Lately I’ve been going through some of the most recommended Cozy Mystery series among this site’s visitors. Some of the earlier posts on these topics covered the Kate Carlisle Bibliophile Series and the League of Literary Ladies Series by Kylie Logan. This time I’m focusing on Lorna Barrett‘s Booktown Mystery Series. As long time visitors might know, I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to interview Lorraine Bartlett (aka Lorna Barrett & L.L. Bartlett). (It was a WOW occasion in my life!)

So I finally got around to rereading Murder is Binding, the first book in Lorna Barrett’s Booktown series. This book is the introduction to Tricia Miles, owner of the Haven’t Got a Clue mystery bookstore, in the town of Stoneham, New Hampshire. Tricia is a big city former upper class woman who has moved to Stoneham following her amicable divorce >>> to start-up her dream shop, a mystery bookstore. (Something I’m sure a lot of us would love doing!)

Tricia opened her store on the main street area of small town Stoneham as part of an effort to revitalize the town’s flagging economy to help develop the town as a stop for local tour buses. She wasn’t the only one, though. There were others who follow suit and opened book-related shops as well. Unfortunately, not all the locals are pleased to have so many out of towners coming in to take over prominent real estate area >>> and this conflict is an important part of some of these early books, and part of the reason Tricia finds local law enforcement less than cooperative when she finds an unpleasant neighbor dead.

Tricia’s problems aren’t limited to dying neighbors though, as she also has to contend with her sister (Angelica) coming to town. Tricia and Angelica never got along terribly well as children, so Tricia is less than completely happy when Angelica’s stay turns out to be a more or less indefinite duration. Fortunately Angelica does turn out to give some helpful advice and help in getting to the bottom of the recent murder >>> including suggesting actually getting a lawyer, a completely reasonable step to consider when potentially faced with a serious murder charge!

Another interesting touch to this particular series is that since the protagonist is an unabashed fan of mystery novels, she also does often bring up other mystery authors that the reader might already read – or might be interested in reading afterward! And from the names that she lists, it does sound like Tricia might be a fan of Cozy Mysteries in particular…

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits 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 on my site.

As some of you might know, I’ve been going through some of the most highly recommended Cozy Mystery series that have been frequently mentioned by visitors to the site. Today I’ll be discussing the first book in Kate Carlisle‘s Bibliophile Mystery Series, Homicide in Hardcover.

Generally speaking, like most Cozy readers, I really enjoy reading themed mysteries about topics that I enjoy in real life >>> themes I can relate to. (Some of the everyday things I enjoy are holidays, dogs and cats, needlework, ETC.) I also enjoy reading Cozies that involve professions I think of as “fun” >>> librarians would be a good example of this because the theme involves books, which I happen to love. The Bibliophile Series stars Brooklyn Wainwright, a professional book restorer >>> definitely a theme that interests me and that I don’t know anything about!

In this first book in the series, the sleuth, Brooklyn, investigates the murder of her mentor. While Homicide in Hardcover doesn’t go into huge amounts of technical detail on the restoration of a valuable copy of Goethe’s Faust, it does interject a very different tone that helps get a feeling for the character overall. In this case, because her work is very detail oriented and meticulous in nature, it helps define her character as being perhaps a bit more “logical” than some other Cozy Mystery protagonists, like an artist or a baker, who might be considered possessing of a more “creative” mindset.

I don’t want to give away too much of this series, so I’ll keep this brief: Brooklyn’s family and friends are some of the terrific aspects of the Bibliophile series. The dialogue between the characters is fun, so the “regulars” are sorely missed when Brooklyn leaves town to attend to her bookbinding professional commitments. Kate Carlisle is a good story-teller who provides enough red herrings and twists to keep the reader invested in the crimes Brooklyn solves.

Another particular highlight of the Homicide in Hardcover is its setting, San Francisco. San Francisco has a very definite atmosphere, particularly expressed through Brooklyn’s parents, who are a pair of aging hippies who still live out on a commune outside the city proper. Enough detail goes into the setting that it is no surprise that the author, Kate Carlisle, is herself a native Californian. It’s clear that she has a strong grasp of both the area and the sort of eccentric, cosmopolitan personalities that can be found there.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the other entries I’ve written on the other Cozy Mystery series I’ve written up before, they can be found at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

I have been surveying some of the Cozy Mystery series that are most frequently recommended in our monthly recommendations, and next on my list is Isis Crawford’s Mystery with Recipes Series. Isis Crawford is somewhat of a veteran writer of Cozy Mysteries. As Barbara Block, she wrote the Robin Light Mysteries which included ten books published between 1994 and 2007.

The Mystery with Recipes Series began with A Catered Murder, published in 2003 and is now up to book sixteen which will be published in a few months (2016). As the name of the series suggests, these books fit squarely within the culinary cozy mystery theme, mysteries with recipes, that is so popular in the Cozy Mystery genre.

Set in Longely, New York, a town that is about a $200 cab ride from New York’s Kennedy Airport, the mysteries involve two sisters, Bernie and Libby Simmons as the sleuths. A Catered Murder begins with Bernie arriving at the family home/bakery/cafe early in the morning after taking such a cab ride. Bernie arrives with no luggage or cash after having flown from Los Angeles following a discovery that her long-time live in boyfriend has been cheating on her with one of her best friends. Bernie left literally everything behind.

Libby, Bernie’s older sister, has been running the cafe and catering business “A Little Taste of Heaven” while also taking care of their wheelchair-bound father who lives in the family’s quarters above the shop. Bernie arrives on the same day as Libby is catering the local high school’s reunion. So Bernie is immediately put to work helping. Yikes! At the reunion dinner, someone dies and the mystery begins!

Libby wants to help find the murderer both because the death occurred during her catering event, but more importantly, because one of her best friends, Tiffany, is accused of the killing. Bernie and Libby’s father, Sean, is the former chief of police of Longely. Luckily, he still has contacts that can help them try to solve the murder even though he is on the “outs” with the current chief of police.

Bernie has a nearly photographic memory. She is always annoying Libby with her encyclopedic knowledge on trivia related to food (or just about anything!) Libby, who is also suffering from a long-ago failed romance, is more the steady matronly type who took over the business of running the shop after their mother died.

Libby and Bernie are somewhat of a rarity in the Cozy Mystery genre in that they both provide substantial contributions to the sleuthing. In A Catered Murder it would be difficult to say which of the two sisters is the primary sleuth. To me, the relationship of the sisters is one of the most attractive parts of the book. The relationship is nicely drawn as complicated with some sparks and disagreements, but it obviously is still based on deep sisterly affection. (Love that!)

There’s a reason Isis Crawford’s Mystery with Recipe series has been recommended by other Cozy Mystery readers. It’s a series that keeps on delivering, a series that is full of characters who will draw you in and make Longely, NY  and the “A Little Taste of Heaven” shop a comfortable and inviting place to which to return.

As an added bonus (for Cozy Mystery readers like me >>> who love holiday themed Cozy Mystery books, Isis Crawford sets a lot of her Cozies during holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, and even the Fourth of July!) She has written so many holiday themed Cozies that she is on the “Holiday Theme Mystery Authors …” page on my site. This page features Cozy authors who set a lot of their books during the holidays.)

P.S. If want to read some of the other entries about highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.