Well, it’s that time of the month again – time for me to highlight another novel in my long-running series of books recommended by Cozy Mystery readers. Today I’ll be writing about Death in Castle Dark, the first in the A Dinner and a Murder Mystery Series, which is another series written by Julia Buckley. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where you might not immediately realize this by looking at the cover of the book, as she was writing here as Veronica Bond. Yes, we’re dealing with a long-running frustration of mine, an author with a much-less used pseudonym. I’ve already written two of this author’s series (the Hungarian Tea House Mystery Series and the Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series) but, since this book was released under another name, many readers might not be aware of the existence of this short series – which would be a real shame, because I definitely enjoyed this outing as well.

Anyway! Enough about my little ‘pet peeve’ regarding pseudonyms.

As the novel begins, actress Nora Blake has just gotten a new job – working at Castle Dark, a murder mystery themed dinner event where customers spend the night enjoying both a good meal and attempt to solve an interesting ‘murder mystery’. The job isn’t ideal – the pay isn’t great, and Wood Glen is a bit more remote from Chicago than Nora would like, but it does come with room and board, which is certainly a strong incentive for a young actress without a steady job like Nora. However, she’s quickly sold on the job, which is certainly heavy on melodrama, but also flexes the cast’s improv skills. The naturally, the cast of the dinner all know each other well, but many of the customers are frequent repeat visitors as well.

Unsurprisingly, this being a Cozy, it doesn’t take long at the new job before something goes terribly wrong – a real murder occurs, as Nora discovers the very actually dead body of one of her actor colleagues during her second performance night. Naturally, despite the victim being generally well-liked, it turns out that there are plenty of people both in the cast and in the nearby town, who might have had reasons to want him gone.

One thing I particularly noted with particular eagerness was that a series of simple diagrams for the Castle Dark floor plans at the beginning of the book, complete with secret passages. For a reader such as myself who puts a high premium on the mystery of a Cozy, this is a really great way for an author to indicate that these sort of details will be important to the story – in other words, a lot of thought probably went into the mystery! As a fan of “classics” of the mystery genre from authors like Doyle and Christie, I really love this sort of thing.

All told, this is a great mystery that really focuses on the ‘mystery’ element. There are definitely plenty of flavor elements – the castle is a great classic sort of setting, the characters are all interesting, as well as discussions about the acting roles. However, it’s really the mystery that takes the star in Death in Castle Dark.

Today I’ll be writing about yet another highly recommended Cozy by site readers, in this case the first entry in Ellen Byron‘s Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series, and as always I will be starting with the first entry, Bayou Book Thief.

Regular site readers are likely aware that I have already featured two other series by Ellen Byron – first, the Cajun Country Mystery Series and second, the Catering Hall Mystery Series, written under the pen name Maria DiRico. Well, that’s no surprise – after all, this is the “most popular and recommended series”, and these have all been very highly recommended series over the years!

This particular series stars Ricki James, 28 year old widow restarting her life in her home city of New Orleans after the death of her actor husband and the disastrous ending of her last job after her previous employer was for a Ponzi scheme. Ricki hopes to be part of the opening of the ‘Bon Vee Culinary House Museum’ by running the museum’s gift shop, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware. The Bon Vee Museum celebrates the legendary (fictional) restauranteur Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet (based on real-world figure Ella Brennan). This really highlights one of the strengths of this book – while some details might be changed, it really takes advantage of the local flavor of Louisiana and particularly New Orleans. So many Cozies are set in small rustic towns that a change of pace to a big city can be very interesting – particularly one with as much history and as specific a culture as New Orleans.

There are few downsides to this new dream job for Ricki, and she quickly proves to get along well with almost all of her fellow employees, a colorful cast of eccentric tour guides and museum staff… with one big exception in curmudgeonly tour guide, Franklin. There are many of Ricki’s fellow employees (and quite a few others outside the Museum) who feel the same way, so no one is particularly upset when Franklin is caught trying to steal shop merchandise and is promptly fired. Naturally, this being a Cozy, it isn’t long before Franklin turns up again – dead in a box that should contain donated books.

As I have for other the other series I’ve written about by Ellen Byron, I would say that the quality of the writing is really the biggest draw to this book. If you’re looking for an extremely well written Cozy with an interesting setting that isn’t a small town or village, I strongly recommend Bayou Book Thief. 

