The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

What Happened to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Cozy Mystery Movies Premieres?

I thought I’d write a quick not to tell you why I stopped posting the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel’s mystery movies. I hated to stop posting them, but I found that it took more time than it should have to find the dates and synopses of the different new mystery movies. Since I post the Upcoming Television Mystery Movies entries during the month before they air, a lot of the time I had to rely on outside sources to post the actual dates of their premieres. Perhaps the channel likes to keep us unaware of the actual airing dates of the movies so that we watch the channel hoping to find out when the movies will finally air, or possibly the channel just wants us to really anticipate the movies. (I don’t know why they use the “Coming in April” tactic, but it doesn’t work for me… I’d much rather they simply tell us when in April the movies are going to air.)

For those of you who miss finding out about these Hallmark Movies & Mysteries premieres, I suggest you look you TV listings for Sunday nights at 8:00 PM (central) to see if they will be airing a new Cozy Mystery movie. That is when they premiere their mystery movies. That’s exactly what I am doing these days, which is how I found out about:

Joanne Fluke‘s Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts premiering tonight (March 26, 2017),

Kate Carlisle‘s Concrete Evidence: A Fixer Upper Mystery premiering next Sunday night (April 2, 2017),

and Nancy Grace‘s Hailey Dean Mystery: Deadly Estate premiering Sunday, April 9, 2017.

Also, last week Charlaine Harris‘ Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery premiered. Just in case you missed it, the next showing will be tonight (March 26), right after the premiere of Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts.

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for April 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.

This April, the biggest TCM mystery news will be a Torchy Blaine marathon on April 21st. If you’re a fan of 1930s reporter Torchy Blaine, be sure to check it out!

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

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

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

Saturday – April 1, 2017

12:45 PM
VERTIGO (1958)
A detective falls for the mysterious woman he’s been hired to tail.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes.
C-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Sunday – April 2, 2017

9:00 AM
THE BLUE GARDENIA (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can’t remember the details of the encounter.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast:  Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern.
BW-88 mins, CC

11:00 AM
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

3:15 PM
SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947)
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
Dir: Edward Buzzell Cast:  William Powell, Myrna Loy, Keenan Wynn.
BW-87 mins, CC

5:00 PM
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey.
BW-108 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – April 5, 2017

2:30 AM
JOURNAL OF A CRIME (1934)
Before she can confess to shooting her husband’s mistress, a woman succumbs to amnesia.
Dir: William Keighley Cast:  Ruth Chatterton, Adolphe Menjou, Claire Dodd.
BW-65 mins, CC

6:30 AM
DANGEROUS CORNER (1935)
Friends uncover a dark secret when they compare notes about a theft and suicide.
Dir: Phil Rosen Cast:  Virginia Bruce, Conrad Nagel, Melvyn Douglas.
BW-66 mins

11:00 AM
FAST COMPANY (1938)
Married book-dealers Joel and Gerda Sloane try to clear a friend in the murder of a rival book-seller.
Dir: Edward Buzzell Cast:  Melvyn Douglas, Florence Rice, Claire Dodd.
BW-75 mins, CC

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

Thursday – April 6, 2017

3:00 PM
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945)
Guests at a remote island mansion realize a crazed killer is stalking them.
Dir: René Clair Cast:  Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward.
BW-97 mins, CC

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

Friday – April 7, 2017

5:00 AM
NINE LIVES ARE NOT ENOUGH (1941)
A reporter tries to solve a series of boardinghouse murders.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland Cast:  Ronald Reagan, Joan Perry, James Gleason.
BW-63 mins

7:00 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

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

Saturday – April 8, 2017

5:00 AM
WHISTLING IN THE DARK (1941)
A radio detective is kidnapped and forced to plan the perfect murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast:  Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford.
BW-78 mins, CC

9:45 PM
BLACK WIDOW (1954)
The murder of a scheming female writer throws a group of theatrical friends into turmoil.
Dir: Nunnally Johnson Cast:  Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney.
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Sunday – April 9, 2017

1:30 AM
THE ZODIAC KILLER (1971)
San Francisco police try to track down a vicious serial killer.
Dir: Tom Hanson Cast:  Hal Reed, Bob Jones, Ray Lynch.
C-86 mins, CC

9:00 AM
SCARLET STREET (1945)
A middle aged wouldbe painter falls into the clutches of an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast:  Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea.
BW-102 mins, CC

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

Tuesday – April 11, 2017

3:30 AM
DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)
Guests at a country estate share stories of the supernatural.
Dir: Charles Crichton Cast:  Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Hartley Power.
BW-103 mins, CC

7:00 PM
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
*****I absolutely love this very funny movie! Not a mystery.*****

