Most Popular and Recommended Mystery Series

Earlene Fowler: Benni Harper Mystery Series

December 28, 2020

This month, as another in my list of most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series, I’m covering Earlene Fowler‘s Benni Harper Mystery Series. Specifically, I read the first book, Fool’s Puzzle.

Fool’s Puzzle is a bit older than a lot of the novels I’ve covered lately, which are generally from the early 2000’s and 2010’s. The Benni Harper Series, on the other hand, is from the mid-’90s. That said, it does cover a lot of the modern conventions of the genre, making it feel very much like a predecessor of many of the modern Cozy series.

The novel stars Benni Harper, a relatively-recently widowed woman who has recently made a change in her life related to her bereavement. As a result, she has moved to San Celina, a nearby trendy California town, to pursue a new job as the director of the local folk-art museum. Despite this, the town is still close to her deceased husband’s family ranch, so she still keeps in regular contact with both her own family and her former in-laws.

Naturally, it doesn’t take too long for this new lifestyle to lead to the inevitable, which in mysteries means sudden death. In this case, Benni finds one of the artists who had been working late after hours at the artist co-op associated with the museum dead. Even more unfortunately, Benni also spotted her sister speeding away from the site, with reason to believe she might have been there – facts that she omits from her first report to temporary police chief, Gabe Ortiz, who is introduced as a sort of “big city” cop from Los Angeles filling in for the more provincial chief out on medical leave. Not to spoil too much, but naturally, as the investigation continues, there are plenty of twists and turns, and numerous other potential suspects turn up – and Benni starts to find Gabe more interesting on a personal level as well.

One thing I really appreciated about Fool’s Puzzle is that the mystery starts off almost right away. A lot of Cozies, particularly more recent ones, seem to spend a very long time leading up to the mystery. While this can do a good job of giving the location and cast distinct character, I definitely appreciate more of a “get straight to it” attitude more often than not, and this one gets to the murder at a pace I definitely appreciate.

Just as a warning, keep in mind when reading older material (and yes, I think this qualifies, written 25 years ago) that there might be some dated material. I don’t recall Benni herself doing anything particularly inappropriate (though standards may differ), but some of the other characters portrayed as more “country” might occasionally use language that might be considered offensive today (or then, most likely).

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Karen Rose Smith: Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery Series

November 11, 2020

I recently finished reading Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes, the first in a series by Karen Rose Smith, Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery series. This is next in my list of most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series. This is the second series by Karen Rose Smith, following her Caprice De Luca Mystery Series.

Murder With Lemon Tea Cakes follows the life of Daisy Swanson, the owner of “Daisy’s Tea Garden”, a shop in Willow Creek, a semi-tourist small town in Amish country near Lancaster. Daisy is 37, a widow, and has two teenage daughters, one of whom has just left for college.

There was a tradition in Daisy’s family that all the women were given flower names. Her mother’s name was Rose, her aunt’s name was Iris, and Daisy’s sister’s name was Camellia. Daisy had named her daughters Violet and Jasmine. But Jazzi never used her full name. She preferred her nickname.

As it happens in Cozy Mysteries, the small-town charm of Willow Creek is soon marred by a murder — right in the middle of the garden of “Daisy’s Tea Garden”, no less. The small-town police of Willow Creek seem to have no business trying to solve the mystery of who is the murderer. They are even more incompetent than is normal and are soon grilling Daisy’s Aunt Iris as their chief suspect.

Luckily, Daisy and her new friend, the proprietor of the nearby furniture store, Jonas, who is, coincidentally, a very eligible bachelor and an ex-police detective, are available to try to solve the mystery and clear Iris from this cloud of suspicion.

There is a subplot involving Jazzi who has a mystery of her own to solve. (Jonas helps with that one too). And, the story contains a lot of information about tea and goodies served with tea. At the end of the book, there are several original recipes. (If I baked – other than boxed/prepared types of things, I’d be very tempted to try them.)

The small town of Willow Creek is a very comforting place to visit. I am very glad the series is already up to book six. I always enjoy finding a new series that is already established…

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Sofie Ryan: Second Chance Cat Mystery Series

September 16, 2020

It seems to me not very long ago (but I see now that it was more than four years >> March of 2016!), I wrote about Sofie Kelly’s Magical Cat Mystery Series as part of my series of posts talking about the first book in series that are among the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series. This month I decided to read another book by the same author (this time writing as Sofie Ryan), the first in another series with a cat in the title, the Second Chance Cat Mystery Series’ first book, The Whole Cat and Caboodle.

