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.

As part of the long-running series featuring the first book of various Cozy Mystery series, mostly recommended by site visitors, today I’ll be discussing The Secret, Book & Scone Society, the first entry in the Secret, Book & Scone Society Mystery Series.

Having been badly burned years before, Nora Pennington has more than her share of experience with serious trauma, and she uses her experience to run Miracle Books, a bookstore that specializes in finding the right book to help others suffering trauma or other pain help recover. This establishment is right at home in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, a small vacation town that caters to many looking for physical or emotional healing.

When a man who had been about to come to Nora’s to find a therapeutic book turns up dead on the train tracks, the sheriff is very quick to come to the conclusion of suicide – too quick for Nora to be comfortable. Nora isn’t the only one who finds Neil’s death suspicious, and together with them they form the Secret, Book & Scone Society, determined to discover if there was a more sinister reason for Neil’s death.

It quickly turns out that the dead man, Neil, has a number of reasons someone might want to see him out of the way. Not only had he hinted to Nora that he had a guilty conscience, he also has a number of ties to the town, including being involved in the development of a new subdivision that would replace a section of rambling countryside with tight-packed houses – unpopular in a tiny town that bills itself on the scenic countryside surrounding it.

There’s definitely a different sort of energy around the Secret, Book & Scone Society than in most Cozies. Generally speaking, Cozies are about a relaxing and easy atmosphere, but this particular book focuses far more on how the past can sometimes be painful and the necessity of slow healing. When the book opens, Nora is intentionally isolated, even though she has lived in the community for years, and only through discussions with the rest of the Society does she gradually open up to forming friendships again. This can be a refreshing change for some, but I can also see how it wouldn’t necessarily be the book for every Cozy fan.

Also, as I have mentioned before, I really appreciate when a book gets to the actual mystery quickly – and this book certainly does that, with the mysterious death being announced at the end of the first chapter.

This isn’t the first book series I’ve discussed by Ellery Adams – you can also read my thoughts on the Books By the Bay Mystery Series. She has also written the Book Retreat Mystery Series, the Books by the Bay Mystery Series, the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series, and others, often under other names such as J. B. Stanley, or Jennifer Stanley.

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.

Not for the first time, I am going to feature a series and book by Susan Wittig Albert.  Only last April I discussed Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles Mystery Series as part of my continuing series where I talk about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery Series. This time I have read (or rather, re-read) the first book in her Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Series, The Tale of Hill Top Farm.

The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Series is quite a different cozy mystery series. First, the mysteries presented tend to be much more gentle than even the coziest of murder mysteries. In The Tale of Hill Top Farm, for example, there are several mysteries, including perhaps a murder, (as usual, no spoilers here!) but the main character, a fictionalized Beatrix Potter, can hardly be called a sleuth. Her main preoccupation is getting to know the people of Sawrey, the small town where she is going to live in her recently acquired farm.

Second, the main character is a real historical person — Beatrix Potter is none other, of course, than the best selling author of the Peter Rabbit stories first published early in the 20th century.  She really did buy a farm in the small Lake District area of England. And, she really did have a diverse set of animals as pets, just as Beatrix does in the book.

The third thing that makes these stories different is that the animals talk to each other. In fact, the animals are probably more the main sleuths in the books than is Beatrix herself.

Anyway, in The Tale of Hill Top Farm, the story begins with Beatrix arriving to Sawrey for the first time after she has purchased Hill Top Farm. Using the money she has been making from selling the Peter Rabbit stories, Beatrix has bought the farm in order to try to begin to establish her independence from her rather domineering parents. Against their wishes, she is planning to move, one day, to Sawrey and be a kind of gentlewoman farmer.

Beatrix had visited the Lake District several times with her parents and had gotten to know Sawrey and the Hill Top Farm area quite well. She had literally fallen in love with the charming village and the farm itself.

Susan Wittig Albert paints an enchanting picture of the ideal cozy settings of the village of Sawrey which is set by the side of the largest lake in England. It is no wonder that Beatrix Potter bought a farm there and set up Hill Top Farm to be her home when she was looking for somewhere to be away from her parents. And, her animals, and the animals of Sawrey provide some gentle humor that is quite in line with the cozy setting.

If you are looking for a cozy book series that is very different from the typical murder mysteries that you will usually find by reading my blog and the Cozy Mystery site, The Tale of Hill Top Farm would be as great place to start!

If you’d like to see other entries about some of the most recommended Cozy Mystery authors, be sure to check out the Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

P.S. Many years ago now, Susan Wittig Albert kindly consented to be interviewed by me. Click here to read the interview.