The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Good Cozy Author Recommendations from Good Cozy Reading Friends…

I know I have referred to very good friends of mine who are also cozy readers. I met two women who share my passion for cozy mystery books several years ago while we were all three members of two different cozy mystery reading groups. (My children were still in elementary school… and our thirteen year old dog was a mere puppy, so that is quite a few years ago!)

One of these women shares an extremely close taste in cozies with me… She has told me about more than a handful of cozy mystery authors who I tried reading and consequently added to my list of authors I follow. One of these authors is Ann Granger (her Markby and Mitchell Village Whodunit Series.) Even though Markby is a police officer, since Mitchell does so much of the sleuthing, it is fair to say that it is a cozy… Also, the lack of superfluous sex and violence, along with the village atmosphere close the deal for me! (In this particular book, so far "My place or yours?" is the extent of the "adult-talk"… and I am clearly able to deduce what happens from just that much!)

Anyway, I was so surprised yesterday when my friend wrote me that she is reading an Ann Granger book that is a stand-alone. It didn’t surprise me that she is reading an Ann Granger book… what surprised me is that at this very moment, I am also reading an Ann Granger book. She introduced me to Granger’s books years ago, and I know that she keeps up with Granger’s current books, but I am only on the twelfth of the series (Beneath These Stones.) It was as if, even though we are separated by many miles (San Antonio to Sacramento, no less!) we were both somehow "connected" while reading an author we both enjoy reading. 

Miss Emily D. Seeton… (With a Title Like That, Could She be Anything But Cozy?!)

As many things as I tried to cram into this last month of travel and (very successful) surgery, I did manage to try two new authors, and of course, read some of my “tried and true” novelists.

I won’t even go into how much I loved The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (by Alexander McCall Smith)… since I have spent a lot of time blogging on (and on!) about how much I love Smith’s novels. (But, of course, I would have found myself remiss if I hadn’t at least put that little bit of information into this blog….)

I tried two new authors… Heron Carvic was one of them. (Heron Carvic was the originator of the Miss Emily D. Seeton novels.) I read Picture Miss Seeton (which, if you know about how I feel at the beginning of a series, you know that it has got to be the first book!) and I found the book to be a very enjoyable read. I came away with a good feeling of character development for Miss Seeton. I was left thinking… now this is a cozy mystery character I will enjoy revisiting in the future. And, since there are so many books in the series, I should have plenty of time to get to know her better.

I enjoyed the interaction between the Superintendent of Scotland Yard and Miss Seeton, and found it to be very believable. I have found that in several cozy mystery series, the interaction between the police and the always-better-at-solving-crime amateur sleuth can be really annoying… Some authors portray the police as bumbling idiots standing on the side-lines, jealous of the amateur sleuth, and always warning the amateur to get off of the case…. because let’s face it, if the bumblers can’t solve the crime, they would rather that the culprit gets off free, leaving the case unsolved… And, since there are more than enough cozy mystery series to read (as this site’s lists should show!), I don’t stay with a series like that for long! I usually try to give the author a few attempts at redemption, but, you know what they say about three strikes!  And a lot of the time, it’s just the one strike that makes me put a book down as a “YUCK” on my private list!

I don’t want to say too much about the novel, since I don’t want to give away the plot by writing unintended spoilers…  Let me just say this… Since I have only read the first novel in the series, I don’t actually know if Miss Seeton will remain in this lovely little village…. I am hoping that the following books stay in this same quaint cozy setting, with all of the cozy mystery inhabitants (some more eccentric than others!) the characters, plotline, and setting left me with a feeling of “going home.”

This particular Miss Seeton novel had all of the cozy mystery requirements… and, of course, it didn’t hurt that there is a little promise of romance for future books!

…About the Cozy Mystery List Lady…Who, What, Where, When, How….and Why!

Perhaps, upon reading the title to this blog, you might think that I am going to introduce a new cozy mystery to you. Nope! Instead, I am going to introduce myself…I have tried to add little things about myself throughout my site… If you have read the “B” page, then you know that my ALL TIME, VERY FAVORITE AUTHOR is not even a cozy mystery author… E. F. Benson‘s Mapp and Lucia series is the only series of books of which I have well-used copies… The series is the only set of books that I have read more than once, and plan on reading again…. and again. They are Cozies without the mysteries! (As an addenda, I am now – 2014 – making my way through Agatha Christie’s mysteries again, so I should add her to my very short list of authors who I have read more than once.)

When I wrote my definition of What Makes a Cozy Just That?,   I submitted a little information about myself… (Don’t ask me why, but I made up a pseudonym for myself…. as if the people across the street might read the biography and know it was me!) Anyway, here is what I submitted as my biography:

“Erin Martin is a freelance author, an avid reader, and a fan of mysteries (of all types.) She has a master’s degree in education. Erin resides with her husband who also enjoys reading. Erin created and maintains the Cozy Mystery List, a Reader’s Guide to Cozy Mystery Books (and Other Favorite Authors).” (I used a pseudonym because at the time, I thought that I would possibly start writing articles for other sites to use… but, instead, this site has become my priority and takes up most of my computer time.) My name is Danna (as in banana… not Dana or Donna.)

So, why do I have this site?

Well, after joining several mystery reading groups, and making some very good friends who shared my love for cozies, I started branching out… and slowly started accruing all of these authors… one author “leading me” to another author through their similarities, etc.

I have been reading cozies for years, and I got very discouraged when I attempted to find new authors to try. I remember that I would go to Amazon to buy a book, and there would be all of these “come-ons” from different readers… and (at first) I would get so excited thinking that I would find new authors to try, just by clicking on the “cozy list-mania” type of lists. After clicking on many lists, I felt very discouraged to find that the person would have one or two authors he/she liked… listing the authors’ books out of sequence, and most of the time, not even listing all of the given authors’ books.

Also, after buying several books twice… (And that is no joke!) I decided that I would have to start writing down all of the authors and books that I read. I actually found that when I went to place a newly acquired book in my TBR section of my bookshelves, the identical book would already be occupying its proper space! Thus, my initiation into the world of compulsive author/book lists.

One of my cozy mystery book reading friends asked if she could have a copy of my list, and the rest is history! That is when I started to index all of my authors on my computer, trying to update whenever I found a new author or a new book for one of my “old” authors. And, after years of keeping a list on my computer, my husband suggested that I put the lists on the internet. So I made this alphabetical and chronological list of books and authors into the Cozy Mystery site that you see now… after several years (and thousands of hours!) of effort. A full disclosure about the links is here.

I sure hope that these author and book lists can be of help to you.

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