The series revolves around Sarah Grayson, who owns and runs “Second Chance, the Repurpose Shop” in a small coastal town in Maine called North Harbor. Second Chance isn’t exactly a thrift shop. As Sarah describes it:

Second Chance was a cross between an antique store and a thrift shop. We sold furniture and housewares—many things repurposed from their original use, like the tub chair that in its previous life had actually been a tub. As for the name, the business was sort of a second chance—for the cat and for me. We’d been open only a few months and I was amazed at how busy we already were.

In fact, at the beginning of the story, Sarah had only been in town for a few months. She had returned to a place she dearly loved from childhood visits — where her grandmother lived after her late-night syndicated radio show had been canceled. After only a few months, Sarah’s new store was already a success. And, Sarah had already acquired Elvis, a big black cat that, as a stray in the town, had acquired a large scar across his nose. Before long, one of Sarah’s grandmother’s friends is found sitting beside a dead man, and the friend, Maddie, is accused of murder.

In a refreshing change, Sarah is not eager to begin her detecting career. Maddie’s friends, who are mostly elderly ladies, are though. Sarah is, however, very interested in trying to keep Maddie’s and Sarah’s grandmother’s friends out of trouble. And, after failing to persuade them to let the police do their job, Sarah reluctantly begins to participate in the sleuthing to try to keep them safe.

Of course, as you could guess from the title of the series and the title of the book, Elvis, the cat, plays a pretty big role. Sarah is convinced that Elvis can understand everything that people say, although she also believes that sometimes Elvis just isn’t interested enough to be listening. Be that as it may, although Elvis is not overtly magical, he sure is smart and plays a part in almost every scene in the book.

Finally, there are several eligible men in town who will probably provide plenty of romantic interests in this series of books, although not much in that direction happens in this first book.

Sofie Ryan, aka Sofie Kelly, has a way of making me feel as though I too spent my summers in North Harbor, Maine. At least after having visited there in this book, I sort of wish I had! If you like your Cozy Mysteries with a lot of cat, a bit of second hand store, and a strong dash of New England charm, The Whole Cat and Caboodle should be high on your to be read (TBR) list!

P.S. As always, if you are interested in reading some of the other entries about highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can find them at the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on the site.

Stephanie Blackmoore: Wedding Planner Mystery Series

August 27, 2020

This month, as part of my series of entries on the most popular and recommended mystery series for the site, I decided to read the first entry in Stephanie Blackmoore‘s Wedding Planner Mystery Series, Engaged in Death.

This first novel in the series doesn’t start with the sleuth giving up her big-time job in the big-time city to go to live in the scenic countryside, though name of the series does give a strong clue that this is going to be her eventual destination. Instead, it begins a little bit before most Cozies do – the protagonist, Mallory Shepard, is still living her life pre-Cozy-fication, going through her job as a lawyer, and engaged to a no-good-fiance (Keith) with an unpleasant family (Keith’s controlling mother, Helene). That said, this part of the novel passes fairly quickly, with the inevitable and unsurprising discovery that the no-good-fiance is in fact no good.

At the same time, Mallory suddenly inherits a piece of property, though the source is a bit less conventional than in many Cozies – she inherits it not from her own favorite aunt/grandma, but from her no-good-fiance’s grandmother Sylvia, who obviously didn’t exactly care for Keith or Helene but was surprisingly close with Mallory. So, Mallory goes down to take ownership of the property, joined by her unreliable little sister, Rachel, who has uncharacteristically come to offer support – possibly because she is at loose ends after having more characteristically dropped out of college again.

The bad news is that the piece of property, in this case a run-down but still impressive mansion named Thistle Park, is located in Port Quincy, Pennsylvania – the same town that Hellene lives in. As a result, Mallory isn’t exactly sure what to do with the house – she doesn’t want to live there, as it is too far from her work in Pittsburgh, besides being located uncomfortably close to her almost-mother-in-law.

Fortunately, the property does have some people interested in it, even in its current dilapidated condition – a gas company thinks that they can make a lot of money fracking, and are willing to pay top dollar for the land alone, uninterested in the house currently on it. Still, Mallory is reluctant because she knows that Sylvia loved the house and wanted to keep it intact, so she initially turns down the offer, shoving the unpleasant salesman when he refuses to leave initially. Mallory decides to sleep on the offer – but unfortunately, the salesman comes back at some point in the night, and even more unfortunately for him, someone murders him on the lawn of Thistle Park. Naturally, Mallory and her sister Rachel seem like prime suspects, so they’ll need to solve the crime while trying to decide what to do with the property and their lives from here on out (and again, spoiler in the series title).

All told, Engaged in Death is a well-done example of a conventional modern Cozy. There are a lot of enjoyable elements of the genre that fans are sure to be able to latch onto. It may not do much particularly new in the spot, but it certainly does a good enough job of presenting an enjoyable mystery in an interesting, likable area.

P.S. 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 the site.

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