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

Wednesday – April 12, 2017

12:45 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
*****Tracy and Hepburn are delightful in this non mystery comedy.*****

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

Tuesday – April 18, 2017

5:00 AM
M (1931)
The mob sets out to catch a child killer whose crimes are attracting too much police attention.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast:  Theo Lingen, Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke.
BW-110 mins

7:00 AM
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
*****TCM has played this movie quite a bit recently, perhaps because it is so good…*****

12:30 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

2:30 PM
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich Cast:  Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono.
BW-134 mins, CC
*****For those of you watching the FX channel Feud miniseries, you’ll be able to see just how wonderful Susan Sarandon’s and Jessica Lange’s portrayals are of these two dynamic actresses!*****

5:00 PM
SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963)
A reporter fakes insanity to crack a murder committed in an asylum.
Dir: Samuel Fuller Cast:  Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans.
C-101 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – April 19, 2017

6:45 AM
THE MURDER OF DR. HARRIGAN (1936)
A doctor investigates the murder of a colleague involved in experimental surgery.
Dir: Frank McDonald Cast:  Ricardo Cortez, Kay Linaker, John Eldredge.
BW-67 mins

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

Friday – April 21, 2017

1:00 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

3:15 AM
THE WINDOW (1949)
A boy who always lies witnesses a murder but can’t get anyone but the killer to believe him.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff Cast:  Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart.
BW-73 mins, CC

Torchy Blane movies:
5:00 AM
SMART BLONDE (1936)
An ambitious reporter forces her policeman boyfriend to let her help with a murder case.
Dir: Frank McDonald Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Winifred Shaw.
BW-59 mins, CC

6:15 AM
FLY AWAY BABY (1937)
Reporter Torchy Blane takes to the skies to track down a band of killers.
Dir: Frank McDonald Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Gordon Oliver.
BW-60 mins

7:30 AM
THE ADVENTUROUS BLONDE (1937)
Reporter Torchy Blane walks out on her own wedding to solve the case of a murdered actor.
Dir: Frank MacDonald Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Anne Nagel.
BW-61 mins

8:45 AM
BLONDES AT WORK (1938)
Even a jail term for contempt can’t keep reporter Torchy Blane from investigating the case of a murdered department store owner.
Dir: Frank McDonald Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy.
BW-64 mins

10:00 AM
TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA (1938)
An ambitious newspaper woman traces bank robbers to an ocean liner.
Dir: William Clemens Cast:  Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy.
BW-59 mins

11:15 AM
TORCHY GETS HER MAN (1938)
Female reporter Torchy Blane tries to crack a counterfeiting case.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy.
BW-63 mins

12:30 PM
TORCHY BLANE IN CHINATOWN (1938)
A daring lady reporter sets out to catch a blackmailer.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy.
BW-58 mins, CC

1:30 PM
TORCHY RUNS FOR MAYOR (1939)
After digging up the dirt on local politicians, a newswoman decides to run for office.
Dir: Ray McCarey Cast:  Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy.
BW-60 mins, CC

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

Saturday – April 22, 2017

4:45 PM
FAMILY PLOT (1976)
A phony psychic takes on a pair of kidnappers.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris.
C-120 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Sunday – April 23, 2017

4:45 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

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

Monday – April 24, 2017

8:00 AM
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955)
A corpse creates a world of trouble for several passersby who each believe they may have caused the death.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast:  Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick.
C-99 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Wednesday – April 26, 2017

10:15 AM
THE NAKED CITY (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Dir: Jules Dassin Cast:  Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart.
BW-96 mins, CC

2:15 PM
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
An ambitious young actress tries to take over a star’s career and love life.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Cast:  Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders.
BW-138 mins, CC
*****I love, love, love this movie! Not a mystery.*****

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

Thursday – April 27, 2017

12:45 AM
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

8:30 AM
THE MALTESE FALCON (1931)
In the first screen version of The Maltese Falcon, detective Sam Spade investigates the theft of a priceless statue.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast:  Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges.
BW-81 mins, CC

3:45 PM
THE PHANTOM OF CRESTWOOD (1933)
Five men have to prove their innocence when a blackmailer is murdered.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben Cast:  Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley, Anita Louise.
BW-76 mins, CC

5:15 PM
HAT, COAT AND GLOVE (1934)
A lawyer gets mixed up in a net of intrigue when he witnesses a suicide.
Dir: Worthington Miner Cast:  Ricardo Cortez, Barbara Robbins, John Beal.
BW-65 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – April 28, 2017

1:15 AM
BELLS ARE RINGING (1960)
An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients’ lives.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli Cast:  Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark.
C-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****You can’t go wrong watching any movie with Judy Holliday. Not a mystery.*****

11:00 PM
ABOUT MRS. LESLIE (1954)
An aging woman recalls the affair that consumed her life.
Dir: Daniel Mann Cast:  Shirley Booth, Robert Ryan, Marjie Millar.
BW-104 mins, CC
*****If you are only familiar with Shirley Booth as Hazel from the old TV series, you’ll love seeing what a really great actress she was in this non mystery movie.*****

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

If you’re particularly looking forward to these or other mystery-themed tv specials coming up in April, 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 March television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for March 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

P.S. I just posted the premieres of the April 2017 Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel’s Cozy Mystery movies.

