The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

New Releases – January 27 to February 2, 2020

Here is the list of new releases for January 27 to February 2!

Ellery Adams (aka J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): The Book of Candlelight (This will be the 3rd in the Secret, Book & Scone Mystery Series.)

Lynn Cahoon: A Field Guide to Homicide (This will be the 6th in the Cat Latimer Mystery Series.)

Kate Collins: Statue of Limitations (This will be the 1st in the NEW Goddess of Greene St. Mystery Mystery Series.)

Kaitlyn Dunnett (aka Kathy Lynn Emerson): A View to a Kilt (This will be the 13th in the Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series.)

Gemma Halliday: Marriage, Merlot & Murder (This will be the 4th in the Wine & Dine Mystery Series.)

Julie Anne Lindsey (aka Jacqueline Frost, Julie Chase, & Bree Baker): Missing in the Mountains (This will be the 2nd in the Fortress Defense Mystery Series.)

Catherine Lloyd: Death Comes to the Nursery (This will be the 7th in the Kurland St. Mary Mystery Series.)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Buried to the Brim (This will be the 6th in the Hat Shop Mystery Series.)

Sofie Ryan (aka Sofie Kelly & Darlene Ryan for Young Adult): Claw Enforcement (This will be the 7th in the Second Chance Cat Mystery Series.)

Perry Mason Television Show from the 1950s & 1960s

Every once in a while I watch a television show that I feel I absolutely have got to tell you about. The classic Perry Mason TV show is one of those shows.

My husband and I started watching this show a couple of months ago on Amazon Prime. (I’ll talk about its cancellation down at the bottom of this blog entry.) We had both seen several of the shows years ago – since they seem to have been in syndication for years and years and years! When I was in high school and college, I remember catching a show every once in a while. 

Getting back to this great television legal crime show…

For those of you who never channel-hopped and found one of these gems, Perry Mason is a defense attorney who is so good at his job that when he introduces himself, people almost fawn over him. Because of his terrific notoriety, doors are opened to him. He’s able to talk to almost every suspect, and what’s even better than that, they talk back to him!

For my husband and me, the fact that this show only deals with that week’s particular crime, and doesn’t rely on being a soap opera of sorts, is a bonus. The crime and legal case are the highlights of the show. I have to admit that now that we are watching the series chronologically, I have noticed what a tight bond exists between Perry and his absolutely phenomenal secretary (more like a paralegal to me), Della Street. Perry is played by Raymond Burr, and I can’t imagine anyone else who could portray him better! As a fan of old black and white movies, I see what a 180° change this role is from the bad-guy roles Burr usually played in those movies. (I absolutely love seeing Raymond Burr smile in these shows – very unlike his previous enforcer/bully roles.)

As for Della Street, Barbara Hale is perfect! I know I mentioned no soap-opera storyline, but Della and Perry always seem like they are so perfectly connected that it leaves me wondering about their off-duty relationship. (My husband has heard me talk about this many times, but he knows that it isn’t important to the show, so he just sits through my speculations…) Perry doesn’t seem to have to instruct Della on what to do because she already knows (through telepathy?) what he wants to be done.

William Hopper (aka Paul Drake) is the private detective who Perry trusts to get the background scoops. Drake seems to stop at nothing to get the information Perry needs in order to get his clients acquitted. Drake has connections throughout the country and he puts a lot of mileage on his car driving all over California in order to track down leads and histories.

Most of Perry’s cases are against District Attorney Hamilton Burger. William Talman manages to portray Burger as a very capable and smart lawyer who, unfortunately, goes up against Perry on a rather regular basis. My husband and I have seen Burger actually change his mind about the accused person and almost join Perry in order to put the real culprit in prison. William Talman portrayed Burger as a very honest man.

Ray Collins starred as the homicide detective who almost seemed to follow Perry and Paul from one crime scene to the next.  As the lead detective, Lt. Tragg doggedly pursued Perry’s clients. As you will see (if you watch the shows), Perry isn’t above putting incriminating evidence in his pocket before trying to leave the scene of a crime. However, even before the days of GPS or social media, Lt. Tragg seems to magically appear just as Perry is exiting the scene. (These accidental encounters usually bring a smile to my face.)

