The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

New Releases – August 28 to September 3, 2017

Here is the list of new release for August 28 to September 3!

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Cherry Filled Charges(This will be the 33rd in the Donut Mystery Series.)

Molly Cox Bryan: Macramé Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Cora Crafts Mystery Series.)

Vannetta Chapman: When the Bishop Needs an Alibi (This will be the 2nd in the Amish Bishop Mystery Series.)

Nancy Coco (aka Nancy Parra & Nell Hampton): Oh, Fudge! (This will be the 6th in Candy-Coated Mystery Series.)

Isis Crawford (aka Barbara Block): A Catered Costume Party (This will be the 13th in the Mystery with Recipes Mystery Series.) (This is a Halloween themed mystery.)

Jeanne M. Dams: The Missing Masterpiece (This will be the 19th in the Dorothy Martin Mystery Series.)

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan) Assaulted Caramel (This will be the 1st in the NEW Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series.)

Sally Goldenbaum: Murder Wears Mittens (This will be the 12th in the Seaside Knitters Society Mystery Series.)

Sadie Hartwell (aka Susannah Hardy): A Knit before Dying (This will be the 2nd in the Tangled Web Mystery Series.)

Louise Penny: Glass Houses (This will be the in the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series.)

Carol J. Perry: Grave Errors (This will be the 5th in the Witch City Mystery Series.) (This will be a Halloween mystery.)

David Thurlo: Kill the Heroes (This will be the 4th in the Charlie Henry Mystery Series.)

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for September 2017

It’s the time of the month again to find out about next month’s upcoming mystery movies that will be on television. As usual, I’m posting the Turner Classic Movies channel mysteries (and some non-mystery movies with my favorite actors and actresses) that I think are definitely worth looking at.

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

September 2017 Turner Classic Movies Channel Mystery Movies (Central time zone):

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

Saturday – September 2, 2017

9:30 AM
THE PHANTOM THIEF (1946)
A reformed thief tries to stop a murderous blackmailer.
Dir:  D. Ross Lederman Cast:  Chester Morris, Jeff Donnell, Richard Lane.
BW- 65 mins

12:45 PM
RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952)
A cowboy infiltrates a bandit hideout in search of his girlfriend’s killer.
Dir:  Fritz Lang Cast:  Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer.
C- 89 mins, CC

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

Sunday – September 3, 2017

9:00 AM
FRAMED (1947)
A femme fatale lures an unemployed man into helping her with a criminal scheme.
Dir:  Richard Wallace Cast:  Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan.
BW- 82 mins, CC

5:15 PM
ROPE (1948)
Two wealthy young men try to commit the perfect crime by murdering a friend.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Dick Hogan, John Dall, Farley Granger.
C- 81 mins, CC

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

Monday – September 4, 2017

10:45 AM
WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942)
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Dir:  George Stevens Cast:  Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter.
BW- 114 mins, CC

*** Not a mystery, however it’s really good! ***

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

Tuesday – September 5, 2017

10:00 PM
LOVE LETTERS (1945)
A soldier falls for the woman who may have killed his best friend.
Dir:  William Dieterle Cast:  Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards.
BW- 101 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – September 6, 2017

3:45 PM
THE HITCH-HIKER (1953)
A dangerous madman kidnaps two businessmen on a hunting trip.
Dir:  Ida Lupino Cast:  Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman.
BW- 71 mins, CC

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

Friday – September 8, 2017

6:00 AM
CHINA PASSAGE (1937)
Murder and jewel theft plague a China-bound steamer.
Dir:  Edward Killy Cast:  Constance Worth, Vinton Haworth, Leslie Fenton.
BW- 65 mins, CC

10:00 AM
WE’RE ON THE JURY (1937)
A jury member sets out to prove a murder defendant innocent.
Dir:  Ben Holmes Cast:  Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Philip Huston.
BW- 70 mins

8:30 PM
THE CATERED AFFAIR (1956)
A working-class mother fights to give her daughter a big wedding whether the girl wants it or not.
Dir:  Richard Brooks Cast:  Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds.
BW- 94 mins, CC

*** Not a mystery. This is a fantastic movie. ***

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

Saturday – September 9, 2017

11:00 AM
REAR WINDOW (1954)
A photographer with a broken leg uncovers a murder while spying on the neighbors in a nearby apartment building.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey.
C- 112 mins, CC

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

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

Sunday – September 10, 2017

5:00 AM
VENGEANCE VALLEY (1951)
An honest rancher tries to block his evil brother’s plots while keeping them from their father.
Dir:  Richard Thorpe Cast:  Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker, Joanne Dru.
C- 83 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – September 13, 2017

9:00 AM
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT (1937)
A police detective and his wife try to solve a string of murders.
Dir:  George B. Seitz Cast:  Edmund Lowe, Florence Rice, Nat Pendleton.
BW- 71 mins

