The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

New Releases – July 31 to August 6, 2017

Here is the list of new release for July 31 to August 6!

Donna Andrews: Gone Gull (This will be the 21st Meg Langslow Mystery Series.)

Gail Bowen: The Winners’ Circle (This will be the 17th in the Joanne Kilbourne Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service (This will be the 11th in the Royal Spyness Mystery Series.)

Cate Conte (aka Liz Mugavero): Cat about Town (This will be the 1st in the NEW Cat Cafe Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Third Strike (This will be the 3rd in the Writers Retreat Southern Seashore Mystery Series.)

Betty Hechtman: A Tangled Yarn (This will be the 5th in the Yarn Retreat Mystery Series.)

Julianne Holmes: Chime and Punishment (This will be the 3rd in the Clock Shop Mystery Series.)

Diane Vallere: Dressed to Confess (This will be the 3rd in the Costume Shop Mystery Series.)

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – July 2017

July is almost over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozy Mysteries that we have read this month! If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! It’s definitely been a good month for me, as I’ve reread the first entries of both Elizabeth J. Duncan‘s Penny Brannigan Mystery Series and the Book Collector Mystery Series by Victoria Abbott!

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 July? 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 July 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:

Avery Aames (aka Daryl Wood Gerber): Cheese Shop Mystery Series

Allyson K. Abbott (aka Annelise Ryan & Beth Amos): Mack’s Bar Mystery Series

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

Ellery Adams (aka J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series

Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Mystery Series

Annie’s Attic Mystery Series (various authors)

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

M. C. Beaton: Agatha Raisin Mystery Series

Susan M. Boyer: Liz Talbot Mystery Series

Laura Bradford (aka Elizabeth Lynn Casey): Tobi Tobias Mystery Series

Kathleen Bridge: Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery Series

Leslie Budewitz: Food Lovers’ Village Mystery Series

Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series

Laura Childs (aka Gerry Schmitt): Tea Shop Mysteries AND Cackleberry Club Mystery Series

Jill Churchill: Jane Jeffry Mystery Series

Edie Claire: Leigh Koslow “Never” Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly)): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Mary Daheim: Hillside Manor Bed & Breakfast Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series AND Paws and Claws Mystery Series

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

Elizabeth J. Duncan: Penny Brannigan Mystery Series

J. C. Eaton: Sophie Kimball Mystery Series (first book Booked 4 Murder)

Janet Finsilver: Kelly Jackson Mystery Series

Agatha Frost: Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Series (first book Pancakes and Corpses)

Dorothy Gilman: The Tightrope Walker Stand Alone

Nell Goddin: Molly Sutton Mystery Series (first book The Third Girl)

Ellie Griffith: Ruth Galloway Mystery Series (not Cozy) (first book The Crossing Places)

Carolyn Haines: Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series

Lee Harris: Christine Bennett Mystery Series

B. B. Haywood: Candy Holliday Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: Manor of Murder Mystery Series AND White House Chef Mystery Series

Madison Johns: Lake Forest Witches Mystery Series

Dolores Johnson: Manda Dyer Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly (aka Sofie Ryan & Darlene Ryan for Young Adult): Magical Cats Mystery Series

Cynthia Kuhn: Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Series (first book The Semester of Our Discontent)

Victoria Laurie: Psychic Eye Mystery Series

D. Lawdog: The Lawdog Files (true crime stories)

Laura Levine: Jaine Austen Mystery Series

Ruby Loren: Madigan Amos Zoo Mystery Series (first book Penguins and Mortal Peril)

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Ethnic Eats Mystery Series

Virginia Lowell: Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery Series

Meg Macy: Teddy Bear Mystery Series

Mary Marks: Martha Rose Quilting Mystery Series

Carrie Marsh: Morhollow Sweet Tooth Murder Mystery Series (first book The Deadly Jellybean Affair)

