The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

New Cozy Mystery Shows Coming Soon!

Good news, Cozy Mystery lovers! A site reader (Thank you, Alfred!) just told me about some upcoming shows on PBS… So>>> mark your calendars!

PBS is calling this the “Six by Agatha” event. It all kicks off with two new Hercule Poirot episodes (Hercule Poirot Series X) at the end of June. Of course, we wouldn’t want them with any other actor than David Suchet… And, lucky for us, he will be starring in them. Both of these Agatha Christie episodes are ninety minutes long:

June 21….. Cat among the Pigeons

June 28….. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

And then on to four brand new Miss Marple (Miss Marple, Series IV) shows. This time Julia McKenzie will be starring as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. If you were lucky enough to catch Cranford when it aired on PBS earlier this year, then you already know what an exceptional actress she is. These episodes are also ninety minutes long.

July 5….. A Pocket Full Of Rye

July 12…..  Murder is Easy

July 19….. They Do It with Mirrors

July 26….. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

Now that the major television stations have all run their two hour season finales, what better way to celebrate the summer than with some brand new Mystery! shows on PBS?

Thanks, again, Alfred!

Castle: New Show on Monday Nights, ABC

I just watched a new show called “Castle” and enjoyed it so much that I took a look at my Replay machine to see if they will be re-airing the pilot. The good news is that they are, on Saturday at 9:00 PM (our local Texas time).  So if you are at all interested, you can check it out!

ABC is the network that is carrying this very clever mystery show, and I sure hope there are enough people who tune it so that it remains on the air. I know that it is difficult to start up a show in the middle of the season… By then, people already know their weekly television viewing schedules.  This Monday night show is well-worth “shaking it up” and changing your Tivo/Replay/HD Box/VCR programming.

Anyway… If you have seen my TV & Movie entries, then you should know that I am a big Firefly fan. Castle stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly’s captain) as the main character of the show… a mystery book author who hangs out with “real life” big-name mystery authors over poker. Yes, for those of you who watched the show on Monday, those two men discussing killing off their main characters (Scully and Alex) in their mysteries are Stephen J. Cannell and James Patterson. (I could not get a good view of the woman at the poker table, and I hope that I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes by saying that I don’t know if she is a mystery author or not.)

Stana Katic stars as the police detective who is the basis of the main character of Castle’s new mystery series, which of course means that he has to shadow her for an undetermined amount of time. And, for all of you Falcon Crest fans, Susan Sullivan plays Castle’s mother… a wonderful character who I hope we get to see a lot more!

If you missed Monday’s pilot… you might want to check out Saturday night’s rerun so that you can start enjoying what I hope is a very long-running mystery show!

PS>>> My husband just asked me why he didn’t get to watch Castle… So, I will be taping the rerun this Saturday night!

Hercule Poirot with David Suchet

All of you Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie’s Belgian private detective) fans are more than likely already aware of David Suchet’s wonderful portrayal of the rather prim, always correct detective. For those of you very few people who have not yet experienced any of the Agatha Christie’s Poirot delightful shows, you will be glad to know that you have many hours of entertainment to look forward to.

The setting is London in the 1930s. The scenery is perfect. I love the outside shots of the London streets: the architectural detailing is exactly how I imagine it must have been back then. As a lover of art deco, I love seeing the “modern” furniture, the clothes, and cars.

The long running British series starred four regulars: David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Capt. Hastings (his not-so-astute side kick), Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp, and Poirot’s very capable, always correct secretary Miss Lemon was played by Pauline Moran. All of them “became” the characters they portrayed for this series. (I have since seen two of the actors in other projects, and was surprised to see one of them playing the evil villain!)

What a treat it is to watch these shows… from Poirot’s penguin-like walk to Poirot trimming his  waxed moustache. The attention to detail really pays off for the viewer. Miss Lemon’s bobby pin curls, Capt. Hastings’ car fetish, and even Inspector Japp’s overcoat… the detailing is perfect. It’s all a treat to watch! And, the friendship between Inspector Japp and Poirot goes so much farther than the predictable rivalry that “modern day” shows depict.

This Poirot series is as cozy as you can find. I truly believe that Agatha Christie would have been very happy with this series… no gore, plenty of humor, great ambiance, quirky characters (Poirot being the quirkiest! – a model for today’s “Monk” character) and no need for “adult” situations. Poirot is able to solve all of the cases with the use of his “little gray cells” so that Inspector Japp is able to close the cases, and retain his dignity.

♦If you would like to see more TV & Movies suggestions, click here.♦

Firefly series…

Firefly This is another review of what I consider a truly delightful show that doesn’t happen to be a mystery. (Of course, it’s a mystery to me that it was cancelled after only one season… although I have a feeling that when a network decides to air the shows of a new series out of sequence, that can’t help establish the show…)

Firefly is really a departure from any one type of genre>>> The best way to describe it is to say that it’s a western/science fiction/dramedy. (If you aren’t a sci-fi fan, don’t be put off by that part of the label! The series is set in the far-away future and features the escapades of a rather unconventional spaceship crew. The characters are three dimensional, the special effects are fun and vivid, the plot lines are original, and the acting is more than convincing… This show really is a delight to watch.

The writer/director of Firefly is Joss Whedon (whom a lot of you probably recognize.) Firefly follows the adventures on a cargo ship (the Serenity) which is commanded/owned by a good-guy-sort of captain (played by Nathan Fillion). Firefly breaks the stereotypical rules— Gina Torres plays both the only wife in the crew and a very tough warrior. It was through Firefly that my family first experienced the comedic delivery of Adam Baldwin (not from the Baldwin brother acting family)>>> (You can now see him on the television show Chuck.) He plays the perfect marshmallow tough guy… a delight to watch.

Firefly originally aired on the Fox network, and a lot of the shows’ fans were greatly disappointed when it was cancelled. Perhaps because it had such a large following, in 2005 Joss Whedon released the movie Serenity. I would definitely recommend watching the series in its correct chronological order, and then following it with the movie. I am not a huge sci-fi fan and I think that I would probably have been a little lost watching the movie without knowing all of the characters and the ship’s purpose. I am sure that my adult son and daughter (as well as my husband) could have gone into the movie “cold.”

Although Firefly is loads of fun to watch… it is not for young children.

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

MENU