The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Two New Cozy Mystery Series Coming July 2019

July will be a relatively light month for new Cozy themed holiday novels and new Cozy series by site authors, with just two Cozy Mystery Series beginning by established site authors.

First, Catherine Bruns will be starting the Italian Chef Mystery Series, with first entry Penne Dreadful. Chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to recover from her husband’s death, and learning from the police that he might have been murdered certainly isn’t helping. Tessa decides that the best way to help out the investigation is to look into the last place he was seen, a local pizza parlor. Catherine Bruns is also the author of the Cookies & Chance Mystery Series, starring a baker in New York, the Carrie Jorgenson Mystery Series, starring an aspiring actress and current waitress in a cafe in Hawaii, and the Cindy York Mystery Series, starring a mother, wife, and real estate agent.

Also, Julia Buckley will be starting the Hungarian Tea House Mystery Series with first entry Death in a Budapest Butterfly. Worker in her family’s tea house serving cakes and teas, Hana Keller is shocked when a customer dies from a poisoned cup of tea, causing Hana and her tea-leaf reading grandmother to investigate the death. Julia Buckley is also the author of the Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series, starring a writer’s assistant in Indiana, the Undercover Dish Mystery Series, starring a restaurant owner in Illinois, and the Madeline Mann Mystery Series, starring a small-town reporter.

For more upcoming Cozy Mystery Series, check out the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.

New Releases – June 10 to June 16, 2019

Here is the list of new releases for June 10 to June 16!

Stephanie Bond: 10 Bodies Lying (This will be the 10th in the Body Movers Mystery Series.)

Leslie Budewitz: Chai Another Day (This will be the 4th in the Spice Shop Mystery Series.)

Edie Claire: Never Nag Your Neighbor (This will be the 12th in the Leigh Koslow “Never” Mystery Series.)

Kay Finch: The Black Cat Steps on a Crack (This will be the 4th in the Bad Luck Cat Mystery Series.)

Victoria Houston: Dead Big Dawg (This will be the 19th in the Loon Lake Mystery Series.)

Cozy Mystery News – June 2019

It’s another modest month for Cozy Mystery news, with only three announcements:

First, for those of us who are fans of  Tasha Alexander – you’ll be pleased to know she will again be using her studies of English Literature and Medieval History. That’s right! She’ll be releasing another entry in her Lady Emily Mystery Series, bringing the series to a total of 15 entries, including one more that is scheduled for release in January of 2020 (In the Shadow of Vesuvius), plus this newly announced novel. The very Victorian Lady Emily will be going to Florence this time to do her sleuthing. 

Izzy, Nell, Cass, & Birdie have just gotten the green light to solve at least three more mysteries! Sally Goldenbaum will be releasing three more books in her Seaside Knitters Society Mystery Series. The Sea Harbor, Massachusetts knitting group will be kept busy not only knitting, but solving crimes. (Sally Goldenbaum also writes the Queen Bees Quilt Shop Mystery Series.)

Move over Margaret Grace, Jean Flowers, & Ada Madison! Camille Minichino will be adding a new pseudonym to that list. Enter Elizabeth Logan!  Camille Minichino (writing as Elizabeth Logan) will be starting up the Alaskan Diner Mystery Series soon. The star sleuth of this series is a woman returning to Alaska to run her retired parents’ diner. As a fan of Camille Minichino, I’m delighted to know this series will include at least three Cozies. I started reading Camille’s Cozies years ago when she released her Periodic Table Mystery Series. (I can’t believe that was over 20 years ago!) She also writes the Miniature Mystery Series (as Margaret Grace), the Postmistress Mystery Series (as Jean Flowers), and the Sophie Knowles Mystery Series (as Ada Madison).

That covers the June 2019 Cozy Mystery News. I’ll have more news next month!

2018 Agatha Award Winners and Nominees

I am waaaaaay late in telling you about the 2018 Agatha Award winners. The Malice Domestic convention was held in Bethesda, Maryland at the very beginning of this month (the first weekend). Lots of the nominated and winning authors are Cozy Mystery authors we’ve been talking about/reading/recommending right here on this site. Even though it is now 2019, this list of the authors and their books are from books that were published during 2018.

As I have mentioned before, the Agatha Awards are the awards that most represent the Coziest of Cozy Mysteries. These are the awards that are closest to the types of mystery books we celebrate on this site. Many of us will be able to find a few (at least!) of our very favorite authors on this list.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE 2018 NOMINEES AND WINNERS!

Best Agatha Award Contemporary Novel 2018:
2018:  Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron  (winner)
Beyond the Truth by Bruce Robert Coffin
Cry Wolf by Annette Dashofy
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
Trust Me by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Agatha Award First Novel 2018:
2018:  Tie:
              A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (winner)
              Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall (winner)
Little Comfort by Edwin Hill
What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix
Deadly Solution by Keenan Powell

Best Agatha Award Historical Novel 2018:
2018:  The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (winner)
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen
The Gold Pawn by LA Chandlar
Turning the Tide by Edith Maxwell
Murder on Union Square by Victoria Thompson

Best Agatha Award Short Story 2018:
2018: Tie:
          “All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (winner)
          “The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (winner)
“A Postcard for the Dead” by Susanna Calkins
“Bug Appetit” by Barb Goffman
“English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor

Best Agatha Award Children’s/Young Adult Mystery 2018:
2018:  Potion Problems (Just Add Magic) by Cindy Callaghan
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson
A Side of Sabotage by C.M. Surrisi 

Best Agatha Award Nonfiction 2018:
2018:  Mastering Plot Twists by Jane Cleland (winner)
Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J. Cohen
Conan Doyle for the Defense by Margalit Fox 
Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson
Wicked Women of Ohio by Jane Ann Turzillo 

Again,

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE 2018 NOMINEES AND WINNERS!

P.S. If you would like to see Agatha Award nominees and winners from previous years, go to the Mystery Book Awards page on my Cozy Mystery site and click on the provided links.

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