Perry Mason is the creation of Erle Stanley Gardner. He was a prolific author and self-taught lawyer. Gardner’s Perry Mason novels were published during the 1930s to 1970s. Gardner also managed to write other series but Perry Mason was his most popular. (Take a look at the Erle Stanley Garner page on my site to see his list of books.)

I strongly recommend the 1950s/1960s Perry Mason TV series starring Raymond Burr. Unfortunately, CBS is the owner of the rights, and they have pulled the series from Amazon Prime – (I’m guessing) in an attempt to get subscribers for their streaming channel. This is something my husband and I do not plan to do! The CBS streaming includes advertisement interruptions in their shows unless you are willing to pay a premium for not having ads. Also, I am not crazy about the idea of every channel charging for their streaming – why can’t they leave shows on the actual channels? So we ended up buying the entire boxed set series. My husband (aka as one of my “tech guys” – along with my son) had to reconnect our DVD player, but after a couple of weeks without Perry, Della, Paul, Burger, and Lt. Tragg – it sure was good to reconnect! 😀 

Also, I understand that there will be a new HBO Perry Mason series. I wonder if the shows will just focus on the legal aspects or if it will be soap-opera-ized…

P.S. As someone who has watched a whole lot of Star Trek TV series over the years, I am also sorry CBS has added them to their only-on-our-streaming- service channel. 🙁 

Julia Buckley: A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series

A Dark and Stormy Murder (A Writer's Apprentice Mystery Book 1) This month I read A Dark and Stormy Murder which is the first book in Julia Buckley’s A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series. This post is another in my (mostly) monthly series about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series.

The book introduces us to Lena London, a young want-to-be author who is fresh out of school and also fresh out of a long term romantic relationship. As the story begins, Lena receives a call from one of her best friends, Allison, who lives in Blue Lake, Indiana. Allison happens to be in a Saturday morning knitting group with Camille Graham, Lena’s favorite author and idol. Allison had shared Lena’s unpublished novel (which was inspired by Camille’s writing) and Camille had loved it! Now Camille has a job proposal for Allison.

Before you know it, Lena has a job with Camille to work as her writing assistant (hence the “apprentice” in the series’ name) and has moved, with her cat Lestrade, to beautiful Blue Lake, Indiana to live with Camille in her old and mysterious mansion.

Suffice it to say that Lena is more than over the moon to be working with her idol in a job that is too good to be called her dream job – Lena had never dreamed so big!

Being a Cozy Mystery, before long and as expected, Lena discovers a body on the shore of Blue Lake not far from Camille’s house. This gives Lena the chance to get acquainted with the local (handsome) and available police detective, Doug. On her first day in Blue Lake, Lena also meets Camille’s mysterious (and also handsome) neighbor, Sam West.

Sam is a rich investor from New York City who is living in Blue Lake to avoid the spotlight of the big city since his estranged wife is missing under mysterious circumstances and Sam is generally suspected of having committed foul play towards her. As Lena gets to know Sam, she joins a very short list of people (which includes Camille) who believe that Sam had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance. 

So the book entails Lena and Camille, sometimes with Doug’s assistance, trying to solve the mysterious murder near Camille’s house. And Lena also gets involved in trying to help Sam solve the mystery of his estranged wife’s disappearance.

With two mysteries to solve, a mysterious old mansion on the lake, strange noises around the house in the middle of the night, two handsome potential suitors, a cat and two dogs, and a charming small midwestern town, this book and series have just about all the elements that one could expect or want in a lovely Cozy Mystery read. I found A Dark and Stormy Murder to be a fun and light read — just the kind of book I like to curl up with on a chilly, rainy winter day. 

I must warn you, however, that the book does not resolve all the mysteries that are presented. You will have to read at least one more book in the series to find out all the secrets. Since I enjoyed this book so much, I don’t have a problem with this, even though I’m not crazy about multiple book storyline arcs in my Cozies. I’m looking forward to finding out what Lena and Camille discover in the other books in the series. 

If you’d like to see other entries about some of the most recommended Cozy Mystery authors, be sure to check out the Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

New Releases – January 20 to January 26, 2020

Here is the new release for January 20 to January 26! Short “list” this week, but at least it should be a good one.

Miranda James (aka Dean James,  Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Honor Hartman): Careless Whiskers (This will be the 12th in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series.)

MENU