The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – October 2017

October 29, 2017

November is almost upon us, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read in the month of October.

If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! This October, I can recommend the first entry of Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mystery Series.

If you’re interested in reading why I’m recommending these series, you can go to the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my Cozy-Mystery site for my full write-ups on each of these great Cozy series.

So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in October? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)

As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery did you read during October 2017 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Victoria Abbott (writing duo Mary Jane Maffini & daughter Victoria Maffini): Book Collectors Mystery Series

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Lorna Barrett (aka L. L. Bartlett & Lorraine Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series

Juliet Blackwell (aka Hailey Lind): Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series

Bethany Blake: Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery Series (first entry Death by Chocolate Lab)

Rhys Bowen: Evan Evans Mystery Series

Raymond Buckland: Bram Stoker Mystery Series (first entry Cursed in the Act)

Julia Buckley: Undercover Dish Mystery Series

Ellen Byron: Cajun Country Mystery Series

Elizabeth Lynn Casey (aka Laura Bradford): Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series

Ann Cleeves: Shetland Island Quartet

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): County Cork Mystery Series

Marla Cooper: Destination Wedding Mystery Series

Isis Crawford (aka Barbara Block): Mystery with Recipes Series

Bill Crider: Dan Rhodes Mystery Series AND Sally Good Mystery Series AND Carl Burns Mystery Series

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series

Barbara Early (aka Beverly Allen): Vintage Toyshop Mystery Series

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Magical Bookshop Mystery Series AND Amish Candyshop Mystery Series

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher Mystery Series

Victoria Hamilton (aka Amanda Cooper): Merry Muffin Mystery Series

Nell Hampton (aka Nancy Coco and Nancy J. Parra): Kensington Palace Chef Mystery Series

Carolyn Hart: Bailey Ruth Ghost Mystery Series

Sadie Hartwell (aka Susannah Hardy): Tangled Web Mystery Series

Julianne Holmes: Clock Shop Mystery Series

Anthony Horowitz: Magpie Murders (stand alone)

Julie Hyzy: Manor of Murder Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Mystery Series

Kate Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent & Allison Kingsley): Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series (Holiday themed)

Colette London: Chocolate Whisperer Mystery Series

Mary McHugh: Happy Hoofers Mystery Series

Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone Mystery Series

Emma Miller: Amish Mystery Series

Liz Mugavero (aka Cate Conte): Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series

Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels & Barbara Mertz): Amelia Peabody Mystery Series

Cate Price: Deadly Notions Mystery Series

Maggie Sefton: Knitting Mystery Series

Alexander McCall Smith: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency AND Isabel Dalhousie Series

Dorothy St. James: Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series

Denise Swanson: Deveraux’s Dime Store Mystery Series

Sherry Thomas: Lady Sherlock Mystery Series (first entry A Study In Scarlet Women)

Joyce Tremel: Brewing Trouble Mystery Series

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

Ellen Byron: Cajun Country Mystery Series

October 27, 2017

Today I’ll be writing about one of the more popular Cozy Mystery series in recent years, Ellen Byron‘s Cajun Country Mystery Series, and specifically the first entry, Plantation Shudders.

In some ways, it might be a bit surprising to hear that Ellen Byron is one of the more recommended authors in the recent Cozy Mystery recommendations posts. After all, she only has a single series, and it has only had three books released, one per year since the first entry came out Many authors nowadays are putting out three (or more!) books a year, often several different series at the same time, at a pace that personally I can find a bit overwhelming – there’s only so much time in a day after all!

So it can be very refreshing when a quality author is obviously spending their time to “get it right”, releasing one well-written, carefully crafted book per year rather than releasing an endless stream of new series in a hope that something will stick. Looking at Byron’s writing credits, it’s easy to see why she’s gotten so popular so quickly. She might be relatively new to Cozies, but she’s certainly no stranger to comedic writing, with credits to episodes from popular sitcoms such as Wings and Just Shoot Me!.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Plantation Shudders is far more polished than the average debut novel has any right to be. Most authors take a bit of time to really get their stride and discover their writing voice, but the Cajun Country Mystery Series started strong, and it isn’t any surprise that the debut novel (and other entries since) have had multiple award nominations. Indeed, Body on the Bayou, the second entry, won a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel in 2017.

In addition to being one of the better written Cozies that has come out in recent years, Plantation Shudders also benefits from having a great setting in Pelican, a small town in Louisiana, and the Crozat family plantation, now converted into a bed and breakfast. Pelican and the Crozat plantation both give a feeling of the civil gentility of the old south, but the novel doesn’t shy away from addressing some of the darker elements of the old south, which can be a refreshing change from some settings in Cozies that seem to be entirely positive portrayals. (Aside from the surprising murder rates of course!)

The Crozat family, including the sleuth herself, Maggie Crozat, are also enjoyable and likable without becoming “over the top” or “zany” in inappropriate places. For example, Maggie’s Gran is portrayed as a fiesty older woman with plenty of spirit left in her – but she’s also an older woman, and it’s clear that the events of the novel make her more tired than normal, which is a surprisingly realistic and sympathetic reaction to such high stress situations as murder investigations (well, at least to someone else who is finding herself slowing down a bit in recent years…).

If you’re looking for a strong, well-written, modern Cozy with a great setting and interesting characters, I highly recommend giving the Cajun Country Mystery Series by Ellen Byron a try!

PS: For those looking for interesting looking Cajun-inspired recipes, be sure to check out the end of the book, as it has several great looking recipes!

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

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot Movies with Peter Ustinov

October 25, 2017

Move over David Suchet! Peter Ustinov also starred in a series of movies based on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mysteries.

This generation is familiar with David Suchet’s excellent portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. It doesn’t get much better than that! But if you’re in the mood to experience a different take on Poirot, be sure to check out Peter Ustinov’s portrayal.

Peter Ustinov starred in six Hercule Poirot movies:

These movies spared no expense >>> the movies were filmed in the locations in which the Agatha Christie novels were set: movie #1 – Egypt, movie #2 – Mallorca and Spain, movies #3 & 4 – England, movie #5 – Mexico, and movie #6 – Israel, Italy, and England.

Besides the wonderful actor, Peter Ustinov, these six movies featured top-notch, big name guest stars of the times: Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Mia Farrow, James Mason, Roddy McDowell, Faye Dunaway, Tony Curtis, Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud, the list simply goes on and on.

The wardrobe is phenomenal. The costume department seemed to almost have themes for the different movies. The sets were realistic-looking, right down to the smallest details.

I was going to write entries about each of Peter Ustinov’s Hercule Poirot movies and started that with an entry about his portrayal of Hercule in Evil Under the Sun (“Evil Under the Sun” – Poirot Comes to Life in Peter Ustinov’s 1982 Portrayal), but instead I’ve decided to simply list the movies and tell you that they are definitely a change of pace from the David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot movies. (Oh, and you may be surprised to see David Suchet in one of them!)

For more movie and television show recommendations, visit the page on my site: TV and Movies.

New Releases – October 23 to October 29, 2017

October 23, 2017

Here is the list of new release for October 23 to October 29!

Donna Andrews: How the Finch Stole Christmas! (This will be the 22nd in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series. This is a Christmas mystery.)

Sandra Bretting: Someone’s Mad at the Hatter (This will be the 3rd in the Missy DuBois Mystery Series.)

Maia Chance: Gin and Panic (This will be the 3rd in the Discreet Retrieval Agency Mystery Series.)

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