Francine Mathews (aka Stephanie Barron): Merry Folger Nantucket Mystery Series

Alyssa Maxwell: Gilded Newport Mystery Series

Alexander McCall Smith: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

Emma Miller: Amish Mystery Series

Marcia Muller: Sharon McCone Mystery Series

Nadine Nettman: Sommelier Mystery Series (first book Decanting a  Murder)

Wendy Roberts: Bodies of Evidence Mystery Series

David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Mystery Series

Sara Rosett: Ellie Avery Mystery Series

Paige Shelton: Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series

Denise Grover Swank: Rose Gardner Investigations (first book Family Jewels)

Denise Swanson: Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery Series

Victoria Thompson: Gaslight Mystery Series

Linda Wiken (aka Erika Chase): Dinner Club Mystery Series

Diana Xarissa: Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Series (first book Arrivals and Arrests)

[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.

Four New-to-the-Site Cozy Authors

I’m adding four 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.

 Alison Golden was born in Bedfordshire, England, though she now splits her time between London and San Francisco, California. She coauthors most of her works, writing the Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Series with Jamie Vougeot, starring a vicar in Cornwall, the Inspector David Graham Cozy Mystery Series with Grace Dagnall, starring an investigator on the island of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of the United Kingdom, and the Diana Hunter suspense mystery series with Gabriella Zinnas.

Though she now spends most of her time in California, Leslie Karst has lived in areas as varied as Ohio, South America, Mexico, and Oxford, England. An attorney for twenty years, she also has a degree in culinary arts. She writes the Sally Solari Mystery Series, starring the manager of the front of an old-style Italian eatery owned by her family, and likewise an ex-lawyer, living in Santa Cruz, California.

Gigi Pandian graduated with honors from Pitzer College and spent time working on a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Bath in England. She decided she preferred art to academics before completing it, and instead pursued an education at art school. She is the author of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series, starring an archaeologist/historian/adventurer, and the Accidental Alchemist Mystery Series, starring an alchemist in Portland, Oregon.

 Linda Reilly has a degree in Criminal Justice, and has had a career as a real estate agent. She was born in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and now lives in New Hampshire. She is the author of the Deep Fried Mystery Series, which stars Talia Marby, a worker at a family owned fish and chips shop in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for August 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.

For all you “Murder, She Wrote” fans – TCM will be showing Angela Lansbury movies all day on Saturday, August 19 – before her Jessica Fletcher days.

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

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

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

Tuesday – August 1, 2017

8:30 AM
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist.
Dir:  John Huston Cast:  Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen.
BW- 112 mins, CC

9:00 PM
NIAGARA (1953)
Honeymooners get mixed up with an obsessive husband and his cheating wife.
Dir:  Henry Hathaway Cast:  Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters.
C- 89 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – August 2, 2017

6:15 AM
BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES (1937)
Captain Drummond becomes a prisoner when he intents to protect a beautiful heiress of an espionage organization.
Dir:  James Hogan Cast:  Ray Milland, Sir Guy Standing, Heather Angel.
BW- 67 mins

7:00 PM
THE BIG CLOCK (1948)
A corrupt publisher tries to frame a career-driven editor for murder.
Dir:  John Farrow Cast:  Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Sullivan.
BW- 95 mins, CC

9:00 PM
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)
A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he’d hired to kill her.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings.
C- 105 mins, CC

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

Thursday – August 3, 2017

3:00 AM
HOSTILE WITNESS ( 1969)
A lawyer out to avenge his daughter’s death becomes the suspect in a suspect’s murder.
Dir: Ray Milland Cast: Ray Milland , Sylvia Syms , Felix Aylmer .
C- 103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Friday – August 4, 2017

5:00 AM
DEAD END (1937)
A killer returns to his childhood home to plot his escape from the law.
Dir:  William Wyler Cast:  Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart.
BW- 92 mins, CC

6:45 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

5:30 PM
JOHNNY ANGEL (1946)
A sailor sets out to solve his father’s murder.
Dir:  Edwin L. Marin Cast:  George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso.
BW- 79 mins, CC

