The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Eight Soon to be Released Cozy Covers

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

Tessa Arlen: Death of an Unsung Hero (This will be the 4th in the Lady Montfort Mystery Series.)
Sasscer Hill: The Dark Side of Town (This will be a Stand-Alone Mystery or the first in a new series.)
Dorothy St. James: Playing With Bonbon Fire (This will be the 2nd in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series.)
J.A. Jance: Duel to the Death (This will be the 13th in the Ali Reynolds Mystery Series.)
Donna Leon: The Temptation of Forgiveness (This will be the 27th in the Guido Brunetti Mystery Series.)
G. M. Malliet: In Prior’s Wood (This will be the 7th in the Max Tudor Mystery Series.)
Diana Orgain: Killer Cravings (This will be the 6th in the Maternal Instincts Mystery Series.)
Paige Shelton: Lost Books and Old Bones (This will be the 3rd in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series.)

Three New-to-the-Site Cozy Authors

I’m adding three more new authors to the site. As usual, these are authors I’ve heard of from visitors to the site, either through comments or by email.

Bethany Blake lives in a small town that inspired the setting of her main series, has a Ph. D. she never uses, and runs a pet sitting business. She writes the Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery Series, starring Daphne Templeton, a pet sitter in the lakeside village of Sylvan Creek.

 

 

Richard Houston has worked as both a carpenter and a software engineer, the later of which he worked on the space shuttle at Vandenberg AFT and the Johnson Space Center. He has a bachelor’s degree in math, and lives now lives in Missouri. He’s the author of the Books to Die For Mystery Series, starring recently divorced Jacob Martin, who is going through a midlife crisis, and his golden retriever.

Radha Vatsal was born in Mumbai, India, then attended a United States boarding school until the age of sixteen. She attended Duke University, where she earned a doctorate in English. She’s the author of the Kitty Weeks Mystery Series, a 1910’s period piece starring Capability “Kitty” Weeks, a newspaper reporter who hopes to jump from fashion and society on the Ladies’ Page to criminal reporting.

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for January 2018

Well, we’re headed toward a new year >>> and with it, a new year of mystery classics on TCM! So here’s January’s list of great looking mystery movies >>> plus some of my own personal favorites.

January 2018 Turner Classic Movies Channel Mystery Movies (Central time zone):

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 1, 2018

12:00 PM
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)
An unscrupulous editor plots to keep his star reporter-and ex-wife-from re-marrying.
Dir:  Howard Hawks Cast:  Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy.
BW- 92 mins, CC
***Not a mystery, but the cast is as its best.

7:00 PM
CHARADE (1963)
A beautiful widow tries to find her husband’s lost fortune while eluding the killers who want it themselves.
Dir:  Stanley Donen Cast:  Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau.
C- 113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – January 2, 2018

3:30 AM
THE HAPPY THIEVES (1962)
A worldly art thief gets mixed up with murder.
Dir:  George Marshall Cast:  Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth, Joseph Wiseman.
C- 89 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – January 5, 2018

8:45 AM
SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE (1932)
Strange crimes committed by a hypnotized woman are solved by a French detective.
Dir:  Edward Sutherland Cast:  Gwili Andre, Gregory Ratoff, Frank Morgan.
BW- 58 mins

12:30 PM
NINE LIVES ARE NOT ENOUGH (1941)
A reporter tries to solve a series of boardinghouse murders.
Dir:  A. Edward Sutherland Cast:  Ronald Reagan, Joan Perry, James Gleason.
BW- 63 mins

5:45 PM
HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME (1945)
Three amateur detectives try to find a missing magician.
Dir:  Eddie Sutherland Cast:  Pat O’Brien, George Murphy, Carole Landis.
BW- 70 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 6, 2018

2:15 AM
THE WILD NORTH (1952)
A Mountie tracks an accused killer through the Canadian wilderness.
Dir:  Andrew Marton Cast:  Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse.
C- 97 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 7, 2018

7:00 PM
IN A LONELY PLACE (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir:  Nicholas Ray Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy.
BW- 93 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 8, 2018

8:30 AM
M (1951)
When the police hunt for a child killer cramps their style, the criminal underworld tries to track him down.
Dir:  Joseph Losey Cast:  David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler.
BW- 88 mins

7:00 PM
IN COLD BLOOD (1967)
Two vagrants try to outrun the police after committing a savage crime in this real-life shocker.
Dir:  Richard Brooks Cast:  Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe.
BW- 135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

