Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the list of new releases for November 1 to November 7!
Hannah Dennison: Murder in Miniature at Honeychurch Hall (This will be the 8th in the Honeychurch Hall Mystery Series.)
Janet Evanovich: Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight (This will be the 28th in the Stephanie Plum Mystery Series.)
Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Killer Research (This will be the 12th in the Library Lover’s Mystery Series.)
This month, I wasn’t quite sure how to do my monthly entry about the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel’s Cozy Mystery movies – since the channel is only showing Christmas movies during the month. So, I decided to go ahead and post the Christmas movies they will be airing during November 2021. I know this is the Cozy Mystery site, however, I also know there are a lot of us who look forward to these movies every year!
The Hallmark channel has a few special surprises for those of us who enjoy their Christmas movies… They will be airing a Christmas movie on Thursday, Nov. 25 AND they will feature two movies on both Sat. Nov. 27 and Sunday, Nov. 28. So get your favorite mode of taping ready! (Unless you watch the movies while they’re on live TV…)
Friday – November 5, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Gingerbread Miracle
Maya and Alex, old friends from high school, work together over Christmas to sell his uncle’s Mexican bakery famous for its gingerbread cookies that the patrons believe grants wishes. Stars Merritt Patterson, Jon Ecker.
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 6, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Next Stop, Christmas
Angie is determined to spend Christmas alone but her usual commuter ride turns into a Christmas train that drops her off in her home town in 2011. Stars Lyndsy Fonseca, Chandler Massey, Lea Thompson, and Christopher Lloyd.
9:00 PM -HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES Channel
Debbie Macomber’s A Mrs. Miracle Christmas
When a family faces loneliness and loss of faith, Mrs. Miracle swoops in to renew their Christmas Spirit and experience a holiday of heavenly proportions. Stars Caroline Rhea, Kaitlin Doubleday, & Steve Lund.
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 7, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
A Christmas Treasure
After opening a 100-year-old time capsule and meeting a charming chef, Lou questions whether or not she should move to New York after Christmas and further her writing career. Stars Jordin Sparks, Michael Xavier.
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 12, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Open by Christmas
When Nicky finds an unopened Christmas card from a high school secret admirer, she and her best friend Simone search to find and thank the anonymous author. Stars Alison Sweeney, Erica Durance, & Brennan Elliot.
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 13, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
My Christmas Family Tree
When Vanessa receives the results from her Family Tree DNA test, she discovers a family she didn’t know existed and travels to their home for Christmas. Starring Aimee Teegarden, Andrew Walker, and James Tupper.
9:00 PM – HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES Channel
One December Night
Two music managers must put their history aside to oversee the televised reunion performance of their rock star fathers with a fractured past. Stars Eloise Mumford, Brett Dalton with Bruce Campbell and Peter Gallagher.
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 14, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
A Holiday in Harlem
Business executive Jazmin Carter is known for two things: turning fledgling businesses into profit producers and avoiding Christmas in Harlem, the neighborhood where she grew up. Stars Olivia Washington, Will Adams, Tina Lifford.
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 19, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Nantucket Noel
During the Seaside Noel celebrations Christina learns of a developer who is planning to tear down the wharf that is home to her toy store. Tensions rise as she falls for the developer’s son, Andy. Sarah Power and Trevor Donovan.
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 20, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
A Christmas Together With You
Planning on spending the holidays alone, Megan and father figure Frank go on a holiday road trip to find his first true love, and Megan finds something of her own too. Stars Laura Vandervoort, Niall Matter, and Harry Lennix.
9:00 PM – HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES Channel
Five More Minutes
Inspired by Scotty McCreery’s song, “Five More Minutes”, a woman’s Christmas wish is answered in unexpected ways when her late grandfather’s journal turns up and reveals an untold romance. Stars Nikki DeLoach, David Haydn-Jones.
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 21, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
A Kiss before Christmas
Ethan, always the nice guy, wakes up in a new reality at Christmas. Initially, he is enthralled with his new life but soon realizes that it’s not what he thought it would be. Stars Jamie Denton, Teri Hatcher, Marilu Henner.
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – November 25, 2021
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
The Nine Kittens of Christmas
Cat lovers Zachary and Marilee are thrown back together at Christmas when they’re tasked with finding homes for a litter of adorable kittens. Stars Brandon Routh, Kimberley Sustad, Gregory Harrison.
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 26 , 2021
5:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Christmas CEO
A small toy company CEO gets a once in a lifetime offer to merge with a mega toy company but will need her estranged ex-business partner’s signature to seal the deal. What he helps her rediscover will change both of their lives.
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
An Unexpected Christmas
A speech writer makes a deal with his ex-girlfriend to pretend they’re a couple to save his family’s Christmas. It’s not long before both the ruse and their feelings catch up with them. Stars Bethany Joy Lenz, Tyler Hynes.
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 27, 2021
5:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Making Spirits Bright
The son & daughter of rival holiday decorating families help mend their fathers’ decades-old feud, finding romance along the way as they compete in the town’s holiday decorating contest. Starring Taylor Cole and Carlo Marks.
7:00 PM – HALLMARK Channel
Christmas at Castle Hart
Brooke Bennett goes to Ireland for Christmas to search for her Irish roots. While there, she meets charming Aiden Hart, Earl of Glaslough. Mistaken for an elite event planner, she’s hired to host his castle’s epic Christmas party.