7:00 PM
BORN TO KILL (1947)
A murderer marries a young innocent then goes after her more experienced sister.
Dir:  Robert Wise Cast:  Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak.
BW- 92 mins, CC

9:00 PM
MURDER, MY SWEET (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe’s search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir:  Edward Dmytryk Cast:  Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley.
BW- 95 mins, CC

11:00 PM
CRACK-UP (1946)
An art critic risks his reputation and his life to track down a forgery racket.
Dir:  Irving Reis Cast:  Pat O’Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall.
BW- 93 mins, CC

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

Saturday – August 5, 2017

1:00 AM
KEY LARGO (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir:  John Huston Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall.
BW- 100 mins, CC

3:00 AM
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

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

Sunday – August 6, 2017

6:30 AM
WHEN STRANGERS MARRY (1944)
After a whirlwind romance, a small-town girl suspects she¿s married a murderer.
Dir:  William Castle Cast:  Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum.
BW- 67 mins

8:00 AM
CROSSFIRE (1947)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.
Dir:  Edward Dmytryk Cast:  Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan.
BW- 86 mins, CC

1:15 PM
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

7:00 PM
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw’s widow in search of the man’s hidden loot.
Dir:  Charles Laughton Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish.
BW- 93 mins, CC

9:00 PM
OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Dir:  Jacques Tourneur Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas.
BW- 97 mins, CC

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

Tuesday – August 8, 2017

1:00 AM
THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir:  Peter Godfrey Cast:  Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet.
BW- 109 mins, CC

9:45 AM
FAST AND FURIOUS (1939)
Married book-dealers Joel and Garda Sloane get mixed up with murder during a beauty pageant.
Dir:  Busby Berkeley Cast:  Franchot Tone, Ann Sothern, Ruth Hussey.
BW- 73 mins, CC

8:45 PM
THE UNGUARDED HOUR (1936)
A blackmailer tries to stop a woman from revealing evidence that could save a condemned man.
Dir:  Sam Wood Cast:  Loretta Young, Franchot Tone, Lewis Stone.
BW- 87 mins, CC

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

Thursday – August 10, 2017

11:00 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

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

Friday – August 11, 2017

11:30 AM
STAR OF MIDNIGHT (1935)
A New York lawyer tries to track down a kidnapped actress.
Dir:  Stephen Roberts Cast:  William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Paul Kelly.
BW- 90 mins, CC

9:00 PM
TOP HAT (1935)
A woman thinks the man who loves her is her best friend’s husband.
Dir:  Mark Sandrich Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton.
BW- 100 mins, CC
***If you haven’t seen this non-mystery movie >>> be prepared to laugh.***

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

Saturday – August 12, 2017

12:45 AM
TIGHT SPOT (1955)
A district attorney tries to get a hardboiled woman to testify against the mob.
Dir:  Phil Karlson Cast:  Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith.
BW- 96 mins, CC

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

Sunday – August 13, 2017

9:30 AM
THE MAD MISS MANTON (1938)
A daffy socialite gets her friends mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir:  Leigh Jason Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene.
BW- 80 mins, CC

11:00 AM
THE LADY EVE (1941)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir:  Preston Sturges Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn.
BW- 94 mins, CC
***This is another very funny (non-mystery) movie.***

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

Monday – August 14, 2017

1:00 PM
AGATHA (1979)
A fictional account of the real life, eleven day, never explained 1926 disappearance of famed murder mystery writer Agatha Christie.
Dir:  Michael Apted Cast:  Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton.
C- 98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

3:00 PM
THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (1976)
Sherlock Holmes seeks psychiatric help from Sigmund Freud and gets caught up in mystery.
Dir:  Herbert Ross Cast:  Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall.
C- 113 mins, CC