9:30 PM
10 RILLINGTON PLACE (1970)
A serial killer frames a mentally challenged man.
Dir:  Richard Fleischer Cast:  Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt.
C- 111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

11:30 PM
THE HONEYMOON KILLERS (1969)
A lonely nurse and her gigolo lover murder a string of widows.
Dir:  Leonard Kastle Cast:  Shirley Stoler, Tony LoBianco, Mary Jane Higby.
BW- 108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – January 10, 2018

2:45 AM
THE FORMULA (1980)
A detective is in jeopardy after discovering a synthetic formula for gasoline.
Dir:  John G. Avildsen Cast:  George C Scott, Marlon Brando, Marthe Keller.
BW- 117 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – January 11, 2018

7:00 PM
GASLIGHT (1944)
A newlywed fears she’s going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir:  George Cukor Cast:  Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten.
BW- 114 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 13, 2018

7:00 PM
BULLITT (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir:  Peter Yates Cast:  Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset.
C- 114 mins, CC

11:00 PM
MURDER, INC. (1960)
Dir:  Burt Balaban Cast:  Stuart Whitman, May Britt, Henry Morgan.
BW- 103 mins, CC,

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 14, 2018

9:00 AM
WHERE DANGER LIVES (1950)
A psychopath draws her doctor into her murderous schemes.
Dir:  John Farrow Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains.
BW- 80 mins, CC

3:00 PM
KNOCK ON ANY DOOR (1949)
A crusading lawyer fights to save a juvenile delinquent charged with murder.
Dir:  Nicholas Ray Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, George Macready, Allene Roberts.
BW- 100 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 15, 2018

1:00 PM
SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960)
A 19th-century lawyer tries to clear a black man of rape and murder charges.
Dir:  John Ford Cast:  Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, Billie Burke.
C- 111 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – January 16, 2018

9:30 PM
THE HEIRESS (1949)
A plain young woman’s money makes her prey to fortune hunters.
Dir:  William Wyler Cast:  Olivia De Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson.
BW- 115 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – January 17, 2018

9:15 AM
DEATH ON THE DIAMOND (1934)
A rookie pitcher tries to stop someone from killing the St. Louis Cardinals.
Dir:  Edward Sedgwick Cast:  Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton.
BW- 71 mins, CC

9:15 PM
MIDNIGHT LACE (1960)
A young woman can’t get anyone to believe she’s being stalked.
Dir:  David Miller Cast:  Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin.
C- 108 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – January 19, 2018

3:00 PM
GAMBLING LADY (1934)
Two gamblers fall in love but one is already married to a possible murderer.
Dir:  Archie Mayo Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O’Brien.
BW- 66 mins, CC

5:45 PM
WOMAN WANTED (1935)
An innocent woman is chased by both gangsters and the police.
Dir:  George B. Seitz Cast:  Maureen O’Sullivan, Joel McCrea, Lewis Stone.
BW- 67 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 21, 2018

1:00 PM
THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1941)
Siamese twins, separated in infancy, join forces to avenge their parents’ murder.
Dir:  Gregory Ratoff Cast:  Douglas Fairbanks, Ruth Warrick, Akim Tamiroff.
BW- 111 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 22, 2018

6:30 AM
MILLIE (1931)
A prostitute turns to murder to protect her teenage daughters honor.
Dir:  John Francis Dillon Cast:  Helen Twelvetrees, Lilyan Tashman, Robert Ames.
BW- 85 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – January 25, 2018

10:45 AM
SON OF A GUNFIGHTER (1966)
A young man stalks his mother’s killers.
Dir:  Paul Landres Cast:  Russ Tamblyn, Kieron Moore, James Philbrook.
C- 92 mins, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – January 26, 2018

9:15 AM
THE PRIZE (1963)
An American Nobel Prize-winner mixes it up with spies when he travels to Stockholm to collect his award.
Dir:  Mark Robson Cast:  Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer.
C- 135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 27, 2018

9:15 PM
D.O.A. (1950)
The victim of a slow-acting poison tracks down his own killer.
Dir:  Rudolph Maté Cast:  Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler.
BW- 84 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 28, 2018

3:00 PM
A COVENANT WITH DEATH (1966)
A lawyer defends a convicted man who killed his hangman before being cleared of the earlier crime.
Dir:  Lamont Johnson Cast:  George Maharis, Laura Devon, Katy Jurado.
C- 97 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 29, 2018

11:30 AM
CRIME DOCTOR (1943)
A blow on the head forces a renowned psychologist to remember he was once a criminal.
Dir:  Michael Gordon Cast:  Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel.
BW- 66 mins

