As I already mentioned, October will be a busy month for Cozy releases – aside from the three I already discussed earlier, there will be five more Christmas-themed Cozies! Plus, a few re-releases that seem worth mentioning.
First, Donna Andrews will be putting out the 26th in her Meg Langslow Mystery Series, Owl Be Home for Christmas. This entry will be the 6th Christmas entry in the series, and Meg will be enjoying this holiday at the Caerphilly Inn, where her grandfather is hosting a conference on owls. When a snow storm traps the conference attendees at the inn, one of the visiting guests is found murderer, leaving the visitors stranded and forced to find the killer themselves. Donna Andrews is also the author of the Turing Hopper Mystery Series.
Peggy Ehrhart will be putting out Silent Knit, Deadly Knit, the 4th in the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series. Empty-nester Pamela is in especially good spirits with the holiday visit by her daughter Penny, home from college for the holidays, but her daughter’s vacation is interrupted when she stumbles on the body of a deceased local who seems to have been a magnet for trouble many times before. Peggy Ehrhart is also the author of the Maxx Maxwell Mystery Series.
Next up is a bit of an unusual release, a set of three short Christmas releases by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier, released under the title Christmas Sweets. The Joanne Fluke entry will be from the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series, the Laura Levine entry will be from the Jaine Austen Mystery Series, and the Leslie Meier entry will be from the Lucy Stone Mystery Series. It also includes holiday recipes. UPDATE: It sounds like these are all reprints, so you may want to check your owned anthologies and other purchases!
Josi S. Kilpack will be releasing The Candy Cane Caper, which will be the 13th in the Culinary Mystery Series. Culinary expert and amateur sleuth Sadie Hoffmiller is preparing for a large family gathering in their home of Fort Collins, Colorado, when she hears that a friend has been the victim of robbery – a very old and expensive set of Christmas ornaments. This entry will also include recipes.
Next up, Lois Winston will be putting out Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, the 8th in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Widow and magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack is returning a set of unwanted and unasked for ornaments to her half-brother-in-law Ira, when she locates the corpse of a dead neighbor who had crossed paths with Ira previously. Lois Winston is also the author of the Empty Nest Mystery Series.
Finally, I’m not going to give full write-ups for these, but there are two other releases of note if you’re already in a festive mood – Leslie Meier will be releasing Tis the Season Murder, which contains both books #12 & #20 – New Year’s Eve Murder and Christmas Carol Murder from the Lucy Stone Mystery Series, while Barbara Ross will be putting out Nogged Off, a Maine Clambake Mystery which was previously published in the Egg Nog Murder anthology.
For more Christmas Cozy Mysteries, check out the Christmas Mystery Book Series page on the site.
Cheryl Palmour says
Just finished reading T.C.LoTiempo’s book The Time for Murder is Meow and Julia Buckley’s Death in a Budapest Butterfly. Both were entertaining reads and good starts to a new series. Both feature cats.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Cheryl, thanks for the suggestions!
Bek says
OOOOOH! More cats! Well, the Lo Tiempo series is already on my list, but I’ll have to look into the Buckley series, for sure!
Susy S says
I just got notification of another Leighann Dobbs, which is the first in a series that sound like they may be mostly Christmas themes. The fist one is ‘Cadaver on Candy Cane Lane’ (Christmas Village Cozy Mystery Book 1).
I want the Donna Andrews, but since I have at least 15 to 20 to read before this one, I can wait to purchase it.
Thanks for the updates!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Susy, I’ll have to add that one to her page. It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of some of these authors who release eight plus books a year…
Susy S says
I agree. She and Jessica Beck are hard to keep up with.
Bek says
Gosh…you’re doing really well, Susy S! I have the entire “Leaphorn and Chee” series, the entire “The Cat Who” series, the entire “Aunt Dimity” series AND the entire “Library Lover’s” series to read, as well as some fifteen stand-alones, and the latter half of “The Cookbook Nook” series, which is my current binge. ALL of the stacked on my “to read” desk. I am SO under water! If you can’t throw a lifering, please throw a rope!
Bek says
Thank goodness! A reprieve! That said, the Donna Andrews series has been niggling at the back of my…NO! NO! It is TWENTY SIX BOOKS AND COUNTING!
