The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Have You Ever Missed an Entry in a Cozy Mystery Series You Love?

ReadingShame on me! Here I’ve had a Cozy Mystery site devoted (as in absolutely, totally devoted!) to Cozy Mystery authors’ series listed chronologically since 2006, and I accidentally skipped a Cozy by one of my very favorite authors!!!

As a lot of you who have been with me for years know, I’m a firm believer of reading a Cozy Mystery series in its chronological order. I like “growing with the characters.” The regular characters in the books become “friends” to me, and I look forward to spending time with them. I like catching up with them and finding out what they have been up to since they last solved a crime.

Also some of you know that I follow Edie Claire‘s Leigh Koslow Never Mystery Series. I have “known” Leigh since she was single, and watched as she matured to the “woman she is today”.

My (grown) daughter and I were talking (no, she’s still in Washington, DC – these days I have to rely on our cell phones) last week when I told her that I had just finished the latest Leigh Koslow mystery. (My daughter reads only a very few Cozy series – of which this is one.) She knows how I only read holiday Cozies during their corresponding holidays – so she seemed surprised. She went on to tell me that she enjoyed that last Christmas Cozy.

I kept trying to place this Christmas Cozy – and had my daughter describe the book to me – without giving me too many details. I didn’t recognize any of the details and quickly stopped her. Yikes! I had actually inadvertently read book #11 (Never Murder a Birder) – skipping book #10 (Never Mess with Mistletoe). Perhaps I had decided to wait until Christmas to read it and then somehow forgot I had it…

So, here’s my question: Have you ever accidentally skipped a book in one of your favorite Cozy Mystery Series? And, if so, did it affect the next book in that series that you read? How did you find out that you had missed an entry? I mean, have you ever read a book in one of your very favorite series out of order and then when you went back to read the previous book, did it seem out of sequence? (I don’t think I’m explaining this very well…) Please post a comment to let us know. Thanks!

Cozy Mystery News – September 2017

I don’t have much news this month. However, what little news I do have will undoubtedly make a lot of Cozy Mystery readers very happy. So, let’s get started!

This first tidbit will be a very welcome one for many of us. Donna Andrews, the author of the wildly popular Meg Langslow Mystery Series, has just signed on to write three more mysteries! They ought to keep Meg (and Donna!) very busy solving crimes.

 

Now here’s some news about an author who will be donning “a new persona.” Many of you recognize that Ali Brandon writes the very popular Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series and also the Leonardo da Vinci Historical Mystery Series as Diane A. S. Stuckart. Well, starting very soon she will take on the third moniker: Anna Gerard. As Anna she will be writing a mystery series that is set in Georgia – more precisely in a Bed & Breakfast scenario. Death in a Penguin Suit will be the first in this series. I’ll let you know when we can expect to see it.

As if best selling Victoria Laurie isn’t busy enough! Victoria writes both the very popular Psychic Eye Mystery Series and the Ghost Hunter Series – as well as a children’s mystery series called the Oracles of the Delphi Mystery Series. Well here’s some great news. She has just signed on to start a new series: the Life Coach Mystery Series. Now that sounds interesting!

Most of you know Jess Lourey as the author who writes the Murder-by-Month Mystery Series. Last year she started a non-Cozy series with Salem’s Ciphers. The series features sleuth Salem Wiley, an agoraphobic cryptanalyst. The good news is that Salem will be back in Mercy’s Chase. (Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted about when it will be released.)

And here’s my final news item. Loretta Ross, author of the Auction Block Mystery Series, will be bringing us a fourth mystery starring the Wren Morgan and Death Bogart crime-solving team!

That wraps up the Cozy Mystery news for this month. I hope (at least) one of these items has given you some anticipated reading pleasure!

New Releases – September 11 to September 17, 2017

Here is the list of new release for September 11 to September 17!

Julie Chase: Cat Got Your Secrets (This will be the 3rd in the Kitty Couture Mystery Series. This will be a Valentine’s Day mystery.)

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Body on Baker Street (This will be the 2nd in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series.)

Kate Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent & Allison Kingsley): Doom with a View (This will be the 2nd in the Merry Ghost Inn Mystery Series.)

Dorothy St. James: Asking for Truffle (This will be the 1st in the NEW Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series.)

Eight New Cozy Holiday Releases Coming October 2017 (Part 2)

And here’s the continuation of Friday’s post, the rest of October’s eight holiday themed Cozy Mysteries!

The first of the holiday Cozies I’ll be looking at today is a Christmas one – Barbara Early‘s Murder on the Toy Town Express, the 2nd in the Vintage Toyshop Mystery Series. Liz McCall is looking forward to her fist Chrismas in East Aurora, New York, since she has taken over her father’s vintage toy store. When childhood bully and current competitor Craig McFadden takes a fatal fall in what first appears to be an unfortunate accident, Liz realizes she’ll need to investigate the case herself to make sure that it is solved in time for Christmas. Early also writes the Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery Series as Beverly Allen.

Next up is another Christmas themed Cozy, Karen Rose Smith‘s Slay Bells Ring, which will be the 7th in the Caprice De Luca Mystery Series. Caprice de Luca has just finished her job of staging a scenic downtown home in Kismet, Pennsylvania, when one of the owners is found murdered. The owner, a Vietnam vet, had been acting strangely since returning from a recent trip, and Caprice’s instincts tell her that she’ll need to help to make sure that this crime gets solved. Smith is also the author of the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery Series.

The last of our Christmas Cozies coming out in October will be Thread the Halls, the 9th in the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series by Lea Wait. Angie Curtis and Patrick West are preparing for a hectic holiday season, as they’ll be hosting not only Patrick’s movie star mother, but a number of her coworkers including a costar, screenwriters, and the director. Unfortunately, murder is in the air, and it won’t be long into the holiday visit before tragedy inevitably strikes. Wait also writes the Shadows Antique Print Mystery Series.

Finally, the last of October’s Holiday Cozies won’t be Christmas themed, but Oktoberfest! Joyce Tremel will be putting out A Room with a Brew, the 3rd in the Brewing Trouble Mystery Series. Oktoberfest is likely to be very busy at the Allegheny Brew House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A natural addition to the festivities is an oompah band, though the exact selection proves to be unfortunate when one of the band members turns up dead, and owner Maxine “Max” O’Hara will need to solve the crime.

Click here to see Part 1 of this post.

For more Christmas-themed Cozy Mysteries, visit the Christmas Cozy Theme page on the site.

For more Oktoberfest Cozy Mysteries, visit the Halloween Cozy Theme page on the site (which is where I keep the much rarer Oktoberfest and generic Fall Cozy Mysteries.)

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