The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Happy New Year! Are You Ready for Making Changes?

Happy New Year!First off, Happy New Year! I hope 2017 is a terrific, wondrous year for ALL of you.

Do any of you have resolutions for 2017? I guess I should actually ask, did you make 2017 New Year’s resolutions – and if so, have you already broken them?

I know the above sounds pretty negative, so let me instead ask if you make New Year’s resolutions and, if you do make them, are you able to keep them?

Every year I resolve to stick to a healthy diet – but, depending on how many Christmas cookies we have in our house, I rarely make it through the first week in January before I veer off my healthy eating resolution. (Or sometimes, January 2 has me feeling guilty about breaking my resolution!)

What’s one to do? I guess in my case, I should simply make fewer Christmas goodies so there are less of them to tempt me during the beginning of the next year.

How do you stand on New Year’s resolutions? Please leave a comment – perhaps you’ll provide some of us with the necessary incentive to keep us on track! Or, perhaps you’ll make us feel better about not being so good about keeping them!

February 2017 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in February 2017:

February 2017

Winnie Archer (aka Melissa Bourbon & Misa Ramirez): Kneaded to Death (This will be the 1st in the NEW Bread Shop Mystery Series.)

David Baldacci: The Width of the World (This will be the 3rd in the Vega Jane Mystery Series – Ages 11-14, Grades 6-9.)

Christy Barritt: Shadow of Suspicion (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Death of a Ghost (This will be the 33rd in the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series.)

Laura Bradford (aka Elizabeth Lynn Casey): Death in Advertising (This will be the 1st in the NEW Tobi Tobias Mystery Series.)

Lynn Cahoon: Fatality by Firelight (This will be the 2nd in the Cat Latimer Mystery Series.)

Nancy J. Cohen: Facials Can Be Fatal (This will be the 13th in the Bad Hair Day Mystery Series.)

Deborah Crombie: Garden of Lamentations (This will be the 17th in the Kincaid & James Mystery Series.)

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): When the Grits Hit the Fan (This will be the 3rd in the Country Store Mystery Series.)

Krista Davis: Mission Impawsible: (This will be the 4th in the Paws & Claws Mystery Series.)

Phillip DePoy: The English Agent (This will be the 2nd in the Christopher Marlowe Mystery Series.)

Kate Ellis: The Mermaid’s Scream (This will be the 21st in the Wesley Peterson Mystery Series.)

Joanne Fluke: Banana Cream Pie Murder (This will be the 21st in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series.)

Susan Furlong: War and Peach (This will be the 3rd in the Georgia Peach Mystery Series.)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: Old Bones (This will be the 19th in the Bill Slider Mystery Series.)

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Twelve Angry Librarians (This will be the 8th in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series.)

Tonya Kappes: A Ghostly Mortality (This will be the 6th in the Ghostly Southern Mystery Series.)

Faye Kellerman: Bone Box (This will be the 24th in the Decker & Lazarus Mystery Series.)

Jonathan Kellerman: Heartbreak Hotel (This will be the 32nd in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series.)

Diane Kelly: Death, Taxes, and Sweet Potato Fries (This will be the 11th in the Tara Holloway Mystery Series.)

Debbie Macomber: If Not for You (This is a non-mystery novel.)

Emma Miller: A Love for Leah (This will be the 4th in the non mystery Amish Matchmaker Series.)

Joyce Carol Oates: A Book of American Martyrs (This will be a Stand Alone novel. I’m not sure if it’s a mystery.)

Carlene O’Connor: Murder at an Irish Wedding (This will be the 2nd in the Irish Village Mystery Series.)

James Patterson: The Darkest February (This will be a BookShots short story or novella.)

James Patterson: Achilles (This will be a Bookshot, however I don’t know if it will be a mystery.)

James Patterson & Emily Raymond: Humans Bow Down (This will be a Stand Alone Mystery novel.)

James Patterson & Shan Serafin: The Women’s War (This will be a Stand Alone “BookShot” – Amazon describes these as “Novels you can devour in a few hours”)

James Patterson & James O. Born: Saving Nathaniel (This will be a Stand Alone “BookShot” – Amazon describes these as “Novels you can devour in a few hours”)

James Patterson & Marshall Karp: NYPD Red 5 (This will be the 5th in the NYPD Red series.)

Rhonda Pollero: In Justice (This will be the 1st in a “thrilling new romantic suspense series”.)

J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Echoes in Death (This will be the 45th in the Eve Dallas Death Mystery Series.)