10:15 AM
FROM HEADQUARTERS (1933)
A police lieutenant uses scientific methods to solve a decadent playboy’s murder.
Dir:  William Dieterle Cast:  George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette.
BW- 63 mins, CC

1:15 PM
BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936)
A cop goes undercover to crack an influential crime ring.
Dir:  William Keighley Cast:  Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane.
BW- 82 mins, CC

2:45 PM
BORDERLINE (1950)
A policewoman goes undercover to infiltrate a drug smuggling ring.
Dir:  William A. Seiter Cast:  Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, Raymond Burr.
BW- 88 mins, CC

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

Saturday – September 16, 2017

9:30 AM
TRAPPED BY BOSTON BLACKIE (1948)
When the pearl necklace he’s been hired to guard goes missing, a reformed thief is the prime suspect.
Dir:  Seymour Friedman Cast:  Chester Morris, June Vincent, Richard Lane.
BW- 67 mins, CC

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

Sunday – September 17, 2017

9:00 AM
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

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

Tuesday – September 19, 2017

10:00 AM
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

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

Wednesday – September 20, 2017

5:00 AM
THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE (1938)
A doctor plots crimes so he can study criminal psychology.
Dir:  Anatole Litvak Cast:  Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart.
BW- 87 mins, CC

7:00 PM
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
A black police detective from the North forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a murder investigation.
Dir:  Norman Jewison Cast:  Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates.
C- 110 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Saturday – September 23, 2017

7:30 AM
THE UNSUSPECTED (1947)
The producer of a radio crime series commits the perfect crime, then has to put the case on the air.
Dir:  Michael Curtiz Cast:  Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter.
BW- 103 mins, CC

9:30 AM
BOSTON BLACKIE’S CHINESE VENTURE (1948)
When he’s spotted leaving a laundry whose proprietor has just been murdered, a reformed thief has to find the real killer.
Dir:  Seymour Friedman Cast:  Chester Morris, Maylia, Richard Lane.
BW- 59 mins

1:00 PM
THE NANNY (1965)
A disturbed young man tries to prove his nanny is out to kill him.
Dir:  Seth Holt Cast:  Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett.
BW- 93 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Sunday – September 24, 2017

7:00 PM
CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948)
A Chicago reporter re-opens a ten year old murder case.
Dir:  Henry Hathaway Cast:  James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb.
BW- 111 mins, CC

9:00 PM
BOOMERANG (1947)
A prosecutor fights to prove the defendant in a scandalous murder case is innocent.
Dir:  Elia Kazan Cast:  Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb.
BW- 88 mins, CC

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

Monday – September 25, 2017

6:15 AM
MURDER IN THE PRIVATE CAR (1934)
A speeding train becomes the setting for murder.
Dir:  Harry Beaumont Cast:  Charlie Ruggles, Una Merkel, Mary Carlisle.
BW- 63 mins, CC

7:30 AM
THE TALL TARGET (1951)
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President Lincoln during a train ride.
Dir:  Anthony Mann Cast:  Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou.
BW- 78 mins, CC

3:30 PM
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker.
BW- 101 mins, CC

5:30 PM
MURDER SHE SAID (1961)
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, elderly sleuth Miss Marple takes a job as a maid to ferret out clues.
Dir:  George Pollock Cast:  Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow.
BW- 86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Tuesday – September 26, 2017

12:15 AM
THE LADYKILLERS (1956)
An eccentric bandit gang moves into a little old lady’s boardinghouse to plot a major heist.
Dir:  Alexander Mackendrick Cast:  Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom.
C- 91 mins, CC

3:45 AM
A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964)
Inspector Clouseau tries to clear a beautiful woman accused of shooting her husband.
Dir:  Blake Edwards Cast:  Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders.
C- 102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Wednesday – September 27, 2017

1:45 PM
STOP, YOU’RE KILLING ME (1952)
The surprise appearance of four corpses interferes with a beer baron’s plans to crash high society.
Dir:  Roy Del Ruth Cast:  Broderick Crawford, Claire Trevor, Virginia Gibson.
BW- 86 mins, CC

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

Thursday – September 28, 2017

5:00 AM
LADIES OF THE JURY (1932)
A jury hold-out tries to prove the defendant’s innocence.
Dir:  Lowell Sherman Cast:  Edna May Oliver, Jill Esmond, Rosco Ates.
BW- 63 mins

9:15 AM
BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956)
A novelist frames himself for murder to prove the fallibility of circumstantial evidence.
Dir:  Fritz Lang Cast:  Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer.
BW- 80 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

