The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Cozy Mystery News – April 2018

It’s spring already! For some of you that means snow is finally drifting into the past, for others, like me, it means flowers are blooming in the trees, bushes, and ground. The beauty of spring time inspires me every year to want to take up gardening. However, the humid heat of most of spring’s days down here in San Antonio quickly brings me back to the realities of spending any more time outdoors than I need to!

Getting back to the purpose of this blog entry, I have a few Cozy Mystery News tidbits to share with you!

I have great news for all of us who are fans of Leslie Budewitz‘s Spice Shop Mystery Series. She has just signed on to write two more Cozies in that series. It’s been a long wait (since 2016) for us to be able to hang-out with Pepper Reece as she sleuths her way to solving mysteries! So, not only do we have As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles to look forward to (Budewitz’s 5th Food Lovers’ Village mystery -set during the Christmas holidays) but now we have these two more Seattle Spice Shop mysteries. Great news!

I happen to know that a lot of you enjoy holiday Cozies as much as I do! So here’s some more really good news: Lynn Cahoon will be releasing three new holiday novellas in her bestselling Tourist Trap Mystery Series. Rockets’ Dead Glare (Fourth of July), A Deadly Brew (Halloween), and Santa Puppy (Christmas). Pretty exciting for us Cozy Mystery holiday-lovers! (Lynn also writes the Farm-to-Fork Mystery Series which takes place in Idaho and features the owner of a farm to table restaurant and the Cat Latimer Mystery Series which features an ex-English professor who owns a bed and breakfast in Colorado.

Sharon Farrow (aka 1/2 of D.E. Ireland), author of the Berry Basket Mystery Series, has gotten the green light to write two more Cozies in this Lake Michigan based Cozy series. This is terrific news for those of us who have been enjoying Marlee Jacob not only running her berry shop but also have enjoyed reading about her mystery-solving exploits! Sharon Farrow, along with Meg Macy write the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery Series – as D.E. Ireland.

When Kate Kingsbury stopped writing the Special Pennyfoot Hotel (Holiday) Mystery Series, the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series, and her WW II Manor House Mystery Series, I thought a lot of us Cozy Mystery readers would have a real problem! Luckily, she morphed into Rebecca Kent and brought us the Bellehaven House Mystery Series and then she added Allison Kingsley to her monikers and wrote the Raven’s Nest Bookstore Mystery Series. Recently, she has been writing the Merry Ghost Inn Mystery Series (as Kate Kingsbury!) and she will be releasing Be Our Ghost, which is the 3rd Cozy that features Melanie West, a divorcee who co-owns a bed & breakfast with her grandmother. Now this is good news!

Now on to some very-much anticipated news: Rita Lakin is going to be putting out at least two more Cozies in her Gladdy Gold Mystery Series. That’s right! It’s been a long wait for those of us who follow Gladdy and her retirement community cohorts as they sleuth around Florida (and on a cruise ship). The 7th book in the series was released in 2011! I, for one, thought we had possibly seen the last of Gladdy and the girls, so this bit of news really surprised me… a very happy surprise, indeed!

Oh my goodness! T.C. LoTempio will be starting her new Purr ‘n Bark Pet Shop Mystery Series! How neat is this! As most of you know, T.C. writes the Cat Rescue Mystery Series, which stars Sydney McCall and Toby (her Taby) in North Carolina. T.C. also writes the Nick and Nora Mystery Series (That’s right – as in Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man movies!) – in which Nora Charles has a sandwich shop in California and Nick is her cat.

And here’s some super great news for those of us who follow the Wrexford & Sloane Mystery Series by Andrea Penrose. There is a new book slated to come out in this historical mystery series! Charlotte Sloane will have to take some time off from “being” A.J. Quill (satirical artist) to again team up with the Earl of Wrexford to solve a crime in Regency London. So, as you see, I mean super great news! Andrea also writes the (Lady Arianna Regency Mystery Series.)

I hope this month’s Cozy Mystery News update has at least one of you favorite authors on it!

P.S. Be sure to visit the Soon to be Released page on my Cozy Mystery site if you want to find out what some of your favorite Cozy Mystery authors will be releasing in the future. I’ve just added a bunch of Cozies to the list, and am in the process of adding even more!

New Releases – April 9 to April 15, 2018

Here is the list of new releases for April 9 to April 15!

Maia Chance : Bad Neighbors (This will be the 2nd in the Agnes and Effie Mystery Series.)

Martha Grimes: The Knowledge (This will be the 24th in the Richard Jury Mystery Series.)

Nell Hampton (aka Nancy Coco and Nancy J. Parra): Lord of the Pies (This will be the 2nd in the Kensington Palace Chef Mystery Series.)

Anne Perry : Twenty-one Days (This will be the 33rd in the Pitt Mystery Series.)

Marty Wingate: Farewell, My Cuckoo (This will be the 4th in the Birds of a Feather Mystery Series.)

I Enjoy Culinary Cozies Except When I’m Dieting…

Yikes! Some of the culinary-themed Cozy Mysteries I read are trying very hard to throw me off the dieting wagon!

My husband and I put on a “little” weight over the holidays – as we usually do. Every year we vow we won’t “let that happen again” >>> but every year, it does.

Some of you may be thinking “How much weight can they possibly gain over ‘the holidays’? Let’s face it, ‘the holidays’ means two or three weeks…”

Not so for us! “The holidays” start some time in October for us. Yep! We look at Halloween as the beginning of “the holiday” season. About as soon as the stores start putting up their Halloween treats (well, not really >>> since that now means early September!) we start making excuses to buy our favorite treats. Unfortunately, we have different preferences which means we have to buy two treats instead of just one. This doesn’t mean we only partake of our individual prefered treats…

So, we are now trying to shed those unwanted pounds from “the holidays”. Right now I am trying to (sort of) avoid reading culinary Cozies. As much as I enjoy reading how Goldy Bear (Diane Mott Davidson) plans on catering her next big event or what type of cookies Hannah Swensen (Joanne Fluke) has put in her gift cookie bags >>> I am just going to have to remain strong >>> at least for now.

How about you? >>> Do you find yourself trying to avoid Cozy mysteries with a strong food-related theme just because they make it hard for you to stick to your diet?

Eight Soon to be Released Cozy Mystery Covers

Here are some of the upcoming Cozy Mystery covers that I’ve found recently!

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Till Death Do Us Tart (This will be the 8th in the Bakeshop Mystery Series.)
Winnie Archer (aka Melissa Bourbon & Misa Ramirez): The Walking Bread (This will be the 3rd in the Bread Shop Mystery Series.)
Julia Buckley: A Dark and Twisting Path (This will be the 3rd in the Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series.)
Lynn Cahoon: Killer Green Tomatoes (This will be the 2nd in the Farm-to-Fork Mystery Series.)
Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Murder at the Mansion (This will be the 1st in the NEW Victorian Village Mystery Series)
Joanne Fluke: Christmas Cake Murder (This will be the in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)
Laurie R. King: Island of the Mad (This will be the 15th in the Mary Russell Mystery Series.)
Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Hitting the Books (This will be the 9th in the Library Lover’s Mystery Series.)

 

MENU