This way lies madness…
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Bek, on the plus side, it’s usually just one book a year, sometimes two! Well, that’s still a lot when she started several decades ago…
Bek says
I’ll note it on my “Maybe” list. I might be moving in the foreseeable future, and the less books I have to pack and take, the better! Cross your fingers for me, I’d be working with a dear friend to start a cat sanctuary!
Susy S says
I hope you would still have room for plenty of books!
Bek says
She has a library room, fairly large, and is clearing out space for me! And my bedroom would be large, with room for several bookcases there, as well.
Susy S says
That sounds really great. Hope everything works out just the way you hope.
I can’t really have pets where I am, as the wildlife would be a danger to them if they got out even for a minute. I do enjoy watching the bobcats and coyotes, so I can pretend they are my outside pets.
Bek says
There are bobcats in Northwest Florida who have a bit of Russian Blue blood in them, actually. You don’t see the smoke-blue ones anymore. How do I know this? My 29 pound Russian Blue tomcat (no, not neutered…this was almost 60 years ago, and back then, you just didn’t) was the culprit.
Susy S says
You are right. It is madness. I picked up one book at a used book sale several years ago and now I have 20 in this series and 4 in her other series. I am reading a couple each month, so I might be caught up by this time next year…
Patricia Wever says
I am feeling overwhelmed by all the authors emails trying to get me to buy thier latest or pre-order another one. I have too many shelves of in my TBR, plus all the kindle library. I feel like Gene Wilder’s line in a movie I think in Young Frankenstein Yelling Stop please STOP!
My DH keeps saying you should buy clothes or something anything beside books. Yes I am addicted.
Thanks Danna for all you do for us.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patricia, you’re not the only one who sometimes wishes there were less interesting looking Cozies out there! And you’re welcome, of course.
Vicki says
Just a note, the Laura Levine novella in the Christmas Sweets anthology above was published in another anthology several years ago. I know I’ve read it before.
The Leslie Meier story might be a reissue also as it sounds awfully familiar.
I wish the publishers would let the reader know these are reprints.
Laura Levine should have a new Jaine Austen mystery out this month though. Not sure if you have listed it. Love her books!?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Vicki, thanks for the suggestions! I’ll try to check up on the novellas – as you say, it’s hard to tell if some of these have been reprinted elsewhere, especially since the original Amazon entries for multi-author anthologies sometimes disappear.
Janean says
I was wondering about “Christmas Sweets”, by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier, they are original stories right? No re-releases? The Joanne Fluke one sounded familiar, that is why I am asking. I don’t like it when the re- release books and then give it a new title and cover.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Janean, I’m not sure. I’ve tried to search for them and haven’t found anything obvious on Amazon. Vicki suggested they might be re-releases, though. It’s possible that I’m just missing some original release for some parts of the anthology.
Susy S says
I go to a website called fiction d-b which lists the publication date of the novellas. I is not always correct, but it has prevented me from buying the same stories in multiple books.
Vicki says
Danna, I think the original anthology was called Secret Santa published in 2013.
Thanks!
Janean says
Thanks Danna and Vicki. I did some looking on Fantastic Fiction and found out all 3 stories in “Christmas Sweets” are reprints. I wish publishers would stop doing this to us readers. Instead of reprints give us new stories to buy!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Janean, thanks for the update – I’ve added that these are likely reprints to the post!
Kurt M says
Actually, I believe that the Joanne Fluke story is new (or at least I can’t find it on any website, even under another name). The other two stories are definitely reprints, though.
Kurt M says
UPDATE: Also went to the Fiction D-B site referenced above…found that the Joanne Fluke story “Twelve Desserts of Christmas” was, indeed, published earlier. 2006 in an anthology called “Sugar and Spice.” So all three stories in this anthology ARE reprints.
Susy S says
What is worse, and has caught me once or twice, is when they reissue the same book under a different title. It is one thing to do this when an author has made significant changes/updates to an older book, that was originally released 15 or 20 years ago, but to re-release a book after just a year or two is REALLY irritating.
Corrine E Shirley says
I just received a new The Inn at Magnolia Harbor series.
Title is: At Summers End by Rachael O. Phillips Came from Annies
Now I have to decide which I want to read first: At Summers Eve or Reader’s Digest. Oh, decisions!
Patricia Wever says
It is not just reprints. I have noticed some authors change the covers or the name of the series after a few books have been released of their kindle books.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patricia, yes, that can be annoying as well.