2:15 PM
THE HIDDEN EYE (1945)
Blind detective Duncan Maclaine uses his other senses to piece together confusing clues behind a murder.
Dir:  Richard Whorf Cast:  Edward Arnold, Frances Rafferty, Ray Collins.
BW- 69 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – January 30, 2018

3:00 AM
IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD (1939)
A runaway poetess helps a fugitive prove himself innocent of murder charges.
Dir:  W. S. Van Dyke II Cast:  Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Guy Kibbee.
BW- 86 mins, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – January 31, 2018

12:45 AM
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
An advertising man is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason.
C- 136 mins, CC

5:30 AM
ANGEL FACE (1953)
An unscrupulous woman murders her loved ones for profit.
Dir:  Otto Preminger Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman.
BW- 91 mins, CC

2:45 PM
MISTER BUDDWING (1966)
A man suffering from amnesia confronts a series of women in his search for his memory.
Dir:  Delbert Mann Cast:  James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette.
BW- 99 mins, CC

11:15 PM
KLUTE (1971)
A small-town detective searches for a missing man linked to a high-priced prostitute.
Dir:  Alan J. Pakula Cast:  Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi.
C- 114 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed tv specials coming up in December, be sure to leave a comment below!

In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the December 2017 television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for December 2017 on Turner Classic Movies channel

And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:

Cozy Mystery List TV and  Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.

(All of the movie descriptions were taken off their respective websites.)

Ali Brandon: Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series

Today I’ll be writing about another Cozy mystery series that has had a number of recommendations from readers, the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series by Ali Brandon, and specifically the first book, Double Booked for Death.

Former Dallas resident Darla Pettistone has recently moved from Texas to New York City to take over her deceased great-aunt’s bookstore. As in many Cozies, this business was inherited with a collection of eccentric employees and residents, including live-in security Jake, a retired female cop, Professor James St. James (and the name there really says it all), nervous middle aged college student Lizzie, and mean-tempered, surprisingly intelligent black cat Hamlet. Darla’s been setting in well for about six months when the story begins, but the store is always on the verge of falling out of the black and into debt, so she’s definitely looking forward to an upcoming book signing with a big-name supernatural romance writer, Valerie Baylor, with a mixture of trepidation and hope.

Well, it doesn’t take much to guess that Valerie Baylor’s visit will end in disaster rather than financial success, as the author dies unexpectedly during the signing. The death is quickly ruled a probable accident – she had apparently stepped into traffic while taking a brief smoke break.

Still, there were an awful lot of very good suspects, considering it was supposedly an accident. Valerie’s own employees seemed to dislike her, there was a lone protester who claimed Valerie had stolen her story, and a band of religious fundamentalists believing that her works were evil had sent a semi-threatening letter to Darla. Even one of Darla’s own employees felt insulted when Valerie failed to recognize her from a class that the two had attended together years before. So, when Hamlet turns up unexpected evidence that there might have been more to the case than first seemed evident, Darla feels obliged to investigate herself.

In many ways, Double Booked for Death feels like a classic example of a modern Cozy. With its cast of quirky characters and a sleuth just entering early middle age set out to put an unfulfilling career and an unreliable spouse behind her, Darla’s cozy little independent bookshop is certainly setting worthy of its quirky characters. The addition of a hunky detective and a semi-magical cat help finish the picture. Still, there are enough unusual elements present that the formula doesn’t quite enter into cliche territory yet remains comfortable and familiar. Taking place in New York City helps make the mystery feel a bit more metropolitan than many Cozies, and the fact that Darla has already been in place for long enough to establish herself means that the cast only needs to be introduced to the reader, not the sleuth, while still being fundamentally an outsider in a relatively insular community.

The book is also very well written, so the act of actually reading it is very easy – an unsurprising fact, considering Brandon has a degree in journalism. If I did have to express a complaint, however small, it is that at over 300 pages, it could be a slight bit “tighter” – and even that is apparently at least a bit addressed in the sequels, as each is about 30-40 pages shorter than Double Booked for Death.

Ali Brandon also wrote the Leonardo da Vinci Mystery Series as Diane A. S. Stuckart, so if you’re a fan of Ali Brandon, be sure to check it out as well!

PS: Unfortunately I’ve heard that this series has likely ended after six books, but the good news is that several new series by Ali Brandon/Diane A. S. Stuckart may be coming out soon, possibly under the name Anna Gerard. For more information on, check out the news articles I posted in August and September!

To see others of the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series, click here.

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