Loretta Ross: Death & the Gravedigger’s Angel (This will be the 3rd in the Auction Block Mystery Series.)

Annelise Ryan (aka Allyson K. Abbott &Beth Amos): Dead in the Water (This will be the 8th in the Mattie Winston Mystery Series.)

Paige Shelton: Bookman Dead Style (This will be the 2nd in the Dangerous Type Mystery Series.)

Charles Todd: Racing the Devil (This will be the 19th in the Ian Rutledge Mystery Series.)

Betty Webb: Desert Vengeance (This will be the 9th in the Lena Jones Mystery Series.)

If you want to see this month’s releases, go to the January 2017 Mystery Book New Releases.

You can find these and many more Cozies scheduled for release soon on the Soon to be Released Mysteries page on my site.

(These are the mysteries by authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery site.)

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – December 2016

Well, the New Year will be coming up very soon, so it’s time for the last discussion of our favorite Cozy reading material of 2016! If you’ve read a great Cozy in December, be sure to post it here! This month, I read Lucy Arlington‘s Novel Idea Mystery Series, so I’ll start it off with that! (I also read Last Bus to Woodstock, by Colin Dexter, but that’s just far enough from being “Cozy” that I’m not going to include it on this list…)

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 December? 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 December 2016 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:

Victoria Abbott (Writing duo Mary Jane Maffini & daughter Victoria Maffini): Book Collectors Mystery Series

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

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Lucy Arlington (co-written by Jennifer Stanley & Sylvia May): Novel Idea Mystery Series

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

Jill Churchill: Grace and Favor Mystery Series

Jane Cleland: Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Ellen Crosby: Wine Country Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Year-Round Christmas Mystery Series

Elizabeth J. Duncan: Penny Brannigan Mystery Series

Sharon Fiffer: Jane Wheel Mystery Series

Charles Finch: Charles Lenox Mystery Series

Kristine Husom: Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series

Nancy Lynn Jarvis: Raven McHenry Real Estate Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Mystery Series

K. J. Larsen: Cat DeLuca Mystery Series (book #1 Liar, Liar)

Karen MacInerney: Dewberry Farm Mystery Series

Gail Oust: Piper Prescott Mystery Series

Kathy Reichs: Temperance Brennen Mystery Series

David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Mystery Series

Sarah Rosett: Murder on Location Mystery Series

Paige Shelton: Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series

Angela M. Sanders: The Lanvin Murders

Livia Washburn: Fresh-Baked Mystery Series

[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.

Lucy Arlington: A Novel Idea Mystery Series

The next in the series of most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series is Lucy Arlington’s A Novel Idea Mystery Series.

As if the use of alternate names by authors wasn’t confusing enough, this series is written by three different authors. The first three books are written by Lucy Arlington (aka J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & Ellery Adams) with her friend Sylvia May. The series was taken over by Susan Furlong on book #4. Can it get any more confusing? >>> I hope not!

In the first book of the series,  Buried in a Book we are introduced to Lila Wilkins, and we learn on the first page of the book that she has just lost her longstanding (20 years!) job writing features for the local newspaper. However, Lila lands on her feet fast, getting a job as an intern at the “A Novel Idea” literary agency which is located in a nearby small town called “Inspiration Valley” in North Carolina.

Lila is a 45 year-old single mother of a boy (Trey) who has just graduated from high school. Her mother (suitably quirky as befits a Cozy Mystery) makes a living telling fortunes in the small town where Lila’s new job is.

Soon, of course, there is a murder that happens almost right in front of Lila at the agency on her first day of work. A homeless person named Marlette, who has been coming to the agency everyday for some time, dies on the couch in the waiting area where Lila’s work area is. Before we know it Lila is deeply involved in trying to solve the mystery.

The small town is filled with interesting characters who Lila seems to have no trouble meeting and making connections with including the owner of the coffee shop that is downstairs from the agency. Lila also meets the handsome police detective who is officially responsible for trying to solve the murder mystery. I don’t think I am giving too much away to tell you that Lila has no problem interesting men >>> (she tells us that she has been told more than once that she looks a lot like Marilyn Monroe while she was still Norma Jeane Baker!)

So, the book has (more than) a hint of romance. It also has quite a rich backdrop with a convincing depiction of a small town and small workplace (the literary agency). If you are looking for a mystery where the whole book deals with only the mystery, this is probably not for you. If you want to lose yourself in the life of a character who is trying to make her way in the world of a new job and a new hometown while trying to take care of her teenage son and solving a complicated mystery, then probably this is a series for you. I know it is one for me!

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

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