11:30 PM
BLOW-UP (1966)
A photographer discovers a murder in the background of a candid photo.
Dir:  Michelangelo Antonioni Cast:  Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, David Hemmings.
C- 111 mins, CC

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

Tuesday – August 15, 2017

11:00 PM
MYSTERY STREET (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir:  John Sturges Cast:  Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett.
BW- 93 mins, CC

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

Thursday – August 17, 2017

6:30 AM
TROUBLE FOR TWO (1936)
Before he can marry, a European prince gets mixed up with a suicide club.
Dir:  J. Walter Ruben Cast:  Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Frank Morgan.
BW- 74 mins, CC

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

Saturday – August 19, 2017

1:00 PM
KIND LADY (1951)
A con artist and his criminal cohorts hold an old lady hostage in her own home.
Dir:  John Sturges Cast:  Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Angela Lansbury.
BW- 78 mins, CC
*** I love this mystery movie! Ethel Barrymore is terrific! ***

9:30 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

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

Sunday – August 20, 2017

1:00 PM
SUSPICION (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
BW- 99 mins, CC

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

Monday – August 21, 2017

12:30 PM
THE WITNESS CHAIR (1936)
A woman lets her lover stand trial for the murder she committed.
Dir:  George Nicholls Jr. Cast:  Ann Harding, Walter Abel, Douglass Dumbrille.
BW- 64 mins, CC

3:30 PM
EYES IN THE NIGHT (1942)
Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.
Dir:  Fred Zinnemann Cast:  Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed.
BW- 80 mins, CC

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

Tuesday – August 22, 2017

9:15 PM
THE VIOLENT MEN (1955)
The wife of a crooked cattle baron plots his murder.
Dir:  Rudolph Maté Cast:  Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson.
C- 96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Thursday – August 24, 2017

11:30 AM
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1945)
A homemaking specialist who can’t boil water is forced to provide a family holiday for a war hero.
Dir:  Peter Godfrey Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet.
BW- 101 mins, CC
***This isn’t a mystery, but it’s a terrific Christmas movie.***

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

Saturday – August 26, 2017

7:45 AM
JIMMY THE GENT (1934)
An unscrupulous detective makes a killing locating missing heirs.
Dir:  Michael Curtiz Cast:  James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins.
BW- 68 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – August 30, 2017

5:00 AM
CAIRO (1963)
Master thieves set their sights on King Tut’s jewels in this remake of The Asphalt Jungle.
Dir:  Wolf Rilla Cast:  George Sanders, Richard Johnson, Faten Hamama.
BW- 91 mins, CC

7:00 AM
BLUEBEARD’S TEN HONEYMOONS (1960)
A gold digger persuades her older lover to murder for her.
Dir:  W. Lee Wilder Cast:  George Sanders, Corinne Calvet, Jean Kent.
BW- 91 mins

10:30 AM
THE SAINT STRIKES BACK (1939)
The Saint helps a young beauty take vengeance on the mobsters who ruined her father.
Dir:  John Farrow Cast:  George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Jerome Cowan.
BW- 64 mins, CC

11:45 AM
THE GAY FALCON (1942)
A society sleuth tries to break up an insurance scam.
Dir:  Irving Reis Cast:  George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Allen Jenkins.
BW- 67 mins, CC

1:00 PM
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin.
Dir:  Albert Lewin Cast:  George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed.
BW- 110 mins, CC

3:00 PM
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir:  Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall.
BW- 121 mins, CC

5:15 PM
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

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

Thursday – August 31, 2017

1:00 AM
LURED (1947)
A woman helps the police catch the serial killer who murdered her best friend.
Dir:  Douglas Sirk Cast:  George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn.
BW- 103 mins

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

Friday – September 1, 2017

2:00 AM
NIGHT WATCH (1973)
A woman recovering from mental problems witnesses a murder, but nobody believes her.
Dir:  Brian G. Hutton Cast:  Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw.
C- 99 mins, CC

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

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

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for July 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

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