The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

First Time for Out-of-Sequence Cozy Reading

This year I started a different type of reading – at least it is different to what I’ve done in the past. Since I enjoy reading holiday Cozies so much during their appropriate seasons, I have started re-reading some of my favorite holiday Cozies >>> out of sequence!

This year had me revisiting Jessica Fletcher in Cabott Cove, Lucy Stone on Red Top Road, Gloria Lamerino in Boston, and Hanna Swenson in Lake Eden. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas felt particularly Cozy with all my favorite sleuths. (This is one time when my not-so-great memory comes in handy!)

I have to admit that it was a little disconcerting re-visiting Toby as a toddler a month after spending time with Toby as a father of a toddler! (Toby comes from Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone Mystery Series.) But, I found that as long as I thought of each book as a total entity rather than part of a chronological series, I was able to submerge myself into the correct mindset.

Now if they would just convert all of my favorite holiday Cozies to Kindle format! I’d love to spend time with Henry Tibbett and Peggy Jean Turner next holiday season!

Librarian Is Starting a Cozy Mystery Book Club…

I just got a really interesting letter from a librarian  in New York who is planning to start a Cozy Mystery book group at her library. (What fun!) She asks for suggestions, and I thought our blog area would be a great place to come up with some possible ideas.

Christine says:

… I absolutely love the Cozy Mystery genre, so much in fact, I am going to be running a Cozy Mystery Book Group at my Library. I had a question for you, as a person who enjoys the genre, and has most likely read more of them, than I.

If you were going to be attending a Book Group on the genre, what type of things would you want to happen? I have the basic, talk about the genre/pick a book,/an author/ have a person lead a discussion – but I was wondering — what else could I add to make it more than just a regular book club?

Any input is appreciated! …

Christine, it might be fun to compare the classic Cozies to the new types of Cozies out there. Maybe read a classic by Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh one month, and then a Cozy by someone who is releasing books now. Also, since there are so many Cozies now that feature recipes (even in non-culinary series!) maybe it would be fun for people to try out some cookie recipes and bring them to the club.

Keeping in mind that this is a book club which will meet in person, not an online book group >>> do you have any ideas that would make this “more than just a regular book club?” If so, please post a comment. Thank you!

New Releases – January 16 to 22, 2017

Here is the list of new release for January 16 to  22!

Catherine Bruns: Death of the Big Kahuna (This will be the 6th in the Aloha Lagoon Mystery Series.)

Mary Feliz: Scheduled to Death (This will be the 2nd in the Maggie McDonald Mystery Series.)

Parnell Hall: A Puzzle to Be Named Later (This will be the 18th in the Puzzle Lady Mystery Series.)

Karen MacInerney: Whale of a Crime (This will be the 7th in the Gray Whale Inn Mystery Series.)

Sara Paretsky: Taste of Life (This will be a Stand Alone mystery story. It was included in Paretsky’s Brush Back mystery novel.)

James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein: Robot Revolution (This will be the 3rd in the House of Robots series for children.)

Suzanne Trauth: Time Out (This will be the 2nd in the Dodie O’Dell Mystery Series.)

Cozy Mystery News – January 2017

This Cozy Mystery news letter is going to be rather short, but that’s not to say it’s not full of great Cozy Mystery news!

For those of you who are Cora Felton fans (that’s right, the Puzzle Lady!) you’ll be very pleased to know that Cora will continue to creatively solve her mystery puzzles. Parnell Hall will be bringing us another new Puzzle Lady mystery after this month’s new Puzzle Lady mystery (A Puzzle to Be Named Later).

Well, if you’re not all caught-up with Kathleen Paulson, Owen, and Hercules, you better hurry up and read your New York Time’s bestselling Magical Cats Mystery Series books! Sofie Kelly (aka Sofie Ryan & Darlene Ryan) just signed on for two more Cozies in this series. Good news for all of us! (I better start reading faster!)

This is great news for all of us who look at Sherlock Holmes as the best mystery-solver of all times! Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger will be the editors of a fourth anthology that contains stories that have the Sherlock Holmes feel to them. And, for those of you who are Rhys Bowen fans, she will be writing a story for this anthology. (Here are the three already-published anthologies King and Klinger have released: In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, Echoes of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, and A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon.)

I know a lot of you are fans of Anne Perry‘s series – even though I know they are historical mysteries, not Cozies. Here’s some great news for you! She has just been given the green light to write the 33rd Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery, her 24th William Monk mystery, and her 16th Christmas mystery. That’s right! And, her Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series is going to move into the early 20th century, since it will feature Daniel, their grown son. Didn’t I say it was great news for her fans?

I think I mentioned that Teresa Trent (the author of the Pecan Bayou Mystery Series) will be starting a new series called the Henry Park Mystery Series, which will feature Gabby Wolfe (who has Sixth Sense) in Henry Park, Colorado. Well, here’s some good news for those of us who read Teresa Trent’s Cozies. She has just signed on to write the Piney Woods Mystery Series – which I am guessing will take place in Texas – since we have an area called “Piney Woods”.

I’ll be back with more Cozy Mystery news when I have more to report. Until next time…

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