mystery Series, starring the owner of a family winery in Sonoma, California, the Baker’s Treat Mystery Series, starring a gluten-free baker in Kansas, and the Perfect Proposals Mystery Series, starring an event planner specializing in proposals. She also writes the Kensington Palace Chef Mystery Series starring a personal chef to the royal family under the name Nell Hampton.

PS: For those who may be swayed by this sort of fact (and I know there are plenty of you out there!), this series does in fact include a number of recipes, all of them fudge in consideration of the novel’s theme.

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