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.

PS: For those vintage food fans out there, this book does include several recipes at the end featuring vintage dishes

Today, I will once again be continuing my long-running monthly series highlighting the first entry in a Cozy Mystery, almost always a mystery recommended by site readers multiple times. This particular example is no different in that regard – the first book of Korina Moss‘s Cheese Shop Mystery Series, Cheddar Off Dead.

This is one of the newer Cozy Mysteries that I have featured in this series, starting as recently as 2022, though it already has four entries as of the time of this writing, with a fifth due out later this year. As such, it isn’t surprising to see that the series does a very good job in sticking with and representing the cheeses, in this case highlighting and discussing various cheeses for sale at sleuth Willa Bauer’s French-themed cheese shop, Curds and Whey, located in the scenic small town of Yarrow Glen, in turn located in the Sonoma Valley of California.

Willa has staked her life savings and taken a big loan out to open up the Curds and Whey, a move that represents her dreams for more than a decade of her life, which she has spent working in various cheese-related jobs around the country to learn enough to run a successful small-town artisanal cheese shop. Willa is hoping to get a good review from local food critic, Guy Lippinger, as it would go a long way to help making sure that the shop is a success. Unfortunately, Lippinger has a history of rough reviews, sometimes even being blamed for putting shops out of business, so Willa’s not hoping for too much… but even her lowest expectations aren’t low enough, as he shows up after closing time, obviously not sober, only to berate Willa’s shop, quarrel with the members of her cheese-making class, many of whom he had history, and depart, all in about five minutes.

Naturally, even newer Cozy readers will likely see how this is going. It isn’t long before Willa finds Lippinger again, this time dead with a cheese-cutting knife sticking out of his neck, and naturally, she and everyone else he had ever given a scathing review to were quickly put on the suspect list.

Cheddar Off Dead is a great example of a modern Cozy with a good theme, a flair for highlighting and discussing the theme, and a descriptive small-town setting with plenty of interesting potential suspects to go around. I recommend it to any fan of modern Cozies, particularly anyone with a serious love for all things cheese.

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.

PS: For those cheese afficionados out there, this book does include several recipes at the end featuring cheese ideas and dishes

Today I’ll be continuing my long-running series on the first book of popular Cozy Mystery series, most of which have been recommended by site visitors. Today, I’ll be revisiting one of the foundation series for modern Cozies, the Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series by Rita Mae Brown. As always, I will be specifically discussing the first book in the series – in this case, Wish You Were Here.

Sometimes, the books that I write about in this series are mostly or entirely new to me – I have read a blurb or two, or I might have read an entry in the series years ago and barely remember it beyond knowing that I own it still. Other times, these entries are returns to a series that I have read multiple entries to over a number of years – and that is the case this time.

It’s only natural that this series has been recommended many times over the years I have been running the site, as it is either the foundation of many modern Cozy trends or at least a relatively early example of them. It’s also a very long-running series – this first entry in the series came out in 1990, Rita Mae Brown is still putting these out on a mostly annual basis, with the most recent entry coming out earlier this year.

Ostensibly, the sleuth of this mystery is Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, the post-mistress of small town Crozet, Virginia, not far from Charlottesville. Harry stumbles across a mystery when she notices a series of postcards, all of them of tombstones and cemeteries with “Wish you were here” computer printed as the only message.

However, Harry’s pets, Mrs. Murphy, her tiger cat, and Tee Tucker, her Welsh Corgi, steal both the scenes and the investigation more often than not. Though Harry isn’t able to communicate with animals, the two pets are quite conversing amongst themselves, and more than willing to take a proactive role in the investigation.

As is sometimes the case, Crozet, Virginia, is a very real place. I’m not sure how accurate Rita Mae Brown’s Crozet is, but it certainly seems like a very lovely and picturesque small southern town – well, except for the unusually high murder rate for such a small community, which I assume is a highly fictional detail!

I will say, for my more “clean” Cozy enthusiasts, there is some swearing, both from human and animal characters. This and a few references that would be considered politically incorrect today both strongly remind the reader that this was written in the ’90s. Neither element bothers me, but I know either could be an issue for some readers.

That said, I’m quite comfortable in suggesting Wish You Were Here as a foundation of modern Cozies, particularly in the “detective animal” subgenre – by all accounts a modern classic.

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.