3:00 PM
TWILIGHT OF HONOR (1963)
A struggling lawyer takes on a controversial murder case that could make or break him.
Dir:  Boris Sagal Cast:  Richard Chamberlain, Joey Heatherton, Nick Adams.
BW- 104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

5:00 PM
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957)
A British lawyer gets caught up in a couple’s tangled marital affairs when he defends the husband for murder.
Dir:  Billy Wilder Cast:  Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton.
BW- 116 mins, CC

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

Friday – September 29, 2017

8:30 AM
THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946)
Years after a murder drove them apart, an heiress tries to win back her lost love.
Dir:  Lewis Milestone Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott.
BW- 115 mins, CC

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

If you’re particularly looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV movies coming up in September, 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 August television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for August 2017

And of course, 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

Wendy Sand Eckel: Rosalie Hart Mystery Series

Murder at Barclay Meadow: A Mystery (Rosalie Hart) I have been reading (or sometimes re-reading) the first book from some of the most popular and recommended mystery series. I am trying to post at least one of these mini-reviews once every month. This month is one of the ones where I have met and exceeded my goal since this book is the second I am discussing this month!

Wendy Sand Eckel‘s Rosalie Hart Mystery Series is a relative newcomer to the Cozy Mystery site. The series so far only has two books, one from 2015 and one from 2016. Murder at Barclay Meadow begins the series with a bang, I think.

(Click on this link to see the entire list of Wendy Sand Eckel’s books on my site.)

Rosalie Hart, a recently separated 40 something housewife has just moved to an old house on the Eastern Shore area of Maryland she inherited from her aunt Charlotte. The house came with some prime farmland and sits on the banks of a river near a small town. Just after settling in to the old house, Rosalie discovers the body of a student, Megan, in the marsh on the edge of the river that borders Rosalie’s property.

Rosalie begins her investigation into what happened to Megan when the Sheriff inexplicably closes his case. Rosalie, and the new friends she meets in a creative writing class, become more and more convinced that Megan was murdered as they uncover details about Megan’s life and her last few days alive. The Sheriff remains uninterested and actually tries to intimidate Rosalie into stopping her snooping. But Rosalie, in the long tradition of mystery sleuths, will not be dissuaded and she (and her friends) persevere to find the truth.

As is not unusual in modern Cozies, there is a bit of strong language in the book (not too much, just a bit) and the description of Megan’s body is probably a bit more graphic than would have been in an Agatha Christie book.

Nevertheless, Murder at Barclay Meadow has many modern Cozy features such as the small town setting, a policeman who (definitely!) needs the sleuth’s help, a small group of good friends trying to help solve the mystery, and several potential romantic interests – which in Rosalie’s case include a handsome professor and a rugged farmer/handyman. Rosalie and her friends also use the Internet, especially Facebook, a great deal both in communicating with each other and in pursuing clues about Megan’s fate.

The book also contains a good amount of non-mystery related material and especially covers Rosalie’s emotional state regarding her husband’s recently discovered infidelity and her separation from him. And, it deals somewhat extensively with Rosalie’s relationship with her daughter, Annie, who attends college away from both Rosalie and her husband. Annie, like Rosalie, is having a hard time dealing with Rosalie’s split from her husband.

The novel is a delightful introduction to Rosalie, her new home, her small town and her small group of friends. There were enough suspects to keep me (mostly) unsure until very near the end of the book. And, Rosalie and her friends are given enough detail that they could well be real people. I hope there will be many more Rosalie Hart Mysteries.  I am looking forward to visiting with her and her friends again!

Click here to read more posts about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series.

Carolyn Haines: Fear Familiar Mystery Series

I absolutely love it when authors who are on my Cozy Mystery site write to me and tell me about new series they are planning to begin, or in this particular case, have already begun. (Love it!)

Well, here is some news that I received from Carolyn Haines, which I am going to pass on to you all. (Most of you are already familiar with Carolyn’s very popular Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series.)  Carolyn Haines (also) wrote the Fear Familiar Mystery Series years ago which featured a detective who happened to be a black cat named Familiar, who had escaped from a research facility. She wrote this series as Caroline Burnes, and you can find the entire list by clicking here to go to the Carolyn Haines page on my site. Familiar now has a son named Trouble who is featured in the new Familiar Legacy Mystery Series.

The series is going to be written by different authors. The first book, Familiar Trouble, was released in July of this year and was written by Carolyn Haines. Trouble in Dixie (written by Rebecca Barrett) was released in August, and will be followed by Trouble in Tallahassee in September which is written by Claire Matturro. Susan Tanner will write the fourth in this series, Trouble at Summer Valley Ranch, which will be released in October. Carolyn writes that they are already planning the books which will be released during 2018 – which is great news, since it means there will be more!

Obviously, I will be adding this series to the Kittens, Cats, and Cozies page of my site!

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