EDIT: I’ve had a lot of spam coming into the comments over the last few days… I’ve been manually tagging them, so it’s possible that I tagged a “good” message or two accidentally. If you have a comment that doesn’t get posted over a few days, please repost it! I probably deleted it by accident.
March is almost over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month!
If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of Ellie Alexander’s Sloan Krause Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!
So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in March? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)
As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.
What really good Cozy Mystery did you read March 2023 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Ellery Adams (aka J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Book Retreat Mystery Series
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Sloan Krause Mystery Series
Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series
V.M. Burns: Baker Street Mystery Series
Ellen Byron (aka Maria DiRico): Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series
Kate Carlisle: Fixer-Upper Mystery Series
Laura Childs (aka Gerry Schmitt): Tea Shop Mystery Series
Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra and Nell Hampton): Candy-Coated Mystery Series
Peggy Ehrhart: Knit & Nibble Mystery Series
Agatha Frost: Peridale Cafe Mystery Series AND Claire’s Candles Cozy Mystery Series
Alexia Gordon: Gethsemane Brown Mystery Series
Steve Higgs: Albert Smith’s Culinary Capers (first entry Pork Pie Pandemonium)
Zara Keane: Movie Club Mystery Series (first entry Dial P for Poison)
Harper Kincaid: Bookbinding Mystery Series (first entry To Kill a Mocking Girl)
Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter Shandy Mystery Series
Alyssa Maxwell: Gilded Newport Mystery Series
Carlene O’Connor: Home to Ireland Mystery Series
Carol J. Perry: Haunted Haven Mystery Series
Misha Popp: Pies Before Guys Mystery Series (first entry Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies)
Ellen Riggs: Bought the Farm Mystery Series (first entry Dogcatcher in the Rye)
David Rosenfelt: K Team Mystery Series
Lee Strauss: Ginger Gold Mystery Series (first entry Murder on the SS Rosa)
Betty Webb: Gunn Zoo Mystery Series
I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.
Susan E Kimmet says
I have long ben a fan of Charlotte MacLeod’s Peter Shandy series but had not read the Sarah Kelling mysteries until now. Fun stuff! Interesting characters, set in the present but with huge hints of the past in the characters and places involved.
LoisM says
Just read Carol J Perry’s Haunted Haven titles, Be My Ghost, and High Spirits. A third title is in the works. A novella will also be published in August 2023 in Halloween Cupcake Murder. Paranormal mysteries are not always my cup of tea, but this series is off to a fun start. Set in Florida, the main character is left a historic inn, for unknown reasons. Dead bodies, ghosts, and mayhem ensues, with a dash of romance. I really enjoyed both books. Am going to check out her series, Witch City.
Susy S says
Witch City is a Great series! I personally love it
Ginger says
I have Be My Ghost in my to start reading
V.Nancy R. says
I’ve been enjoying Alyssa Maxwell’s “Gilded Newport Mysteries”. I visited there in the 80’s and was familiar with locations in each book. I just started the Lakeside Library Mystery by Holly Danvers. It should be a good series.
stellans says
I recently reread Betty Webb’s Gunn Zoo series, and thoroughly enjoyed yet again. I love the premise: a zookeeper in a privately owned zoo, who truly loves her animals and wants nothing more than to take care of them. Her love interest is interesting, and even her snobby mother adds to my enjoyment of the story lines. Theodora “Teddy” Bentley is one of my favorite cozy characters, and I want to know more about her. The mysteries are well-done, and don’t telegraph the “baddie” too much.
I even dropped her a line on Ms. Webb’s website asking for another installment. She was kind enough to write me back, explaining she was currently involved with a new historical cozy series set in Paris after WWI but before WWII. She did, however, tell me there would be more Teddy and her zoo later on. Yay!
Linda MH says
Stellans,
I love this series, too. I’m happy to hear there may be more coming. Thanks for sharing that with us!
Penny says
Fixer-Upper Mysteries by Kate Carlisle. They are really great, and I had a hard time putting it down to get work done.
Susy S says
I have been re-reading the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews. I had forgot just how much fun this series is. While many of the characters are very quirky, they all seem to grow with time, so they don’t become caricatures.
Linda MH says
Susy S,
I love Meg and the gang. As a matter of fact, if I had to choose a cozy mystery town to move to, it would be Meg’s town, Caerphilly.
Love these characters.
Susy S says
We all love the Shiffleys, loath the Pruitts and laugh along with the Hollingworth clan.
Suzanne Anderson says
I’m reading Haunted Hibiscus by Laura Childs and enjoying it. Next up I’ll read Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Rita Mae Brown. I really enjoy this series.