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Aunt Dimity's Death (Aunt Dimity Mystery Book 1) Next in my series of posts looking at some of the most popular and recommended cozy mystery series is Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity’s Death, the first of her much beloved Aunt Dimity books.

I first read this book not long after it first came out way back in the 90s. Upon re-reading it recently, I have to say I learned that I gave it way too little credit back then.

The book, and the series for that matter, is quite unusual for the Cozy Mystery genre. There are lots of differences from the standard Cozy. One is that the books are mostly shorter than the norm for today. Aunt Dimity’s Death is listed at 196 pages. I know we have discussed the length of modern Cozies before (see here and here for a couple of our earlier discussions) — with many of you suggesting that you want the books to be longer – in the 300 page or longer vicinity. However, I find this book to be refreshingly short.

Oddly enough, even though the book is short, the pacing is leisurely. This is not a Cozy for those of you who want the murder to be in the first two chapters! In fact, although there are mysterious goings on in the first half of the book, I don’t think the real mystery that needs to be resolved is revealed until somewhere approaching half-way into the book!

Another difference is that the series has a number of books where there is no murder at all to solve. I don’t think I am giving too much away to suggest that in this first book of the series, the mystery is not a murder but rather is one of love and separation, and guilt and regret.

I understand now why this series is so often recommended and is so beloved by its fans. The series began in 1992 and the newest book, number 22 of the series, will be released this year. Nancy Atherton only releases about one book a year – another unusual fact for a modern Cozy author!

The book is charming; it tells a beguiling story of a little girl now grown up, a friendship that was sustained only by letters for decades, a woman who had lost everything including her faith in humanity, a haunted English cottage, and the spirit of “Aunt” Dimity who was filled with regret and guilt but whose love for her friend’s daughter leads to both her and the daughter learning again the power of love, friendship and laughter.

Yes, there is a paranormal aspect to this series. However, in re-reading Aunt Dimity’s Death I was surprised by what a relatively small role the paranormal played in the story. Normally, I am not one for paranormal mysteries, but, to me, in this book the paranormal was both literally and figuratively “magical”.

If you are in the mood for a charming and whimsical mystery with a touch of paranormal and a large dose of heart, I heartily recommend Aunt Dimity’s Death.

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

What Types of Cozy do You Prefer – Light or Serious?

A little while back, I got an interesting question from Patti. Rather than rephrase it, I’m going to just quote some of Patti’s letter:

What types of cozies do you and your cozy-mystery loving friends like the best: Thought provoking? Darker? Lighter? Silly? Nothing but humor? A mixture of humor, seriousness, dark and character warmth?

I like a mixture of everything but find that lately I’m turned off by cozies that are way, way, way too silly or ones where the protagonist is too stupid to live. I can take a little bit of the too stupid to live thing, but sometimes it’s way out of control. Silliness with little to no depth of character bugs me! I kind of wish we had more gothic-like (Victoria Holt-ish!) cozies that give the reader a feel for time and place and characterization, but still move at a great pace.

For my own response, I’ll say that I do appreciate both comedic and dramatic elements as long as they are done well. I try to see the best in all the books I read, and there are plenty of great Cozies that lean strongly toward one end of the spectrum or the other! That said, all of the authors that I consider my particular favorites tend to mix lighter and more serious elements in various amounts >>> after all, it is hard to portray something as serious as murder in a purely comedic light, but it is also hard to hold a reader’s attention for a long period of time without a bit of a lighter element to relax the mood a bit as well.

So I guess I would have to say that I prefer a balance. A good example of this would be Agatha Christie‘s Poirot mysteries. While Christie deals with the actual crime in a very serious manner, there are always interesting, comedic elements that are thrown into her novels.  At the same time, I love Anne George‘s Southern Sisters series, and those are pretty funny all the way through.

So,

What types of cozies do you… like the best: Thought provoking? Darker? Lighter? Silly? Nothing but humor? A mixture of humor, seriousness, dark and character warmth?

Please post a comment below. Thank you!

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