A little while ago, Inger set this letter:
“I’m a Swedish fan of your site, using it to find new books and authors. I’m really happy I found you since there’s not that much information to find about cozies in Sweden. We do have a lot of really good authors, Stig Larsson and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo amongst others…
I have a question. I’m searching for an author that wrote first in a series I liked but don’t remember the name of, a really nice and funny book.
It’ about a female lawyer, returning to her southern hometown in some kind of disgrace. She’s drinking too much, sitting on her porch into the night. She doesn’t work and people around her are worried about her drinking. No boyfriend, no parents I think, and she’s forced into some kind of work to find a murderer.
Is there anyone who recognizes this?”
If any of you know who this author, or the mystery series could be, please post a comment. Thank you!
linda c says
This series rings a bell but can’t think right off. give me a few days. i should remember this series. seems to me it is a good one, different but good.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
(Linda C, as you can see, I’m back to calling you “Linda C”>>> for a time, anyway!)
linda c says
Danna and Inga, Once again I answered someone’s question without really reading the whole question. I failed to see that Inga said the cozy was a funny one with a woman who is drinking and sitting on a porch solving mysteries. All I read was a woman sitting on a porch drinking.
I don’t know the author of the book Inga was trying to recall but in the one that I was referring to our main sleuth is indeed sitting on the front porch of a house that she had inherited (close enough) from a father or grandfather, drinking some sort of whiskey. As she is sitting there a town cop, deputy, something like that pulls up in front of the house. He tells our sleuth that a certain judge in the area needs her for a particular case. Our sleuth refuses because she failed to get a certain person aquitted during her early years as a lawyer. This person is executed for a crime that was later to be found innocent. But the judge insists.
Because this woman still holds a lawyer’s degree(whatever it is called) the judge wants her to be a public defender of this one particular case. If I recall this right (and that is anyone’s guess) our sleuth was set up to fail.
I am very sorry if I am messing this up. I know I just read this book in the last 2 to 3 months but can’t for the life of me think what it is.
After this debacle with these two books I most assuredly will keep a list of the books I read; the author who wrote it, the sleuth’s name and where the story takes place, and above all, the title of the book!!
If all of you will forgive me these two very bad mistakes, I PROMISE, I PROMISE, I PROMISE I will keep these lists.
One good thing about it though, while I was going through the Cozy lists and reading the short descriptions that Danna gave with each one, I have discovered there are a number of books and writers that I do want to read. So maybe all isn’t lost.
Must be having more senior moments. I do make a lot of mistakes but I will admit that. Plus, I think we are to have some sort of eclipse tonight, aren’t we? I can blame my mistakes on that!!
Hope Inga doesn’t judge all Americans by my actions.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Oh, please, Linda C>>> This blog area is not set up so that people feel badly about things they say! Rest assured that we enjoy hearing from you, and appreciate it when you come up with the “mystery authors” and even when you don’t!
Ane says
Well, I hope you can come up with a title because I am quite intrigued and would like to read that book.
Thanks…
Cindy says
Was it the Bay Tanner series by Kathryn Wall?
ginger says
is it cathy pickin’s avery andrews series?
by the way danna we got beat in extra innings. sorry i haven’t been here since last week but the end of school, graduation on mon. sports banquet on tues., baseball banquet on thurs. a very busy week but school ended today. I finished reading Josie Belle book and Lucy Arlington in the last three days.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ginger, that’s too bad about your girl’s team not doing so well in the extra innings, but it must have been a very close game to get that far.
Andie says
This sounds very similar to the Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries by Carolyn Haines.
Cozy, funny, quirky but with a somewhat annoying (to me) and nagging ghost.
She is broke, unemployed, unwed and does sit on her porch a lot and her friends are concerned about her.
She is partial to Jack Daniels…
Linda says
Sounds like Carolyn Haines, she is from Mississippi & is so funny. Sarah Booth DeLaney series, The Bone Series.(Hallowed Bones, Bones Of A Feather etc). Also, try Anne George’s Sister Series, Murder On A Bad Hair Day, Murder At The BootScoot,ect). These are sure to bring a smile.
Edie Dykeman says
I remember a book similar to this, but I think it was much longer ago. I’ll try to find out, but also interested in finding out the answer if someone else knows. These kind of questions bug me until I know the answer. 🙂
Barb Goffman says
You may be thinking of Southern Fried (I think that’s the title) by Cathy Pickens. It won the St. Martins Malice Domestic Award for best first traditional novel several years ago. There were five books in the series. Hope that helps.
Donna says
This book sounds so familiar to me, too, but I can’t remember the title or author, either! Let’s hope someone solves this little mystery quickly because the suspense is killing me. 🙂 Seems to me that I liked the book well enough but not enough to continue the series, so that’s probably why I can’t remember the details. This is my excuse, anyway.
Karlene says
The book is “Wishful Sinful” by Tracy Dunham.
marla says
If I am correct, the title is “the bootleggers daughter ” by Margaret maron. Judge Deborah knott is the main character and it begins with her sitting on the porch, drinking something and being called to fill in for a judge by her friend dwayne who is a deputy sheriff.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, ALL, for responding to Inger’s question. We have several possibilities of authors who could have written this particular series. Here’s hoping that between all of us, we have come up with the correct author.
Kathryn R. Wall – Bay Tanner Mystery Series
Cathy Pickens – Southern Fried Mystery Series
Carolyn Haines – Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series
Margaret Maron – Judge Deborah Knott Mystery Series
Tracy Dunham – Wishful Sinful