The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Random (Non Cozy Mystery-Related) Ideas…

homeDo any of you have a household trick – or two – you wouldn’t mind sharing? I have three, just to get us started.

1.  Those of you who have been with me for a while know I mentioned this one several years ago. Don’t throw away your children’s tiny toys from yester-year. Instead add a pretty Christmas ribbon & hang them on your Christmas tree. As your children get older, these little toy-ornaments will (probably) end up being your sentimental favorites, along with all of the ones they made for you >>> (even including the ones their teachers had them use toilet paper tubes to make!)

2. When my children were young, I would read their favorite “Golden Books” into a cassette, blowing a whistle at the end of each page to signal when they should turn the page. (Of course, this didn’t replace our nightly ritual of reading to them right before bedtime!) They would listen to the books in bed every night. [I guess now this could be done with a child’s tablet or digital voice recorder… My children (now adults) actually remember these books over the store-bought books that came with cassettes.]

3. I have also talked about this next tip before – probably lots of times. To all of you cross-stitchers, I use my regular cross-stitch patterns and add Mill Hill seed beads into the pattern. I love the added “pizzazz!”

I know this entry has absolutely nothing to do with reading Cozy Mysteries, but thought it would be fun to hear about some tips you may have.

Do any of you have “tips” you’d like to share? If so, please post a comment. Thank you!

New Releases – November 13 to November 19, 2017

Here is the list of new releases for November 13 to November 19!

David Baldacci: End Game (This will be the in the Will Robbie Mystery Series.)

Susan Bernhardt: Paradise Can Be Murder (This will be the 4th in the Kay Driscoll Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: The Ghost of Christmas Past (This will be the 17th in the Molly Murphy Mystery Series. This is a Christmas mystery.)

Janet Evanovich: Hardcore Twenty-Four (This will be the 24th in the Stephanie Plum Mystery Series.)

P. D. James: Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales (This will be a collection of short stories.)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Death in the Stacks (This will be the 8th in the Library Lover’s Mystery Series.)

One New Cozy Holiday and Two New Cozy Mystery Series Coming December 2017

Well, December will be a bit light on both new Cozy Holiday books and new Cozy Mystery Series, so I’ll be covering both in this post. We’ll have one holiday release, a Fall themed release, and two new series.

First, Nancy Haddock will be putting out A Crime of Poison, the third in her Silver Six Crafting Mystery Series. This Fall-themed release will center around Lilyvale’s Fall Folk Art Festival and Bake Sale, an event Nixy of the Silver Six is looking forward to as a craft store she runs. When a local troublemaker is found dead and a plate of snickerdoodles from the bake sale may be involved, Nixy and the rest of the Silver Six will need to solve the crime so the event doesn’t end with this tragedy.

Next, Nancy J. Parra will be starting the Wine Country Mystery Series, with the first entry A Case of Syrah, Syrah. Taylor O’Brien, founder of Taylor’s Off The Beaten Path Wine Tours, intends to tour small groups in Sonoma County, California. Unfortunately, her plans might come to nothing when the leader of her first tour group is found dead, killed by one of Taylor’s corkscrews. Parra also writes the Baker’s Treat Mystery Series, the Perfect Proposals Mystery Series, (as Nancy Coco) the Candy-Coated Mystery Series, and (as Nell Hampton) the Kensington Palace Chef Mystery Series.

Finally, Karen Rose Smith will be releasing Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes, the first in the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery Series. Between her Aunt Iris and her two teenaged children, widow Daisy Swanson has a lot to protect. So she’s naturally upset when Aunt Iris starts dating a wealthy man who is still married, especially when it sounds like the man’s children and soon-to-be-ex-wife might get cut out of the will in favor of her aunt. When the wealthy man turns up dead, Daisy’s Aunt Iris turns out to be a prime suspect, and Daisy will need to work hard to keep her from ending up taking the fall for a crime Daisy is sure she didn’t commit. Karen Rose Smith also writes the Caprice de Luca Mystery Series, starring a home stager in Quiet Kismet, Pennsylvania.

For more Fall themed Cozies, visit the Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving Cozies Theme page.

For these upcoming series and more be sure to check out the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page.

How Early Do You Start Your Winter Holiday Reading?

WinterIt is particularly difficult for me to believe we are now in the midst of our winter holidays! I am sitting here writing this entry while looking out on our green lawn. There is absolutely no evidence of this being November! It is currently 82° here in San Antonio, and we’re expecting a high of 89° today. (I’m pre-writing this entry, so the temperature may be a little different on the day I post this.) For this reason, I have been devoting all of my reading time to Cozy Mystery holiday books, with hopes there will be snow in the books’ forecasts!

I mentioned in a September entry (Have You Ever Missed an Entry in a Cozy Mystery Series You Love?) that I was very surprised when my daughter pointed out that I had missed reading one of my very favorite authors’ Cozies. Well, I have made myself wait (and wait!) to read Edie Claire’s Never Mess with Mistletoe. It has been difficult, but I was determined to wait until the Christmas holiday season to read it.

Last week, the day after Halloween, I noticed they started putting up the Christmas tree at my local shopping center. I hadn’t even finished the Halloween Cozy I was reading! Then, when I went to Michael’s, they had the entire store decked out for the holidays and they were already playing their Christmas music loop. All of this sort of pushed my holiday reading schedule up a notch! Long story short, I absolutely couldn’t wait, and I’m currently reading Never Mess with Mistletoe… even before Thanksgiving!

I can’t be the only one who has skipped Thanksgiving and is already reading Christmas themed Cozies. There must be more Cozy Mystery readers who are as impatient as I am.

So,  my question to you ALL is this: If you save your winter holiday Cozies until their appropriate seasons, how early do you start reading them?

PS: Normally I try to respond to all comments, but in this case I may not answer all of them >>>> as I have already stated when I started and a lot of the responses to your own answers would be of the “oh I see, that’s very interesting!” variety.

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