It is difficult for me to believe that we have already gone through the first month in 2015! School is back in session, winter is still upon us, and it’s a great time of the year to get a lot of Cozy Mystery reading done.

I hope you all have spent some time this month reading terrific Cozy Mysteries. I have! I discovered a new-to-me author who I have added to my list of Favorite Authors, and I have spent time with already-known-to-me favorite authors who have continued to keep my Cozy Mystery reading a favorite past time.

I am currently reading From the Charred Remains by Susanna Calkins. This is the second in her Lucy Campion Mystery Series. Lucy has gone from being a chamber maid to becoming an apprentice with a printmaker. I am enjoying this historical Cozy Mystery a lot! Rather than repeat everything I have written about before, I am going to refer you to my previous entry recommending Susanna Calkins’ Lucy Campion series: Susanna Calkins, Author of A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate : My Newest Favorite Author

It is at this time that I will ask you all to tell us about an extremely good Cozy Mystery you have read this January, and please tell us why you think this Cozy Mystery is better than the other Cozies you read this month. (If you read more than one terrific Cozy Mystery during January, please tell us about the other two, three, or even more that you consider to be better than the rest.)

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the mystery books you read that you didn’t like.]

What terrific Cozy Mystery book(s) did you read during January 2015 that you think the rest of us would definitely enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it (them)?

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

Kathy Aarons: Chocolate Covered Mystery Series

Tasha Alexander: Lady Emily Mystery Series

Ella Barrick (aka Laura DiSilverio & Lila Dare): Ballroom Dance Mystery Series

Lorraine Bartlett (aka Lorna Barrett & L.L. Resnick): Victoria Square Mystery Series

Melissa Bourbon (aka Misa Ramirez): Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series

Susanna Calkins: Lucy Campion Mystery Series

Kate Carlisle: Fixer-Upper Mystery Series

Maia Chance: Snow White Red-Handed (book #1 in Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Series)

Edie Claire: Leigh Koslow “Never” Mystery Series

Jane K. Cleland: Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Series

J.J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mystery Series

E.J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Paws and Claws Mystery Series

Ilsa Evans: Nell Forrest Mystery Series (Forbidden Fruit is book #1)

Susan Hoskinson Frommer: Joan Spencer Mystery Series

Kerry Greenwood: Corinna Chapman Mystery Series

Janice Hamrick: Jocelyn Shore Mystery Series

Susannah Hardy: Greek to Me Mystery Series (Feta Attraction is book #1)

Charlaine Harris: Aurora Teagarden Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series

Lynne Hinton: Sister Eve, Private Eye (book #1 in Divine Private Detective Agency Mystery Series

Christine Husom: Snow Way Out (book #1 in Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series)

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

Victoria Laurie: Ghost Hunter Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Renaissance Faire Mystery Series

Elizabeth Lee (aka Elizabeth KAne Buzzelli): Nut House Mystery Series

Catherine Lloyd: Death Comes to the Village (book #1 in Kurland St. Mary Mystery Series)

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

Karen MacInerney: Gray Whale Inn Mystery Series

Margaret Maron: Sigrid Harald Mystery Series

Laura Morrigan: Call of the Wilde Mystery Series

Anne Perry: Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Mystery Series

Ann Purser: Lois Meade Mystery Series

Hannah Reed (aka Deb Baker): Scottish Highlands Mystery Series

Barbara Ross: Maine Clambake Mystery Series

Dell Shannon (aka Leslie Egan, Elizabeth Linington, & Anne Blaisdell): Luis Mendoza Mystery Series

Charles Todd: Ian Rutledge Mystery Series

Elaine Viets: Dead-End Job Mystery Series

Lea Wait: Mainely Needlepoint 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.]

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

P.S. While I try to respond to all of the comments that are made on the Cozy Mystery blog, I generally don’t respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries.

We’re all going to have to remember to write (or type) 2015 in just a few days! Where has this past year gone?

I know this is a very busy time of year for a lot of us, but I wonder if you could find the time to tell us about an extremely good Cozy Mystery book you read during December. Also, please tell us why you consider this Cozy to be so good that it stands out from the rest of the Cozies you read during the month. Please only tell us about the Cozies that were much better than the rest of the other Cozy Mystery books you read during December. Of course, if you read only one or two Cozy Mysteries this month, and liked both of them a lot, then please tell us about them.

I’m going to start by saying I’m currently in the middle of an Inspector Wexford mystery by Ruth Rendell. I know he’s an inspector, so he doesn’t qualify for the amateur sleuth category, but I think of these mysteries as more Cozy à la Agatha Christie style than police procedural. Rather than write the reason for my recommendation, I will refer you to two entries I wrote about why I like Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford mysteries so much:

Ruth Rendell: From Doon with Death, Reginald Wexford, Revisited

Ruth Rendell…. Timeless….

