The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Mystery Series with Tribal Herbology AND Mystery Series with WWII, New York Private Eye…

It’s that time again when I ask for help in identifying authors for Cozy Mystery site readers.  OK… I feel like I know this first author, but cannot seem to bring it to the front of my brain. So…

Allison would like to know who the author of these books is…

“The major character has an American Indian background and uses cures and concoctions based on traditional tribal herbology. She primarily deals with cases of abused women and usually takes them away and furnishes them with secure housing.
Does anyone recognize this author?”

AND

Linda would like to know the identity of this author…

“I know this is pretty vague information, however it’s all I can remember.  I’m looking for the author of 2 books – the books feature a female private investigator in New York City after WW2.  She works with a male FBI agent and she is looking for her boyfriend who has been missing since the war.  In the second book she goes to Germany to locate a missing woman and also searches for her boyfriend.  I think the books were published in 2007 or ’08.”

If anyone has a suggestion, please post a comment so that Linda and Allison can get back to reading some of their favorite authors. And, thank you for your help!

Miss Marple – The Secret of Chimneys – Location / Setting … Hatfield House

Hatfield House is the location used for the Miss Marple episode called The Secret of Chimneys:

The Old Palace was the home of Elizabeth I when she was a young child. Elizabeth’s heir, James I, traded the Old Palace and its grounds for Robert Cecil’s family home. Subsequently, Hatfield House was built by Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury. Today, the 7th Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury call it home.

Hatfield House, located north of London, is a huge estate which provides all sorts of beautiful scenery – so important in portraying the feeling of a British aristocratic settings. With a lake, formal gardens, topiaries, a church, cottages, houses, and of course, the beautiful mansion, Hatfield House must have seemed like a dream-come-true for producers of this particular Miss Marple episode. And, of course, the house’s interior includes the exact type of furniture one expects from these period piece shows… plenty of chandeliers and tapestries, not to mention the beautiful furniture!

Here is the location NOT used for the Miss Marple episode called The Secret of Chimneys:

The setting is a Gothic mansion called Knebworth House in Stevenage, which is located 29 miles north of London. It has belonged to the Lytton family since 1490. At one time, it was the home of Edward Bulwer Lytton, a Victorian politician who was also a novelist and playwright. He is famous for the quote: “The pen is mightier than the sword”.

Knebworth House has been used as the location / setting in many different television shows and movies, as well as a location for rock concerts. Here is a list of some of the other places you may have seen Knebworth House:

Anastasia – 1956
The Avengers, episode Invasion of the Earthmen – 1968
The Big Sleep – 1978
The Essential Mike Oldfield – 1980 – Remember the phenomenal music in the movie The Exorcist?!?
The Great Muppet Caper – 1981
The Shooting Party – 1985
Batman – 1989
Live at Knebworth – 1990
The Canterville Ghost – 1996
The Wings of the Dove – 1997
Jane Eyre – 1997
Eyes Wide Shut – 1999
Led Zeppelin DVD – 2003
Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth – 2003
Foyle’s War, episode Enemy Fire – 2004
Marple, episode What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw – 2004
Batman Begins – 2005
Jonathan Creek, episode The Grinning Man – 2009
The King’s Speech – 2010 (Not yet released, stars Colin Firth)

These are just a few of the television, movie, documentary events that have been filmed at the Knebworth House. I posted the events that might be of most interest to Cozy Mystery site readers.

Mystery of the "They-Deserved-to-Die" Sisters…

I received a letter from Malinda asking for help. She is trying to identify an author of a mystery series who she read several years ago – with an Arsenic and Old Lace type-of-theme going. (By the way, if you haven’t seen this Cary Grant movie that Frank Capra directed in 1941, but which wasn’t released until 1944 >>> try to!)

“My real question… is:

Many years ago, when I first began reading mysteries, I read a book about a couple of elderly sisters who used herbs to kill people who “deserved to die.” It was similar to the Wives’ Club and Arsenic and Old Lace, but none of those are the correct ones.

Do you have ANY IDEA???

Any help you can give, suggestions… will be appreciated.

Thanks!
Malinda”

Since I have had such a great success rate when asking for your help before, I decided to give this question a try!

Thank you all for your help in the past, and in the future!

Still Need Mystery Readers' Help in Solving Mysteries of the Mystery Series…

We need help in identifying three mystery book authors>>>

1.  Tracy has asked for help identifying this mystery book author:

“I’m trying to remember the series that takes place in late Victorian England say the 1900s. It’s a husband and wife team. He is a policeman and the wife helps out along with a young, shy housekeeper? They have a couple of children and that’s all I can remember. I thought I’d kept one of the books, but didn’t and now I’m searching for the series so I can enjoy some more of their escapades.”

2.  And, while I’m asking for help >>> My husband suggested that I post this again, since in the past, Cozy Mystery site readers have been able to come up with the identities of a number of mystery book authors and their mystery book series. Sandy is still looking for:

” The main characters where divorced but back together and I believe the woman was an accountant or investment broker. The husband inherited a trunk of treasure/gold? from a wayward uncle.”

3.  And here’s one more unidentified author (from Danna – me):

“The first book in the mystery series had an older woman going to some sort of spa (I think in Great Britain) where no one locked the doors to their rooms. The woman (sleuth) was able to go into other people’s rooms because of the no-lock situation, since all of the spa residents were ‘upper crust’ people, which of course meant that there was no need to lock the rooms, thanks to their codes of honor. This is not much information, but it is all I can remember about the series, other than I enjoyed the first book. Unfortunately I read it right before I realized that I needed to start writing down the names of all of the authors I enjoy reading.”

So, Cozy Mystery Site Readers, it’s up to you all to help us solve these mysteries!  Thank you (in advance!)

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