Zhahn says
Loving David Rosenfelt’s Good Dog Bad Cop, a K-9 mystery.
Fortney, Sally says
I read Irish Knit Murder by Peggy Ehrhart. Besides, catching up with her friends and knitting club, I enjoyed her work. Pamela works for a fiber magazine and reads articles to recommend and sometimes edit. I like learning the little tidbits of information about fiber subjects.
I also read Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron. Her first Louisiana series set a high bar, but this one about a store in a mansion is coming close.
ginger. says
Ellen Bryon has a second book out in that series.
Regina Williams says
I read so many great books this month but I highly recommend Alexia Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown series I read the 2nd book in the series Death in D Minor and it was so good
Also read Death in an Irish Village and Murder in Galway both by Carlene O’Connor
Dial P for Poison by Zara Keane is probably my favorite book out all of the books I read this month.
Kathleen Boylan says
I just finished Pork Pie Pandemonium by British author Steve Higgs. It’s about a retired detective, Albert Smith and Rex, a former police dog. Albert is starting a culinary tour when he finds himself in the middle of a crime. Rex solves the mystery but has to help his human figure it out. Loved the characters, humor and unexpected plot twists. Even better this is the first in a series that just gets better with each book. I couldn’t stop reading them!
sharont says
Love that series also. Next try his other series starring Patricia and a wonderful, very funny cast.
SuziQ says
I have been reading Agatha Frost’s Peridale Cafe and Claire’s Candles series. Both are well written and entertaining. For paranormal, magical reading, Erin Johnson’s Pet Psychic Mystery series is captivating. I would also include Juliet Blackwell’s Wishcraft mystery series. Anything by Blackwell is highly recommended, as is Amanda Flower. Anything either of these authors Pen is always captivating with wonderful characters and story line.
Lily says
Really enjoyed the first book in Valerie Burns new series The Baker Street Mystery Series called 2 Parts Sugar, 1 Part Murder. Great characters! Can’t wait for second book to come out this summer!
Amy S says
Two Parts Sugar One Part Murder was a really good story with relatable characters.
Lily says
Yes I really enjoyed everything about this book!
Janice G says
I read a number of good books this month. I would especially recommend A Midsummer Night’s Scheme by Harper Kincaid, the second book in her book binding series. Quinn Caine and her sidekicks her cousin Sister Daria and her dog Ruth Barker Ginsburg witness the terrible death of a Broadway star who has returned home to Vienna, VA to open a new theater. He had the reputation of being a real player who broke many hearts. When the same killer seems to be going after Quinn’s brother, she and Sister Daria go to work trying to stop the killer. It’s a good mystery with lots of interesting characters.
ginger. says
I read Murder on the SS Rosa by Lee Strauss. It is the first in the Ginger Gold Mystery series. It is a historical mystery . Ginger is a widow traveling to England. I love this series. I was given 3 books in this series for Christmas. I am reading Murder in the Plum Pudding, 12th one in the series. Also reading Amanda Flower’s 1st book in Amish Candy Shop, Assualted Caramel. I know i will not finish them by tomorrow but i recommond them next month. I am enjoying both books.
Ginger says
I did finish Amanda Flower s Assualted caramel. I loved it .
Kathy W says
I am really enjoying the Bought the Farm series by Ellen Riggs. Madcap mayhem with many eccentric characters, both 2- and 4-legged.
Lucie says
Misha Popp’s Magic, Pies, and Deadly Lies (first in the Pies Before Guys series) was a surprising hit for me. I typically shy away from magical/fantasy/paranormal type elements, but there’s a realism to how it’s presented here which allowed me to relate a bit more to the characters and story. It’s obvious the author has taken some influences from Ellery Adams (who is one of my favorites), but the mystery is a twist on what one comes to expect from a typically cozy and definitely touches on some serious subjects, but it never veers too dark and twisty and manages to maintain a lighter more cozy tone overall. This had been a random library pick-up for me and I went to reserve the second one immediately after finishing this one (still on hold).
MendoGirl says
I read Murder on the Poet’s Walk by Ellery Adams.
The story takes place at Storyton Hall where poets have gathered to compete for a coveted greeting card contract. Only problem is poets keep showing up dead and made to look like characters from epic poems.
When I picked this up I didn’t realize I had read another in the series. It has a bit of a fairytale slant to it. Jane, our heroine, came to Storyton widowed and pregnant with twins.
She also found out that she was to be the new guardian of a secret library that could rival that of Alexandria.
Poet’s Walk is a fun read with lots of lines of poetry sprinkled throughout, and some romance as well.