There’s a reason the  Crime Writers’ Association (British) added two of Ruth Rendell’s books to their Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and the Mystery Writers of America added one of her mysteries to their  Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list!

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the mystery books you read that you didn’t like.]

What terrific Cozy Mystery book(s) did you read during December 2014 that you think the rest of us would definitely enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it (them)?

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

Victoria Abbott (Mary Jane Maffini & Victoria Maffini): Book Collector Mystery Series

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

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Donald Bain: Capital Crimes Mystery Series

Juliet Blackwell (aka Hailey Lind): Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Royal Spyness Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Fethering Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Cycle Path Mystery Series

Rita Mae Brown: Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series

Molly Cox Bryan: Cumberland Creek Mystery Series

Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib): Key West Food Critic Mystery Series

Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series

V.C. Clinton-Baddeley: No Case for the Police

Shelley Costa: Miracolo Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Kathi Daley: Zoe Donovan Mystery Series

Evelyn David: Ghosts of Lottawatah Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Cyril Hare: An English Murder (Stand Alone)

Sherry Harris: Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery Series (Tagged for Death – book #1)

Carolyn Hart: Bailey Ruth Ghost Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series

Lee Hollis: Hayley Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery Series

Maria Hudgins: Lacy Glass Archaeology Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Southern Ladies Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Cats in the Stacks Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Death and Taxes Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly (aka Sofie Ryan): Magical Cats Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Retired Witches Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Pet Psychic Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Renaissance Faire Mystery Series

T.C. LoTempio: Nick and Nora Mystery Series (Meow If It’s Murder – book #1)

Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter Shandy Mystery Series

Susan Elia MacNeal: Maggie Hope Mystery Series

Rose Pressey: A Haunted Vintage Mystery (If You’ve Got It, Haunt It – book #1)

Ann Purser: Lois Meade Mystery Series

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Hannah Reed (aka Deb Baker): Scottish Highlands Mystery Series

Ruth Rendell: Inspector Wexford Mystery Series

Ruth Rendell: The Girl Next Door 

Connie Shelton: Samantha Sweet 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.]

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

P.S. While I try to respond to all of the comments that are made on the Cozy Mystery blog, I generally don’t respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries.

I can hardly believe it is almost December! I don’t know whether this is because the year seems to have gone by so fast, or if it’s because I just remembered to take the recycling out a half hour ago, and I didn’t even need to wear a sweater over my elbow-length-sleeves shirt while running the bin down to the curb. It just doesn’t seem like we should be so close to 2015!

This is the time of the month where I ask you to please tell us if you read an extremely good Cozy Mystery book during November, and tell us what made that Cozy Mystery stand out as being so good. Please only tell us about the Cozies that were much better than the rest of the other Cozy Mystery books you read during November. Of course, if you read only one or two Cozy Mysteries this month, and liked both of them a lot, then please tell us about them.

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the mystery books you read that you didn’t like.]

What Cozy Mystery book (or author) have you read during November 2014, and why did you enjoy it (or him/her)?

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

Ellery Adams (aka Jennifer Stanley, J.B. Stanley, 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Books by the Bay Mystery Series

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Lorna Barrett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & L.L. Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series

Juliet Blackwell (Hailey Lind): A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series

Kate Carlise: Fixer-Upper Mystery Series

Maia Chance: Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Series (Snow White Red-Handed is book #1)

Ann Cleeves: Vera Stanhope Mystery Series 

V.C. Clinton-Baddeley: Dr. Davie Mystery Series (Death’s Bright Dart is book #1)

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series

Georgette Heyer: Superintendent Hannasyde Mystery Series

Lee Hollis: Hailey Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery Series

Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series

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

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series

Hannah Reed (aka Deb Baker): Scottish Highlands Mystery Series

Jean Rowden: Thorny Deepbriar Mystery Series (Gone Astray is book #1)

Annelise Ryan (aka Allyson K. Abbott & Beth Amos): Mattie Winston Mystery Series

Hank Phillippi Ryan: Jane Ryland Mystery Series

Del Shannon (aka Leslie Egan, Elizabeth Linington, & Anne Blaisdell): Luis Mendoza Mystery Series

Charles Todd: Ian Rutledge Mystery Series

Diane Vallere: Material Witness Mystery Series

Elaine Viets: Mystery Shopper Mystery Series

Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver 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.]

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

P.S. While I try to respond to all of the comments that are made on the Cozy Mystery blog, I generally don’t respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries.