This month I tried something a little different for my series talking about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mysteries – rather than start (or re-read, as the case is sometimes) a series from the beginning, I decided instead to jump right into the middle of an existing series so I could enjoy a little of the current “festive atmosphere” that Cozies are often so good at – specifically, Halloween. In doing so, I decided to read Vampires, Bones and Treacle Scones, the seventh entry in Kaitlyn Dunnett’s Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series.

As a quick summary of how the novel starts, Liss MacCrimmon, now owner of a Scottish themed emporium in Moosetookalok, Maine, is heading up the town’s Halloween fundraiser, and as part of the festivities they plan to hold a haunted house at the old Chadwick mansion, an abandoned property long owned by the town after the death of the last of the Chadwick’s years ago. However, attempts to spruce up the old mansion are having mixed successes – the building is certainly creepy enough, still holding odd collections amassed by the eccentric residents over the decades they lived there, but a series of odd pranks and unexplained events within the mansion have unsettled everyone involved at least once. So, in classic Cozy fashion, it’s no surprise when a corpse turns up in the house – though it is more than a bit of a surprise that it turns out to be the body of someone Liss sent to jail in a previous mystery! (I don’t want to spoil which one for fans who may have read some previous entries in the series)

The good news is that I ended up liking the book quite a bit. Despite jumping into the middle of the series, all of the characters were quickly explained and made good impressions quickly enough that I had no trouble keeping them straight. Likewise, though the mystery connects to a previous case, I felt like it was explained well enough to make sure I had no trouble understanding the mystery at hand. In fact, both the identity of the victim and several other elements mentioned help make the book feel well connected to the series as a whole – a nice change to some series, where it feels like people shake off their friends, neighbors, and relatives killing each other perhaps just a bit too easily!

Unfortunately, the book did fail in one regard. I went into this book specifically to read a Halloween novel, so I was more than a bit surprised that only the first third or so of the book took place around Halloween! After that, there was a bit of a time skip, with the rest of the book taking place early in the following year. So, while the holiday theme was certainly strong for the first part, later elements certainly felt a lot less “Halloween-ey” – not entirely un-Halloween-ish, mind you, since a big spooky mansion was still featured prominently, but it was still a bit jarring.

That said, I do still strongly recommend this novel, and by extension the series as a whole. It does a good job showing continuity in a Cozy setting, something I’ve lacked lately as I’ve mostly been reading establishing novels for the site lately. It’s also quite well written, and the characters and setting are interesting and well fleshed out without feeling excessively “zany” to me. If you’re looking for a good Cozy read, feel free to pick this one up – just don’t be surprised if Halloween ends a little bit early.

This month as part of my series talking about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mysteries I reread another first book from one of my favorite Cozy Mystery authors, Diane Mott Davidson’s Catering to Nobody, the first in the Goldy Bear Mystery Series. This classic series has seventeen books that were published from 1990 to 2013. (Initially it was called the Goldy Bear series, however, it was then changed to another name. I stayed with the original series name as the second name gives away something that happens…)

Goldy is a divorced mother of an eleven-year-old boy, Arch. She and Arch live in the small Colorado town of Aspen Meadows. Goldy makes her living as a caterer and the novel is sprinkled with delicious looking recipes. The town she lives in is small enough that Goldy seems to know just about everybody. It is so small that she seems to keep running into her ex-husband, Doctor Richard Korman (also known as “The Jerk” – which is a very appropriate “pseudonym”). 

The story begins with Goldy preparing to provide the food and drink at the wake of one of Arch’s recent teachers, Laura Smiley, who has apparently and unexpectedly committed suicide. As the mourners are partaking of the refreshments at Laura’s house (the affair is being hosted by one of Laura’s aunts), Doctor Fritz Korman, Goldy’s ex-father in law falls suddenly and violently ill. The police are called because poisoning is suspected. Because Goldy was providing the food and drink, the police ordered her business suspended until the investigation is completed.

Goldy, who relied almost totally on the income from her business (because her child support payments from “The Jerk” are sporadic at best), can’t sit by idly while the police try to find the culprit, so she begins her own investigation. With the partial cooperation of the police investigator, Tom Schultz, Goldy sets about collecting as much information about Laura Smiley and Fritz Korman. 

I really enjoyed rereading this first book in the series. I especially enjoyed Diane Mott Davidson’s 2001 introduction to the new edition of the book. In the introduction, she explains how she came up with the idea for Goldy and the series. The author reveals that in 1989 when she was shopping around the book, it was rejected by a bunch of publishers –“scores of editors rejected it”. In the early 80s another author had written three culinary mysteries:

Who would buy a culinary mystery in 1989?” When my wonderful agent, Sandra Dijkstra, pointed out to editors that no one—not a single author—had ever had a caterer (who offered recipes!) as a main character, the response was equally negative. Even more damning, the fact that Goldy had survived spousal abuse was seen as “too dark.” The recipes were viewed as “intrusive.” I felt strongly that both were necessary to explain who Goldy was…

So, Diane Mott Davidson was a pathfinder in the mystery world — culinary mysteries are still a huge sub-genre of Cozy Mysteries in 2019!

I find Goldy to be a very good mystery sleuth character. Her world seems quite real. Her relationship (or lack thereof) with her abusive ex-husband is just one of the elements that make the stories seem to be based in reality. Goldy’s son, Arch is another. Arch is a complicated little eleven-year-old whose character is developed much more than is common in Cozy Mysteries. Goldy has the kind of relationship with Arch that you would expect of a mother who is divorced and running a business that keeps her so very busy.

Back in the 90s when I first started reading these books, these elements, plus the rousing good mysteries, kept me coming back for more each time Diane Mott Davidson would publish a new one. After enjoying reading Catering to Nobody so much again, I might just reread them all!

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Recently I’ve read one of the most frequently recommended non-Cozy mystery series that site readers have been mentioning for quite some time now, Louise Penny‘s Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series. Specifically, I read the first book in the series, Still Life.

I’m going to stress again that this is most definitely not a Cozy Mystery, though it does share some elements with the Cozy sub-genre. That said, if your interest in mysteries extends past Cozies and into police procedurals with Cozy elements, I definitely “second” the many recommendations site visitors have already made. There is some swearing, so if you are particular about that, do beware! (Including what seems to be some non-conventional French Canadian swearing…?)

Turning to the murder, the death in Still Life begins with the death of elderly Jane Neal, former beloved local spinster and former schoolteacher. Naturally, she was one of the keepers of the community secrets, and naturally it seems like everyone might have had a reason to kill her, some recent and obvious, others ancient and obscure. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is the man sent to solve the crime, along with his specially picked team, including his right hand, Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Gamache is a kind, insightful man, with a very intuitive investigation style and a reputation for mentoring his people well, and is balanced by Beauvoir’s more analytical approach to policing and slightly more cynical viewpoint.

Still Life introduces us to not only Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of the Surêté du Québec (police of Quebec) homicide department, but also the scenic, rural, remote village of Three Pines, the iconic setting for the remainder of this series. Three Pines is definitely the element that feels the “Coziest” to me, as it is an out-of-the way community that harbors a wide cast of interesting characters, some native and some transplants, all of whom seem to know each other’s most – except of course the one reason that murder has been committed! That said, Three Pines does depart a bit from many more conventional Cozy settings >>>> as a village in French-Canadian Quebec but not far from the border to the United States, the village is a curious and interesting intersection between the “francophones” and the “anglophones” of Quebec, the division being whether any individual considers French or English their first language.

It feels unfair to keep harping on the fact that this really isn’t a Cozy, but I do want to stress that it’s definitely a well-written, enjoyable police procedural that I have no hesitation suggesting to anyone who is comfortable with a bit more police competence in their mystery reading than the standard Cozy, as well as a tolerance (or interest) in slightly darker “real-world” themes that Cozies sometimes have a tendency to shy away from.

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The next book that I have read in my effort to read (or reread) the most popular and recommended Cozy Mysteries that are listed on the site is “The Cold Light of Mourning“, the first in the Penny Brannigan Mystery Series by Elizabeth J. Duncan.

In this, the first of eight books in the series (so far), we are introduced to Penny Brannigan and her new friend, Victoria Hopkirk. Penny and her friend live in a small town in North Wales, Llanelen. Penny is a 50 something Canadian who stopped in Llanelen while backpacking across Wales when in her 20s. She found the town so welcoming and picturesque, that she stopped there for the night and never left. Penny is a manicurist and a part time artist (thus the beautiful Welsh town and countryside are especially attractive to her.) Victoria is a harpist who recently relocated from London after a divorce. Both of the (amateur) sleuths are in their early 50s.

The mystery opens with the death of Emma Teasdale, the elderly friend of Penny who Penny first encountered on that fateful day when Penny was looking for a place to stay for one night. Emma was a long-time school teacher, and she and Penny became great friends during  the 25 years or so after Penny arrived in Llanelen.

At the same time as Emma’s funeral is being planned, anticipation runs high in the small town for the imminent wedding of the local rich landowner’s son, Emyr, to a self-made beauty, Meg Wynne. When Meg Wynne goes missing on the day of her wedding, the mystery really begins.

Of course, there are several people who had a reason to wish Meg Wynne dead. And, Penny gets involved in the case because she was apparently the last person to see Meg Wynne before she disappeared. Also, Penny notices something wrong at her friend Emma’s funeral.

The police inspector in charge of the case is in his 50s and is also single – as is Penny. (Hmmm… Does this mean there will be an almost inevitable romance?) Victoria, of course, helps solve the case. More surprisingly, Emma also helps solve the case (I won’t give away the details of how except to mention that the mystery does not contain paranormal elements.)

This book is a great start to the mystery series. I can understand why this book was nominated for the Agatha Award for best best first novel. Penny, Victoria, Chief Inspector Gareth Davies and his Sergeant, Bethan Morgan, are all terrific Cozy Mystery characters. The small town setting is extremely well suited to the Cozy Mystery genre. And the mystery plays out in a very enjoyable way. After reading “The Cold Light of Mourning”, I felt as though I had found new friends to visit when I feel in the mood for a new Cozy!

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