Today I am going to (again!) ask your help in identifying a Cozy Mystery author. This letter is from Tessa:
“I am trying to remember a series with a lady who is a kind, but dishonest medium. She uses her common sense to guide her clients and of course she winds up catching killers and bad people. Her husband was horribly wounded in the war and is wheel-chair bound. The word Spirit is in all the titles, I think.”
If any of you know who the author of this mystery series might be, would you please post a comment? Thank you!
P.S. Thank you, ALL! The consensus says the author who Tessa is looking for is:
Alice Duncan: Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery Series
Vicki says
Surprisingly, I know this one too. It’s Alice Duncan’s Daisy Gumm series. I think the first one is called Strong Spirits. Daisy isn’t really dishonest, she’s just faking her powers as a medium to help people.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Vicki, oh my gosh! And, thank you!
Jackie J. Griffey says
I agree, this is Daisy Gumm all right and I highly recommend them, having read them, check out her page for the series order and good luck and good reading to all of us.
Kath says
Aha I was wrong, obviously but now I have a new series I want to read! lol
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kath, in any case, thank you for the suggestion.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Great to hear, Jackie!
Kath says
I believe this may be “A Victorian San Francisco Mystery” series by M. Louisa Locke. The books (and short stories) are all listed here on this site.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kath, thank you!
Kimmie says
Danna/Tessa, it sounds like the Daisy Gumm Majesty Series by Alice Duncan. *Fingers crossed*
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Kimmie. It looks like it might just be Alice Duncan’s Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery Sereis that Tessa is looking for.
Laura says
Could it be Alice Duncan? The Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery series?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Laura, thank you. I am guessing you all are correct thinking Tessa is looking for Alice Duncan…
Gayle says
This is off topic. I have been wondering if any have read Heather Horrocks “Who Dun Him Inn” mysteries and her “Bad Mothers Club” mysteries? I would like to recommend them for the Cozy Mystery list. Thank you for reading this far.:-D
Gayle
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Gayle, for mentioning Heather Horrocks. I actually already have her on my list of authors to post on the Cozy Mystery site.
Alice Duncan says
Thanks for looking for my books! I’m giving the first one (Strong Spirits) in audio this month, if you’d like to enter my contest. I have about 20 copies to give to folks, so if you’re interested, just email me at alice@aliceduncan.net
Thanks!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Alice Duncan, for the great offer. I’m guessing you’ll be hearing from lots of Cozy Mystery readers! (I will post an entry tomorrow morning so that more people are aware of your very generous offer.)
Thanks, again!
Alice Duncan says
One caveat about STRONG SPIRITS that I believe everyone deserves to know. I WANTED the books to be historical cozy mysteries. Kensington, the publisher of the first two books, asked me to take out the dead bodies, add a subsidiary romance (because Daisy’s already married), and they marketed them as romances. Well. They aren’t romances. Unfortunately, they aren’t precisely mysteries, either, since I couldn’t kill anyone. Therefore, the first few books don’t have dead bodies in them, except in the background. The books, naturally, tanked. I’m really glad that Five Star picked up the series, and they definitely contain mystery elements.
Oh, and the late, great Kate Duffy telephoned me to apologize for mis-marketing the first two books, but by that time it was too late. Which is kind of the story of my writing life, but never mind. 🙂
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Alice Duncan, we have speculated about publishers dictating certain things for their contracted authors to do. I’m glad you were given more lead-way with your new publishing group.
Alice Duncan says
Oh, my, I’ve had to do everything from shaving off the hero’s mustache (for Secret Hearts [Dell Publishing]) because they didn’t want a mustachioed hero on the cover, to writing a whole side plot in the book Rosamunda’s Revenge because the name Rosamunda wouldn’t fit on the particular cover style Leisure was using at the time. So I wrote a subplot about the hero calling Rosamunda (who’s a Yorkshire terrier) Rosie, thus annoying her to death. The book was partially written from the dog’s point of view. Then Five Star (I love writing for Five Star, by the way) put a saguaro cactus on the cover of Pecos Valley Revival. The book takes place in Roswell, NM, where I now live, and saguaro cacti only grow in a tiny part of the Sonoran Desert in south Arizona and northern Mexico. When I pointed out this salient point, they gave the cover a yucca instead. I’m sure these types of things never happen to Stephen King. 🙂 I have tons of funny stories about publishing. At least they’re funny now. When they happened, they weren’t so great.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Alice, I am laughing right now about the changes they made you make. A “mustachioed hero” on the cover!