Here are some Fun Virginia Facts:
The largest city is Virginia Beach, and the capital is Richmond.
State motto is “Thus always to tyrants.”
State bird is the Cardinal.
State flower is the American Dogwood.
Virginia got its name in honor of Queen Elizabeth I.
Authors who are found on the Cozy Mystery Site and who feature Virginia locations in their books:
Beverly Allen (aka Barbara Early): Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery Series
Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series
David Baldacci: Maxwell & King Mystery Series
Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): Good Buy Girls Mystery Series
Miranda Bliss: Cooking Class Mystery Series
Rita Mae Brown: Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series AND Foxhunting Mystery Series
Mollie Cox Bryan: Cumberland Creek Mystery Series
Taffy Cannon (aka Emily Toll): Roxanne Prescott Mystery Series
Alyse Carlson: Garden Society Mystery Series
Patricia Cornwell: Kay Scarpetta Mystery Series AND Judy Hammer Mystery Series
Ellen Crosby: Wine Country Mystery Series
Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series
Krista Davis: Paws and Claws Mystery Series
Laura DiSilverio (aka Ella Barrick & Lila Dare): Mall Cop Mystery Series
Honora Finkelstein & Susan Smily: Ariel Quigley Mystery Series
Victoria Gilbert: Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series – Amy Webber is a former university librarian who now manages a public library in Virginia.
John J. Lamb: Bear Collector’s Mystery Series
Graham Landrum: Club Mystery Series
Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Pumpkin Patch Mystery Series
Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Purple Door Detective Agency Mystery Series
Gayle Leeson (aka Amanda Lee & Gayle Trent): Ghostly Fashionista Mystery Series – features the owner of a design shop and the ghost who has lived in the shop since the 1930s.
Ann McMillan: Civil War Mystery Series
Ann Ripley: Gardening Mystery Series
Susan Smily & Honora Finkelstein: Ariel Quigley Mystery Series
J.B. Stanley (aka Jennifer Stanley & Ellery Adams): Supper Club Mystery Series
Jennifer Stanley (aka J. B. Stanley & Ellery Adams): Hope Street Church Mystery Series
Gayle Trent (aka Amanda Lee): Daphne Martin (Cake Decorating) Mystery Series
LynDee Walker: Headlines in Heels Mystery Series
Please feel free to contact me if you see an author from the Cozy Mystery Site who belongs on this list, or if you have any comments.
♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link.♦
-V- says
I feel rather honor bound to investigate these! I am married to a genu-wine Virginia hillbilly from Big Stone Gap area.
I’ve read the first Miranda Bliss and I used to read Patricia Cornwell before she got full of herself. The rest are haven’t been tried by me…yet…
Marie says
Ellen Crosby’s mystery series takes place in Virginia wine country!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Vickie, I wonder which of us left Patricia Cornwell first! I loved her first few Kay Scarpetta mysteries, but then just got too over-loaded with the gruesome details she always included.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Marie, for reminding me. I just added Crosby to the list.
Marie says
No problem Danna! I live in Virginia and love finding local series. You may also want to add Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series to your list – it takes place in the Williamsburg area.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Good Grief! Two for two!
Thanks again, Marie…
-V- says
Danna: grin
Margaret says
You might want to add John Lamb and his teddy bear series which takes place in the Shenandoah Valley. And I couldn’t agree more with Patricia Cornwell – just too much blood and gore. Not my idea of cozy.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Margaret, for the John Lamb addition!
I never thought Cornwell was cozy, but as she put out more and more books, she really seemed to want to prove that she wasn’t!
Linda says
I am excited to learn about this website! Gayle Trent, with Amanda Lee sometimes used as a pen name, is another great Virginia cozy mystery writer. Her cake decorating mysteries are set in Virginia: Dead Pan and The Quick and the Thread are too. She has an embroidery shop series coming out soon that is set elsewhere, but she has some wonderful Virginia mysteries. She even came to my elementary English classes and held writing workshops for my young writing students! Check out her website http://www.gayletrent.com/books/.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Linda, for reminding me! I am going to go add her (or would that be them?!?) to the list…
Sue says
Just a quick note, Krista Davis “Diva Mysteries” is set in Alexandria, Virginia. I LOVE her series!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Sue, for the reminder. I will go right now and add the Domestic Diva Mystery Series (by Krista Davis) to the Virginia theme list…
Sherri says
I absolutely love Krista Davis ! Im looking for similar authors if someone could help me out. Thanks !
Dreama says
Shannon Hill writes a good series that takes place in Virginia and they are really great books. I have read the entire series, they will make you laugh, cry and try to figure out a mystery.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Dreama, for telling us about Shannon Hill’s Lil & Boris mysteries.
Donna says
I remember reading a mystery set in Virginia, maybe hunt country. The main character was new to this small town where she was the new Postmistress. All I can remember is that I really liked it but I can’t remember title or author. I know that’s vague, but…
maybe someone knows it
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, try Rita Mae Brown‘s Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series.
Jody says
The Vicar Of Church Hill is fun Kindle e-book, 14 cozy mysteries for Young Adult readers (and old adults). I created it to teach Richmond history but it strays into Ashland and the counties and even visits Hampton Roads.
Terry Bialowas says
I was looking for the author’s name of the Mrs Murphy series and came across this list now I can add a few more authors to my must read list.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Terry, I’m glad that you’ll be able to add a few new authors to your reading rotation thanks to the list!
Greenway says
Hope you all whose tastes run to old-fashioned truly refined protagonists will be able to find Graham Landrum’s all-too-few mysteries. They are centered on elderly clubwomen, true ladies, who live in a community that straddles state boundaries (like Rita Mae Brown’s Hunsenmier sisters series [I may have that surname wrong], but the heroines and their gentlemen are not given to quarrels or causing the trouble that comes their way). Susan Wittig Albert’s Darling Dahlias series and Mignon Ballard’s Miss Dimple series are most like dear Mr. Landrum’s, but his are yet more sedate and SO cozy. Not boring or cloying or heaped with “twee”, just peaceful and charming. The ladies could be good examples to bristly Miss Daisy and worrywart Miss Julia, but they are all of an unfortunately fading–or at least, less recognized as “mattering” type of people than once upon a time. As they say in the South, truly “just precious”, and a real refuge.