9:00 PM -HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES Channel
Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas
During the holidays, a woman with amnesia catches a ride with her handsome nurse to investigate the only clue to her identity: a newspaper clipping for a Christmas Festival with a cryptic invitation. Jessy Schram, Brendan Penny.
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 28, 2021
5:00 PM
Christmas in Tahoe – HALLMARK Channel
To save her family hotel’s Christmas show, talent booker Claire must ask for help from her ex-boyfriend Ryan, the lead guitarist of a now-famous band that fired her as their manager years ago. Laura Osnes, Kyle Selig, Pat Monahan.
7:00 PM
The Christmas Contest – HALLMARK Channel
Exes Lara and Ben compete in a Christmas contest to win money for the charity of their choosing. The city watches them battle and choose what is more important, victory or love. Stars Candace Cameron Bure and John Brotherton.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re looking for Christmas movies that won’t be found on either of the Hallmark channels, here are some ideas:
Christmas: Favorite Classic Holiday Movies : Old, Black & White
We’re just about at the end of October, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we’ve 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 Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight 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 October? 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 during October 2021 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Sloan Krause Mystery Series AND Bakeshop Mystery Series
Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series
Laura Gail Black: Antique Bookshop Mystery Series (first entry For Whom the Bell Tolls)
Veronica Black: Sister Joan, Daughters of Compassion Mystery Series
Elizabeth C Bunce: Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery Series (first entry Premeditated Myrtle)
Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series
Laura Childs (aka Gerry Schmitt): Tea Shop Mystery Series
Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra and Nell Hampton): Candy-Coated Mystery Series
Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Victorian Village Mystery Series
Elizabeth Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Spann Craig): Southern Quilting Mystery Series
Agatha Christie: Tommy and Tuppence Mystery Series
Krista Davis: Pen & Ink Mystery Series AND Paws & Claws Mystery Series
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Country Store Mystery Series
Aaron Elkins: Gideon Oliver Mystery Series
Sarah Fox: Literary Pub Mystery Series
Mimi Granger: Love is Murder Mystery Series (first entry Death of a Red-Hot Rancher)
Lena Gregory: All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery Series
Mary Ellen Hughes: Keepsake Cove Mystery Series
Elizabeth Penney: Chapter and Curse Mystery Series (first entry Chapter and Curse)
Carol J. Perry: Haunted Haven Mystery Series
Raquel V. Reyes: Caribbean Kitchen Mystery (first entry Mango, Mambo, and Murder)
Rosemary Simpson: Gilded Age Mystery Series (first entry What the Dead Leave Behind)
Dorothy St. James: Beloved Bookroom Mystery Series
Victoria Thompson: Gaslight Mystery Series
Diane Vallere: Samantha Kidd 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.
As much as I love Cozies set in modern settings, to me, there’s always something special about those set in a slightly more distant past. This might be because I have read so many of the “classic” era of Cozies – authors like Agatha Christie, who wrote about what was for her modern times, but is now most of a century past. So “historical” Cozies, those written more recently, still manage to bring a sense of familiar nostalgia to me regardless of when they were written.
Such is certainly the case with this week’s topic for my long running series of posts on the most popular and recommended Cozy series, as this week I will be discussing the first entry in Victoria Thompson‘s Gaslight Mystery Series, Murder on Astor Place. Set in New York City at the end of the 19th century, Murder on Astor Place has two sleuth protagonists – midwife Sarah Brandt and detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. When a young woman is found killed at a house where Sarah recently delivered a baby, Frank asks Sarah to look over the corpse on impulse. When Sarah realizes that the victim was related to an old acquaintance, she is drawn more fully into the case.
One particularly interesting note about this book is that it doesn’t go to the same lengths to whitewash the period that it deals with as much as other historical Cozies indulge in. Though the protagonists are both generally “good” people, they’re also both people of their setting, who are capable of working within a system that we would consider both corrupt and unethical. Frank is clearly competent at his job, but he’s also working toward becoming police captain in the same way as his predecessors have – by preparing a suitable bribe to ensure he gets the post – because that is the system as it was at the time. Also, as much as I love a modern Cozy, it can be nice to get away from the frequently “zany” occupants of a modern small-town setting for an admittedly grimmer set of city-dwellers. Likewise, the often-brutal methods of the police at the time are often mentioned or alluded to.
Another aspect I particularly appreciate is that despite the attention paid toward establishing the setting and characters, the novel gets to the actual murder very quickly. Many Cozies take a very long time to establish the characters and their relationships in the first novel of a series, but this can cause the actual mystery to suffer, making it feel more like an afterthought than the goal of the entire endeavor. Bringing the crime to the opening few chapters, rather than waiting to the midpoint of the novel, makes it feel more like a true mystery novel rather than a book that happens to include a mystery.
Murder on Astor Place provides a lot for a fan of Cozies, especially those who are looking for a change of pace from “modern Cozies” set in the sort of tourist-y settings that are most popular these days. However, it is significantly darker than many Cozies, so those looking for a lighter read might be advised to look elsewhere. That said, it is certainly worth the time of anyone who is looking for a more serious work that really focuses on the mystery. I very much recommend Murder on Astor Place – and the great news for those of you who are looking for a long series to read is that there are 25 books in Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight mystery series!
If you’re interested in seeing more highlights of some of the most recommended or popular Cozy Mystery authors/series, visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.
